(bold print is new information, as related to last months report)

THE WASHINGTON LEGISLATIVE SESSION APPROACHING HALF OVER –
This years biennium budget adopting session is nearly half over, and as in recent years the Legislature is so far mostly kicking the can down the road. Most of the legislation mentioned in the 7 page report last month is not finished. There are significant concerns from many agencies being impacted by the severe proposed budget cuts. Major areas of concern are education funding, health and human services, illegal immigration bills, and public employee unions have taken much of the press, as a result of the attention created by events in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and other states related to unsustainable public employee benefit packages. The other subject associated with public employee unions is the political corruption potentially associated with the power of public unions over the needs and wishes of the general public, which pays for their wages, benefits, and retirements. The retirement packages, in particular have caused many states, including Washington, to fall into the budget shortfall abyss.

STATE BUDGET –
As mentioned last month, the Legislature adopted a budget for the current biennium, which is nearing completion at the end of June. It was 4.2 Billion higher than the previous budget. With the slowing economy, the state has found it necessary to amend the budget several times. States are required to balance budgets, in contrast to the federal government. Our state’s shortfall, as a percent of the general fund is the third highest in the nation. The shortfall remaining in December 2010 was 1.1 Billion. The Legislature met for one day, and cut that figure about in half. One of the few bills passed so far in the current session cut about half of the remaining shortfall, but still leaves about 250 Million unresolved. Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1086 “An Act Relating to fiscal matters” was adopted on February 18, 2011. It is a 248 page bill, and the Governor promptly, on the same day, vetoed Sections 123(5), 707, 708,709 and 710. Her reasons are posted on her web site, and for the most part make sense. One of the problems raised by delays in addressing the budget shortfall until just before it is too late to do so is that it creates opportunities for miscalculations. That appears to be the gist of the discrepancies the Governor has with this bill. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party in power, is waiting for final caseload, enrollment, and revenue forecasts for this biennium before determining the rest of the cuts. Problem is, the biennium is over the end of June, and those cuts should be happening now in many cases.

The shortfall anticipated for the next biennium has not been dealt with yet, and that is close to 5 Billion. One piece of good economic news is the award of the large Air Force contract to Boeing. It is doubtful that will kick min for some time. The likelihood of an extended Legislative session seems probable.

THE FERRY SYSTEM –
The Governor proposed creating a new ferry system that would be funded by new taxes against property on a county by county basis where ferry service exists. As you might expect, the counties are opposed to this, and in our case in Island County, when you add this to the new water quality tax, the impact would be substantial. Even the Seattle Times has editorialized that this is a bad idea.

69% of the ferry budget is in personnel costs. You may recall that King 5 news did a major story on the huge waste in overtime by engineers, etc in the system, the buying of condos for crews to lay over in the San Juans, and so on. Can you think of any ways for economies of scale in the system? There have also been poor performance audit reports from  our State Auditor in recent years.

There are some bills in process related to the ferry system. HB 1511 (fairness in bargaining). HB 1512 (operations efficiencies). HB 1516 (Performance accountability).

Significant increases in fares have been proposed as an alternative as well, and reductions in sailings. At least the management had indicated they are dropping the shifting of the Mukilteo terminal to Edmonds or Everett, which would create additional time and mileage for most Island riders. We should be very concerned about the problem in the Middle East as related to gasoline cost. This would affect travel, the cost of food, and other commodities.

These proposals will be tied to the budget analysis.

EDUCATION –
Much of this legislation is tied up with the budget process also. So far the presidents of the four major universities have testified that their world will end if the Legislature makes further cuts to higher ed. There are rumblings that students may protest in some fashion as well.

K –12 education will be seeing more reductions in funding for things not considered related to the State’s mandated by the state constitution. A recent case has been reported on of waste in K-12 funding since last months report. The Seattle Public school district, according to a state audit, dubiously spent 2 Million dollars on a program to pre train minority contractors to bid on school district contracts. The individual managing this program owned one of the companies benefiting from this program, and much of the money expended was not accounted for. When folks inside the district warned those in power to fix the problem, they were treated as tough they were racist, effectively shutting down the investigation. More importantly, does this politically type program have anything to do with the mission of educating students. Most likely the funds needed now to defend this behavior will further detract form potential education funding.

