House Democrats will unveil their budget Tuesday and negotiators from the House, Senate and Gov. Chris Gregoire's office will continue their behind-the-scenes talks to reconcile differences in their respective spending plans before the Legislature adjourns April 26.

Here's the story I wrote for Tuesday's newsprint edition, with some highlights below.

BY Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com

House Democrats are expected to take a different path to closing an estimated $9 billion gap between state spending and tax collections Tuesday when they release their budget proposal, and it doesn’t include shutting down the state prison on McNeil Island.

“We don’t close McNeil,” said state Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, chairwoman of the House General Government Appropriations Committee, which helps set the budget for the state Department of Corrections.

Darneille said Monday the handling of McNeil Island is only one example of how the House and Senate will differ in their approaches to a state spending plan for the next 28 months.

In general, the Senate budget proposes to make deeper cuts in fewer areas of state spending, while the House budget would make shallower cuts to a broader number of programs, she said.

Senate Democrats, who outnumber Republicans 31-18, unveiled their 2009-11 budget Monday. They propose to use $3 billion in federal stimulus funds, part of the Rainy Day savings account, transfers from building and other funds and a wage freeze for 250,000 state and public school employees to narrow the budget gap. Still, they will have to make about $3.85 billion in actual spending cuts to state programs, said Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

[More:]

Overall, about 7,000 state and school jobs would be eliminated, college enrollment slots would be cut by 10,500 and health-care funding for the poor, state workers and to hospitals and nursing homes would be cut.

“This is very painful for us personally,” said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. “It does not eliminate the social safety net,” but it does make severe cuts, she said.

The General Assistance Unemployable program, which provides a $339 monthly stipend and health coverage to those who cannot work because if mental or physical ailments, would be cut by $60 million, but would not be eliminated. Instead, enrollment could be cut to 13,000 from 16,000, the stipend will be smaller and people can stay on assistance for no more than a year.

Likewise, the state-subsidized Basic Health Plan for low-income working families would be cut by $250 million, or 42 percent, reducing enrollment from 106,000 to about 60,000. But a drug treatment program that costs the state $225 million, Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Service Act, would be preserved in its entirety. It serves 6,000 people.

Funding for public schools would be cut by $1.2 billion, but $300 million in federal funds would be used to restore some school programs. Other savings would be made by letting some inmates out of prison sooner and shortening the time they remain under supervision in the community.

“I suspect they are not any happier with their budget than I was with mine,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire, who was faced with a $6 billion deficit when she proposed her budget in mid-December. “But we must do our best under the current circumstances to develop a budget that will see us through these difficult times and protect the things we value most – our children, education and health care.”

Brown said the economic picture has worsened so dramatically over the past three months that Senate had to cut 60 percent deeper than Gregoire did. Brown offered no specifics on possible plans for a tax package to put on the fall ballot. She said only that lawmakers would seek feedback on their budget cut proposal, “then we’ll go from there.”

Rep. Gary Alexander of Olympia, top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said doesn’t really address the problem because it uses too many gimmicks.

“The Senate’s solution to closing the state’s nearly $9 billion budget shortfall is short-sighted, relies too much on one-time money, attempts to bait the public into buying off on a tax increase, and sets us up for budget shortfalls in the near future,” he said Monday.

Senate Democrats also would cut by hundreds of million of dollars the amount of money the reimburse hospitals for taking care of indigent patients.

“Our job is to put patients first, but we’re facing the most severe budget problem in the last 30 years and our health care safety net is threatened in a way none of us can remember,” said Leo Greenawalt, president of the Washington Sate Hospital Association. He said it will affect patients with private insurance, too.

“Hospitals will cut services. We’ll see longer wait times and a reduction in the quality of care at the exact time when more people need hospital care,” he said. “This makes absolutely no sense.”

The hospitals and community clinic operators are among those who are working on a tax increase to put to voters.

The Senate proposed closing McNeil Island Correction Center in mid-2010 and transferring its 1,300 inmates and hundreds of staff and inmates programs to other prisons to save about $16 million. Darneille said the House will achieve those savings through other methods.

More than $850 million would be left in savings as a hedge against a further downturn of the economy and corresponding tax collections. The budget also would raise about $233 million in new money by eliminating several tax breaks, opening 15 more liquor stores and by going after more businesses that don’t pay their taxes.

Joseph Turner: 253-597-8436
blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics

Here are some highlights from the Senate budget. It would:

--Tell state agencies to cut their budgets by $257 million, the equivalent of 1,200 jobs, but would give them the latitude to avoid layoffs by encouraging workers to voluntarily take time off without pay.
--Eliminate 5,800 additional jobs -- 1,000 in state government, 2,500 in state colleges and 2,300 in public schools.
--Reduce enrollment in state colleges and universities by 10,500 fewer students than today.
--Close state prison on McNeil Island in mid-2010 and transfer its 1,300 inmates and hundreds of staff and inmate programs to other prisons.
--Shut down Green Hill School for juvenile offenders in Lewis County and the Yakima Valley School for developmentally disabled.
--Reduce enrollment in the Adult Day Health program by limiting services only to those who live in their homes.
--Increase tuition by 7 percent at four-year colleges and by 5 percent at two-year colleges.
--Cut enrollment in the state-subsidized Basic Health Plan to 60,000 from the current 106,000.
--Assume collection of a $5 vehicle registration donation to pay for parks, to keep all state parks open, plus give them $4 million more for maintenance.
--Leave $854 million in emergency savings accounts.
--Freeze pay for $250,000 state and public school workers, as well as contract employees who provide home care and child care.
--Reduce state contributions into employee pension plans by $411 million.
--Make state and school workers pay a bigger share of their medical coverage, perhaps with higher co-pays for doctor visits or a larger portion of premium costs.
--Spend more than $3 billion in federal economic stimulus funds.
-- Reduce the $339 monthly stipend and limit to 12 months the amount of time people can get medical coverage under the General Assistance Unemployable program, lowering enrollment to 13,000 from 16,000.
--Cut $582 million that now goes to beef up ratio of teachers in first-, second, third- and fourth-grade classes, and cut extra money for schools with lots of children from low-income families.
--Cut funding for four-year colleges by 19 percent (by only 11 percent if they raise tuition by the maximum.)
--Lower state payments to hospitals by 5 percent.
--Transfer $743 million from construction projects to pay for other state programs.
--Save $61 million by shortening prison sentences and letting ex-convicts off community supervision early.
--Preserve the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Support Act (ADATSA) program, which costs the state about $225 million over two years, to provide services to 6,000 people.
--Reduce per-student funding from voter-approved Initiative 728 to $31 from the current $458 per year.
--Eliminate two teacher training days.
--Let 25 percent of ex-convicts who violate terms of their release from jail spend there time in home detention.
--Spend $12 million for criminal background checks and some extra training for home-care workers.
--Reduce capacity for civil commitments at Western State Hospital by 120, a cut of 13 percent.
--Shift $15 million from state auditor performance audit budget to legislative committees that conduct audits.
--Set aside money to cover a 25 percent increase in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families enrollment, and a 3 percent boost to cash grants for some 55,000 welfare recipients.
--Reduce funding for drug and alcohol detox programs for low-income people.