2006 PRESS RELEASES

February 24, 2006

EFF Statement regarding passage of House supplemental budget

OLYMPIA—The Evergreen Freedom Foundation's Senior Budget Analyst Jason Mercier today released the following statement on the House's passage of its supplemental budget:

"Instead of fundamentally addressing the state's past unsustainable spending, House Democrats all but guarantee future budget deficits with this supplemental."

"Real fiscal restraint would have been staying within the people's spending limit and putting all savings into the protected I-601 emergency reserve account. Instead the House follows the Senate's and Governor's lead by artificially increasing the spending limit to allow its massive unsustainable supplemental spending."

"It's unfortunate House Democrats chose budget gimmicks instead of abiding by the people's spending limit."

Additional Information
Legislature Continues to Ignore I-601

Amendments of Note:

• 959 Nixon: Failed 45-51 - Transfers funding in the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in FY 2006 to statewide sexual assault services in FY 2007.

• 978 Hinkle: Approved - Prohibits Medicaid expenditures in the Department of Social and Health Services on behalf of clients who have not provided a verified social security number or who are not exempted from that requirement under federal regulations.
  
  
• 980 Hinkle: Failed on voice vote - Specifies that the additional enrollment in the Basic Health Plan supported by the $9,542,000 increase in the health services account is provided only to qualified individuals who are otherwise qualified resident citizens, legal aliens, legal refugees, or legal asylees who provide valid social security numbers. Income eligibility requirements for the additional slots must be verified by the federal internal revenue service.
  
  
• 981 Clements: Approved - Prohibits expenditure of state or federal medical assistance funds for "sex change" operations.
  
  
• 984 Ericksen: Failed 43-53 - Reduces the appropriation for the Policy Consensus Center at the University of Washington by $25,000 and by $25,000 at Washington State University. Provides $50,000 for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy within The Evergreen State College to conduct a study on constitutional spending limits, constitutional reserves, constitutional provisions requiring a 60% vote to raise taxes and laws requiring a minimum time between appropriations bills being made public and when they may be acted upon. The study will identify all states that have one or more of these provisions. The study will also identify the impact of each provision on the states with those provisions compared to those states without.

Yeas: 53 Nays: 43 Excused: 2

Voting Yea: Representatives Appleton, Blake, Chase, Clibborn, Cody, Conway, Darneille, Dickerson, Dunshee, Eickmeyer, Ericks, Flannigan, Fromhold, Grant, Green, Haigh, Hudgins, Hunt, Hunter, Kagi, Kenney, Kessler, Kilmer, Kirby, Lantz, Linville, Lovick, McCoy, McDermott, McIntire, Miloscia, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Murray, O'Brien, Ormsby, Pettigrew, Quall, Roberts, Santos, Schual-Berke, Sells, Simpson, Sommers, Springer, Sullivan, B., Sullivan, P., Takko, Upthegrove, Wallace, Wood, and Mr. Speaker.

Voting Nay: Representatives Ahern, Alexander, Anderson, Armstrong, Bailey, Buck, Buri, Campbell, Chandler, Clements, Condotta, Cox, Crouse, Curtis, DeBolt, Dunn, Ericksen, Haler, Hankins, Hinkle, Holmquist, Jarrett, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, McDonald, Newhouse, Nixon, Orcutt, Pearson, Priest, Roach, Rodne, Schindler, Serben, Shabro, Skinner, Strow, Sump, Talcott, Tom, Walsh, and Woods.

Excused: Representatives Hasegawa and Williams.

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