This time, state tax collections are $41 million less that what was predicted back in March. This is for the period between April 11 and May 10.

Cumulative shortfall is $96 million for the past two months. Not good.

On the other hand, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council says the economly is sending mixed messages, which is typical of the beginning of a recovery.

Here's the May 10 report.

Well, it must be a desperate situation because her office is asking for an exemption to the statewide hiring freeze that the Legislature renewed back in February.

Hal Spencer, former Associated Press reporter here at the state capital for many years, finally has retired for the 3rd or 4th time since leaving AP nine years ago. He left The Guv's office April 30. It's May 11. So, this truly is an emergency.

"It is crucial," said Pearse Edwards, the governor's communications director and main guy in charge of constituent something-or-others. "She's got 14 speeches between now and the 20th, not counting weekends."

The job pays about $63,000 a year, he said. (Hear that, my former P.I., Times, TNT, Olympian, TriCity colleagues? But you'd have to move down here to Olympia, which has a whole different ambience than Seattle.)

Here's the Hiring Freeze Exemption request.

So, who will be deciing whether to grant the governor's communications office an exemption to the hiring freeze? That woudl be the governor's budget office. "It's in a whole 'nother building," Edwards dead-panned.

UPDATE: Victor Moore, the guv's budget director, approved the exemption for the speechwriting job, BEFORE I EVEN FINISHED WRITING THE POST!

"It's up to the speechwriter to get basic information about the event (graduations, policy statements, keynote addresses) and prepare talking points or speeches for the governor," the job description says. "This position must be able to accurately research and reflect the governor's voice and policy issues into draft speeches in a timely manner so that the governor can review and edit them prior to an event."

(So, you can see there's at least four reasons why I'm not applying for the job.)

As for Hal, he'll turn up again somewhere, probably as a park ranger or something.

He claims, quite absurdly, that he's up for a "greeter" job at Wal-Mart, "except you have to be cheerful. That's going to be a challenge."

Just working my way through the 2009-11 operating budget (House Bill 1244) and I see there is $642,000 to operate the Veteran's Cemetery in Eastern Washington.

The feds are paying to build it. Washington's Department of Veteran's Affairs will run it.

DVA spokeswoman Heidi Audette said start of construction is probably a couple months away.

Part of the money for the cemetery operations comes from those military license plates you see on vehicles on the roadway -- Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard. There were 10,501 out there as of the end of March. Each plate owner pays $28 a year to DAV that goes toward the cemetery project.

The Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent is the veteran's cemetery on this side of the mountains. That's a federal cemetery. The Eastern Washington one will be a state run facility.

You have to read about 5 paragraphs down into the news release to find the real story.

DOL has suspended plans to close offices in some rural communities due to excessive driving distances. These communities include: Walla Walla, Poulsbo, Forks, Friday Harbor and Goldendale.

Many questioned the wisdom of closing so many Department of Licensing offices, especially in rural areas. The AP brought some light to this. Here's a link to The Associated Press story that ran back on April 11.

By the way, the "West Tacoma" office (which I think is really in University Place) is still slated for closure.

DEPARTMENT OF LICENSING
May 11, 2009 — For Immediate Release

DOL moves on driver licensing office consolidation plans

OLYMPIA—The Department of Licensing (DOL) is moving forward with plans to consolidate services in 25 Licensing Service Offices (LSOs) around the state.

DOL is working with rural communities to find ways to maintain a presence in their area, but at the same time save taxpayer’s dollars by sharing locations with other government agencies.

“We have not taken a cookie cutter approach to our office closures or service changes,” said DOL Director Liz Luce. “We recognize each location is unique and we are actively working with community leaders to continue to meet service demand while looking for ways to minimize costs.”

=> Read more!

Majority Democrats made a big deal about the "belt-tightening" bill they passed and sent to Gov. Chris Gregoire about halfway through the legislative session. House Bill 1694 was supposed to reduce the deficit by about $600 million -- cutting state spending by $300 million and using federal funds (instead of state money) to pay for another $300 million worth of stuff.

Turns out, budget-writers actually backtracked on their spending cuts for the current 2007-09 budget, restoring some of the much-ballyhooed cuts they made to nursing homes. They did so in the final budget, the one that The Guv is going to sign next week.

Here's the part that should make voters suspicious: Nursing homes got more money out of state budget-writers after it because obvious there would be no tax referendum to buy back the cuts they were going take in an earlier version of the state budgets.

Which begs the question: Was that first budget, the "people-will-die" budget, a contrivance? A budget designed to make it easier to sell to voters because lives would be at stake?

