Opinion
Sunday Op-Ed
PubliCola is debuting a new weekly feature today—a Sunday guest Op-Ed by a prominent local leader.
We ran a few guest Op-Eds during February—one by State Attorney General, Rob McKenna ; one by Rob Johnson, Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition; and one co-written by Kate Joncas, President of the Downtown Seattle Association, Helle Sohlt, founding partner of Gehl Architects in Copenhagen, and Todd Vogel, Director of the International Sustainability Institute.
But those editorials ran during the week. No offense to Rob, Rob, Kate, Helle, and Todd, but there's just something more prestigious about a Sunday Op-Ed.
Today's Sunday Cola Op-Ed is by State Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-34), a leader of the ad-hoc group of 16 House legislators called the Blue/Green Alliance—a group we've written quite a bit about in the last few days during the House budget negotiations.
During the 2009 legislative session, a group of House Democrats, of which I am a member, joined together over a shared concern for working families’ issues and environmental issues to form the Blue/Green Alliance. I am proud of the difference we have made this session in advancing a progressive agenda in Olympia.
During difficult budget deliberations, our group has been consistent in calling for the restoration of more programs, and a larger revenue increase, than originally proposed in the House and Senate budgets. There have been some points on which we have been particularly insistent:
• Critical state programs, including Basic Health, GA-U, class-size reduction for K-4, long-term care for seniors and the disabled, and Working Connections Child Care, should not be cut to the point that they are not functional.
• An increase in the hazardous substances tax can pay for job-creating clean water projects and also be part of our general fund revenue solution.
•We must provide funding to protect the integrity of the state’s health care plan upon which 320,000 citizens in this state rely.
We didn’t achieve everything we asked for during budget deliberations—nobody did. And for some of our members, the cuts were still too deep for them to feel comfortable voting for the budget.
However, by articulating our budget priorities to our caucus and our leadership, we saved several high-priority programs from further cuts.
Working with the Rep. Kelli Linville, Chair of the Ways & Means Committee, we were able to restore $8 million to environmental programs, including $3.5 million for toxics cleanup and $625,000 for growth management. These programs are incredibly important for protecting our natural resources for generations to come.
Additionally, we were able to restore $1.7 million to adult day health programs, and restore 14 mental health nursing jobs at Western and Eastern State Hospitals. I am proud of these achievements, and I am proud to be part of a group that is willing to advocate for our collective priorities. The willingness of Rep. Linville to consider these priorities and to support many of them showed an interest in collaboration that we greatly appreciate.
Meanwhile, we still haven’t taken the toughest step of all—an increase in state revenues to fund the gap between the adopted budget and the state’s projected revenue. As we look to this next step, the Blue/Green Alliance is strongly supporting a revenue approach that is big enough to keep critical state services afloat, that doesn’t burden the poor more than the rich (as our current tax system does), and that ensures that everyone in the state pays their fair share for the things that make our state a great place to live. Rep. Ross Hunter, Chair of the House Finance Committee, has welcomed our input, and the House is moving towards a revenue package that will close a number of corporate tax loopholes that are unfair to working families.
In the closing days of the session, I am encouraged by a number of positive signs. Job growth has returned to Washington—the highest projected job growth in the nation. A long-overdue discussion about tax reform is underway in the state senate. And the diversity of viewpoints in the House Democratic Caucus is continuing to strengthen our ability to address the historic challenges faced by our state.
None of us will be happy with every item that is or is not in the budget or the revenue package, but I am proud of the role we played in putting together a thoughtful budget in the most difficult budget year any of us have ever faced.
Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) represents the 34th Legislative District, which includes West Seattle, Burien, White Center, and Vashon and Maury Islands.
[Editor's Note: As we reported last week, the Hazardous Substance Tax was gutted in the House budget. And on Saturday we reported that the Working Connections Child Care amendment failed in the House. It is still in the Senate budget, and Rep. Nelson says she hopes it will be in the final document.]
