Port of Tacoma Commission names Petrich 2009 president, elects other officers
The Port of Tacoma Commission today named Clare Petrich as president and elected other officers for 2009.

Positions among commissioners rotate yearly, based on procedures approved by the Port Commission in 1999. Petrich replaces Port Commissioner Dick Marzano as president. Marzano will serve as assistant secretary in 2009.

Port of Tacoma commissioners serve four-year terms. The five-member Commission is the governing body of the Port, setting policy and authorizing major expenditures. Port Commission meetings and study sessions, which are open to the public, are held at The Fabulich Center (formerly Port Business Center), 3600 Port of Tacoma Road. Visit www.portoftacoma.com for meeting schedules and agendas.

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This is timely.

House Speaker Frank Chopp just had his first meeting with reporters for the 2009 legislative session and he was asked what he thought about Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal to boost weekly unemployment benefit checks by $45 a week and to lower contribution rates for businesses.

Then, I get back to the office and the Association of Washington Business has sent out an e-mail news release in reaction to talk about tapping the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.

By the way, each of Gregoire's proposal would cost about $200 million. That's a total of $400 million.

Chopp said he doesn't want to tinker with business tax rates this year. But he's game for giving more money to unemployed workers. However, he said, he'd prefer to see lower-paid workers get a bigger boost than higher paid workers.

The governor's plan was $45 a week more for everybody.

Business community doesn't like either plan. Read on:

Higher jobless rate makes tapping unemployment insurance fund risky

AWB urges state to protect UI fund in light of rising unemployment

OLYMPIA— With the state experiencing its biggest one-month jump in unemployment in 30 years, Association of Washington Business President Don Brunell is urging Gov. Gregoire and lawmakers to protect the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund.

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Gov. Gregoire attends birthday celebration for Gov. Rosellini

Former Washington governor turns 99 years old

EVENT DATE: Friday, Jan. 23

SEATTLE – Gov. Chris Gregoire will attend the 99th birthday celebration for former Washington Governor Al Rosellini. All seven living governors will attend this private lunch at Il Terrazzo Carmine, one of Gov. Rosellini’s favorite Italian restaurants in Seattle.

12 noon Gov. Chris Gregoire attends Gov. Rosellini’s 99th birthday celebration

Il Terrazzo Carmine

411 First Ave. S.

Seattle

What Gov. Chris Gregoire is proposing to do actually is to raid other state bank accounts and put that money into the General Fund to help close that $6 billion budget gap that everyone is talking about.

Overall, she puts $376 million that otherwise would be spent on building projects -- like grade schools, water treatment plants and cleaning up toxic waste around the state -- and puts it in the operating budget. All those projects will still get done, but to do so she has to borrow $376 million.

Tom Saelid, Gregoire's capital budget guy, said all the moves are "one-time transfers" (not permanent) and they allow the governor to keep building projects to produce more jobs, plus help out the shortfall in the operating budget.

The money is coming from the state lottery proceeds ($204 million), the Model Toxics Fund ($88 million), the Water Quality Account ($24 million) and the Savings Incentive Account ($60 million).

The governor also wants to consolidate some funds and raise the limit on how much the state can borrow and some other moves that basically will allow her to borrow $630 million more over the 2009-11 budget than she otherwise could. ($2.22 billion instead of $1.59 billion)

The bottom line: Gregoire's total capital budget would have $3.8 billion in new spending and $2.7 billion in reappropriations for projects that are under way but not done yet, for a grand total of $6.5 billion over the next two years.

I have to give credit to Associated Press report Curt Woodward for spotting this bit of budget news. (And a certain legislative staffer who wishes to remain anonymous.)

Curt sat through a presentation on Gov. Chris Gregoire's capital budget earlier this week and found out just how much the guv is moving money around in her budget. (Hey, I can't be everywhere, but Curt can.)

This morning, I ran into Arun Raha, the state's still relatively new chief economist, and he reminded me of the lag time in collecting sales taxes.

Basically, the Christmas holiday sales tax collections will be reflected in the February report (probably Feb. 10), not in the Jan. 10 report, as I incorrectly reported in previous post.

State sales tax collections were $134 million lower than expected for the Nov. 11 though Jan. 10 collection period, which I WRONGLY said pretty much encompassed the Christmas holiday shopping season.

The lag means holiday shopping taxes will show up in the February report. They're still expected to be pretty bad.