You be the judge. Here's what happened.

=> Read more!

As I reported in Sunday's roundup of what happened in the 2009 legislative session, unemployment checks are going up this week. There are two increases at work -- $45 a week from the state and $25 a week from Congress.

Plus, since it took state Employment Security awhile to set up its computers, there are some retro amounts in some checks. The state says 171,000 people are drawing unemployment checks this week, down from 200,000 in March.

Unemployment benefits rise as a result of stimulus packages

OLYMPIA – About $10 million a week will be pumped into Washington’s economy due to unemployment benefit increases that begin showing up in benefit payments today, according to Gov. Chris Gregoire.

“Surviving on unemployment is tough. This additional money will give our state’s workers a little extra to pay their bills while they look for a new job,” said Gregoire. “Our communities also will benefit, since most of the money will be spent at local businesses.”

Unemployment claimants will get two increases, courtesy of separate state and federal economic recovery legislation.

Gregoire and the state Legislature approved a temporary increase in unemployment benefits that applies only to Washington workers. It includes an increase in the minimum benefit amount – from $129 a week to $155 – plus an additional $45 for most unemployment claimants.

=> Read more!

Jason Mercier at the Washington Policy Center raises this question, indirectly, in his post from last week.

Here's the deal: Initiative 960 will be 2 years old when the Legislature reconvenes for a 60-day session in January 2010. That means lawmaker can more easily amend the voter-approved measure with a simple majority vote. And that means they could change I-960 to say that taxes can be raised by only a simple majority vote.

(It takes a two-thirds majority to change any part of an initiative during the first two years it is on the books. Thereafter, 50 percent, plus 1.)

Mercier raises that possibility, based on comments from Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.

Here is a link to Mercier's post on Friday, which has the Kohl-Welles video snippet from her TVW appearance.

Keep in mind, Kohl-Welles is elected for life. She's in a safe Seattle district, so safe that she can sponsor bills to introduce a state income tax. So you can't take what she says as an indication of what her fellow Democrats might do.

You think Democrats would be any more likely to raise taxes on their own going into a November election? Hardly. They couldn't even get the votes in the House to put a tax proposal on the ballot this session. What if the economy gets worse? The jobless rate in Washington will be 10 percent by then. Will that matter?

About the only thing you can count on is that next session there will be lots of pressure on Democratic majorities (62-36 in the House; 31-18 in the Senate) to change I-960. And then?

Today we should get the May 10 update on state tax collections for the preceeding month. Stay tuned.

Tacoma City Councilman Jake Fey has announced his intention to run for the District 2 seat again.

Tacoma, WA, May 10, 2009 - On Wednesday, May 13 Jake Fey and his supporters will launch his re-election campaign for Tacoma City Council District 2.  The kick off event will be held at the Hub (located at 203 Tacoma Ave. South in the Stadium District) at 5:30 PM.  Featured speakers include neighborhood advocates and business leaders to illustrate the many accomplishments Jake Fey has led in his first four years on the Council.

Many questions remain about how the economic downturn will impact the City of Tacoma. How deep will the cuts have to be? How will city services change?

City Manager Eric Anderson on Friday released a 7-page memo answering City Council members' follow-up questions to an earlier economic report.

The very last one is good news for anyone who drives on city streets.

I touched on this briefly after the public hearing before the Tacoma City Council last week, but this was in the City Manager's report on Friday.

The city is going to receive $1.18 million in federal funds to help with homelessness or near-homelessness caused by the economic downturn. The money is to be divided up for different services including direct financial assistance and support services.

Local homeless service providers suggested the money might go further if the proposed allocations were flipped flopped and combined with local housing vouchers.

Here's what John Briehl, director of the city Human Rights & Human Services Department wrote to city manager Eric Anderson:

While there may be merit to this proposal, the details of the approach are not yet mature and the impact of such a change at this late date in the process may have unintended consequences. In the meantime, staff recommends that the allocations remain as proposed...

The plan is before the City Council this week in the form on a resolution to amend the Consolidated Plan Annual Action Plan.

The City Council meeting looks fairly light this week.

* There's a resolution to contract with Pierce County Security, Inc. for security guard services at the Municipal Building. It runs $120,697 for the initial two-year contract with three one-year renewal options.

* Another $40,000 contract with Asphalt Patch Systems Inc., an increase in the 2008 Sidewalk Maintenance program.

* They're also scheduled to finalize the plans for the $1.18 million in federal money for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing, which was the subject of the public hearing last week.

* An a resolution authorizing application for a $2.17 million Department of Justice grant for crime-fighting efforts.