We ran a few guest Op-Eds during February—one by State Attorney General, Rob McKenna ; one by Rob Johnson, Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition; and one co-written by Kate Joncas, President of the Downtown Seattle Association, Helle Sohlt, founding partner of Gehl Architects in Copenhagen, and Todd Vogel, Director of the International Sustainability Institute.
But those editorials ran during the week. No offense to Rob, Rob, Kate, Helle, and Todd, but there's just something more prestigious about a Sunday Op-Ed.
Today's Sunday Cola Op-Ed is by State Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-34), a leader of the ad-hoc group of 16 House legislators called the Blue/Green Alliance—a group we've written quite a bit about in the last few days during the House budget negotiations.
Advancing a Progressive Agenda in Olympia
by Rep. Sharon Nelson
During the 2009 legislative session, a group of House Democrats, of which I am a member, joined together over a shared concern for working families’ issues and environmental issues to form the Blue/Green Alliance. I am proud of the difference we have made this session in advancing a progressive agenda in Olympia.
During difficult budget deliberations, our group has been consistent in calling for the restoration of more programs, and a larger revenue increase, than originally proposed in the House and Senate budgets. There have been some points on which we have been particularly insistent:
• Critical state programs, including Basic Health, GA-U, class-size reduction for K-4, long-term care for seniors and the disabled, and Working Connections Child Care, should not be cut to the point that they are not functional.
• An increase in the hazardous substances tax can pay for job-creating clean water projects and also be part of our general fund revenue solution.
•We must provide funding to protect the integrity of the state’s health care plan upon which 320,000 citizens in this state rely.
We didn’t achieve everything we asked for during budget deliberations—nobody did. And for some of our members, the cuts were still too deep for them to feel comfortable voting for the budget.
However, by articulating our budget priorities to our caucus and our leadership, we saved several high-priority programs from further cuts.
Working with the Rep. Kelli Linville, Chair of the Ways & Means Committee, we were able to restore $8 million to environmental programs, including $3.5 million for toxics cleanup and $625,000 for growth management. These programs are incredibly important for protecting our natural resources for generations to come.
Additionally, we were able to restore $1.7 million to adult day health programs, and restore 14 mental health nursing jobs at Western and Eastern State Hospitals. I am proud of these achievements, and I am proud to be part of a group that is willing to advocate for our collective priorities. The willingness of Rep. Linville to consider these priorities and to support many of them showed an interest in collaboration that we greatly appreciate.
Meanwhile, we still haven’t taken the toughest step of all—an increase in state revenues to fund the gap between the adopted budget and the state’s projected revenue. As we look to this next step, the Blue/Green Alliance is strongly supporting a revenue approach that is big enough to keep critical state services afloat, that doesn’t burden the poor more than the rich (as our current tax system does), and that ensures that everyone in the state pays their fair share for the things that make our state a great place to live. Rep. Ross Hunter, Chair of the House Finance Committee, has welcomed our input, and the House is moving towards a revenue package that will close a number of corporate tax loopholes that are unfair to working families.
In the closing days of the session, I am encouraged by a number of positive signs. Job growth has returned to Washington—the highest projected job growth in the nation. A long-overdue discussion about tax reform is underway in the state senate. And the diversity of viewpoints in the House Democratic Caucus is continuing to strengthen our ability to address the historic challenges faced by our state.
None of us will be happy with every item that is or is not in the budget or the revenue package, but I am proud of the role we played in putting together a thoughtful budget in the most difficult budget year any of us have ever faced.
Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) represents the 34th Legislative District, which includes West Seattle, Burien, White Center, and Vashon and Maury Islands.
[Editor's Note: As we reported last week, the Hazardous Substance Tax was gutted in the House budget. And on Saturday we reported that the Working Connections Child Care amendment failed in the House. It is still in the Senate budget, and Rep. Nelson says she hopes it will be in the final document.]