But Raha said things might pick up just a bit in the following monthly report, in March.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate announced today they will take targeted steps to reduce state spending in the final six months of the state budget cycle, but won't produce a more thorough budget until after mid-March.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said her Senate colleagues could pass as early as next week measures to:

--freeze state hiring.
--prohibit state agencies from signing any personal service contracts, except for emergencies.
--stop state equipment purchases that cost more than $1,000.
--ban state-paid travel or training except for direct client services and emergencies.

Those steps are expected to save $105 million between now and June 30.

Brown said she was trying to strike a balance between being deliberative and acting quickly.

Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield, top Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, called me back. See below.

UPDATE 1: Zarelli said he signed onto the $105 million in early cuts even though it was a "meager attempt at moving us foreward" because at least it was moving the state in the right direction.

But it's not nearly enough, he said. State spending has to slim down, he said.

"We moved from a 52-inch waist to a 51-inch waist and we desperately need to get down to a 32-inch waist," Zarelli said. "If we wait until well after March, we lose of a lot of the savings from making serious cuts."

UPDATE 2: From Rep. Gary Alexander, top Republican on the House budget committee: "I heard Rep. (Lynn) Kessler comment that she wished Republicans were in charge so that we would have to solve this mess by ourselves. To that, I would say: 'Rep. Kessler, had Republicans been in charge four years ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.'"

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From Les Blumenthal in D.C.

WASHINGTON - A massive economic stimulus package winding its way through the House contains nearly $850 million in infrastructure funding for Washington state, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said Thursday.

The money would be used for highway, road, bridge, public transit and waste water treatment projects, said Larsen, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The committee held a hearing on the $825 billion stimulus bill that could come to the House floor next week.

About two-thirds of the money to modernize roads, highways and bridges will go to the states and the rest to local governments.

"Our state unemployment rate took the largest jump in 30 years last month and more of my constituents are having a hard time finding family-wage jobs," Larsen said. "Now is the time to invest in job creation and long term economic recovery."

The bill does not include earmarks, or funding set aside for specific projects.

Under the House bill, Washington state would receive nearly $530 million for highway, road and bridge construction, $216.5 million to construct and maintain public transit and almost $101 million for wastewater treatment projects, Larsen said.

UPDATE FROM OLYMPIA: Gov Chris Gregoire's budget office said the $850 million for infrastructure on highways, transit and sewage treatment project in Washington most likely is just a subset of an overall amount the state eventually will get.

That's only 1 percent of the total $825 billion nationwise and Washington can reasonably expect to get twice the amount announced so far. A U.S. Senate plan has money for public school and college construction, too.

Tacoma architect Jim Merritt formally announced his run for Tacoma mayor this morning, though the news was already out.

Merritt is the first to formally announce a run for the seat that will be vacated by Bill Baarsma, who is barred by the city's term limit from running again.

His campaign Web site calls Merritt a "key figure for the Tacoma renaissance" and notes his work on Tacoma's Union Station and Federal Courthouse.

Merritt cites increased transparency and accountability in city government as top priorities. Job creation, roads, the city's library system and improving civic pride are also mentioned.

"I feel that Tacoma needs a fellow citizen and business owner from the private sector with a
clear new workable vision for today and for the future," Merritt said in a release. "I have the knowledge and experience to achieve the results needed to make that vision turn into our reality."

Click ahead to read the full press release.

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Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, has introduced a bill that says the Department of Corrections doesn't have to supervise low-risk or moderate-risk violent offenders after they get out of prison or jail.

It's a money-saving move. It also goes beyond what Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed in her budget. That is, even fewer ex-cons would be supervised.

Hargrove is chairman of the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee.

UPDATE: Hargrove's staff said SB 5288 will save the state at least $15 million in lower supervision costs in the 2009-11 budget cycle and another $2-3 million this budget cycle if it gets enacted by March.

An anonymous community corrections officer brought Senate Bill 5288 to my attention. He said he was worried about community safety and all the jobs DOC would be getting rid of, about 400.

Here a bill report. It's a layman's explanation of what the bill says. The bill says who will still be supervised, but you have to know who is supervised now to really figure out what the change it. I have to do some more research.

Prosecutors and cops testified in favor of the bill, and it's not because they want less supervision of bad guys. They just figure the supervision cutbacks are more truthful of what actually is already happening in the community.

I wrote a story about most of this on Jan. 5.