This post was originally published at noon today. It has now been updated with comments from the Governor's office.


Gov. Chris Gregoire's spokesman Glenn Kuper says tomorrow's all-cuts budget will include cuts "of the size and magnitude" of eliminating entire programs. Asked specifically if the $341 million Basic Health Plan would get the axe (the plan currently covers 79,000 working poor people), Kuper said, "I can't confirm that for you now."

But he emphatically said "Yes" when asked if we could expect to see that type of cut. "There's no way to avoid it," he said.

He said the Governor would propose an alternate budget "in early January" that would restore the programs with recommended revenue proposals. Kuper also said that Gov. Gregoire would make it clear tomorrow which programs—other things on the block are adult day health centers, higher education, and prisons—she will propose restoring.

The governor is required by law to submit a balanced budget based on current revenues. However, she can submit an alternate proposal.

Original Post:

Gov. Chris Gregoire is set to release her proposed budget tomorrow at 9 am in Olympia, and as everyone knows, it's not going to be pretty. After dealing with a $9 billion shortfall last session and still balancing the budget (all cuts, no revenue), the thankless recession has handed the state another $2.6 billion shortfall.

Even though the budget is about $30 billion, there's only about $8 billion in discretionary funds left—most of it in health care for the poor and elderly and education.



I talked to Jerry Reilly, chair of the Elder Care Alliance, to get a sense of what we're actually talking about. Reilly is worried that the state Department of Social and Health Services' budget recommendation  to save $12.8 million by phasing out adult day health care, which serves nearly 2000 low-income seniors, will be part of Gregoire's all-cuts plan.

Part of the program was temporarily cut last year—until the courts ruled that the seniors hadn't been given due notice, and it was restored. Reilly says that of the 700 people who went without nursing services over the summer, many who've returned had been devastated by the loss of care. "People who could walk can no longer walk, and people who could talk, can no longer talk," he says.

Reilly is also worried about an $8.4 million cut to health insurance for home care workers, which would leave more than 5,000 workers who care for low-income senior without health care of their own.

Gov. Gregoire has already condemned an all-cuts budget, but given that she has to submit a balanced budget based on current revenues, we should expect grim numbers tomorrow.

I've got a call in to the Community Health Network of Washington—which monitors the state's Basic Health Plan (the state's version of Medicaid)—to hear their take on rumors that the BHP is on the chopping block.

I've also got a call in to the governor's office. Word is: The Governor is not going to submit an alternate budget (with a new revenues column) until several weeks into the session so that "the severity of the cuts sink in," according to one source familiar with today's budgeting politics in Olympia.

I'll update as I hear back.