The second demanding theme of public education is wrapped up in the issues seen the last two weeks in Wisconsin. The WEA political clout is one of the primary reasons we have not seen substantive improvements in student achievement. When will folks here understand the impropriety of public employee unions who use their conscripted dues to control voting their bosses into office?

Higher ed is looking for authority to pass tuition increases without Legislative approval when the State support is reduced. There is a push, including comments in the recent Presidential State of the Union address, to improve our educational performance, particularly in math and science. We have fallen behind in relation to other industrialized nations in this regard. There is concern, and rightfully so, that we will fall behind in scientific advances which have kept America the leader in the World. The problem is, the only suggestion government can bring to the table on this is more money, for a much politicized, and failing, national education system. This was a significant driving force behind the proposal for a new state income tax last year. The same approach is suggested by most of the state systems, including Washington State. The public basic ed system operations are dominated by the strong public unions of teachers. This has been a road block to many of the reforms we need to take us back to a better functioning program.

There are some bills in the Legislature this year aimed at basic education issues. For the most part they miss the target, in my opinion, having served on a public school board for 10 years. There is significant waste yet in both higher ed, and K – 12 programs. Some examples are the retire rehire program, that lets teachers, and administrators retire, and then come back to work in 30 days at the old job, and draw retirement funds in addition to the salary. It also allows final pay, which determines retirement salary for each individual to increase the base over time. This was reported on by the Seattle Times last year, however, for some reason they left out examples of this which are happening in basic ed as well. There are also concerns about the amount of time the professionals are actually in front of students at both levels of instruction. In the case of college, it is interns often doing the work of professors, and in basic ed it is all the time allotted for teacher planning, which is taken from the students time. In basic ed, there are what is termed ghost days for this purpose. The state pays for an equivalent of 4 days training in the school year. Some districts combine them into 4 full days by being granted a waiver from the 180 minimum required by state law, and others spread them out over 8 days so students show up for half a day. Another example is that many school districts now hold parent teacher conferences in daytime hours for up to a week. Students come in for the morning (so the district gets funding credit for the student FTE count), and they are then sent home for the second half of the day. In our society today, many times both parents work, which leaves latchkey kids, without good supervision part of the day. This problem is magnified by the above examples of time away from the classroom. Parents have to scramble to find extra day care, or no supervision during those times. Then many districts add additional days of pay when students are not present. Those are paid from the local levy rather than state funds. In any case, it is expense that is not directly benefiting students. The state auditor, by a public approved initiative was given authority to provide performance audits of various state agencies, including schools. These issues should be disclosed so there is a better public understanding of where efficiencies can be made in public education spending, and improvements in student learning, which most agree is necessary for a strong future, and economy.

There are a couple of bills I will comment on. HB 1414 authorizes waivers from state requirements at the local district level. There are already opportunities for waivers, such a minimum seat time, and total days of instruction. Those have been abused, and there are really no standards required to prove those modifications are working.

HB 1415 would take public ed funding out of the general state budget process to deal with it before addressing the entire state budget. The state constitution already requires that basic education be a primary responsibility of the state, therefore, the benefits of this seem questionable.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION –
New since last month’s report, the Seattle Times reported on February 2, 2011, that one fifth of the workers in the state are illegal immigrants. They indicate the number of illegal immigrants has jumped 35% in just the last three years. This gives this state the seventh highest percentage of illegal immigrants in the Country. This state, Utah, and New Mexico are the only states that allow illegal immigrants to hold drivers licenses. The logical question should be, since this activity is clearly illegal, how can all these people be here, and counted by the government? This makes the commentary , and legislation discussed last month below, even more relevant.

There is legislation to require proof of citizenship to acquire a state driver’s license. This would be a good improvement in a number of areas, where significant costs are occurring. It will also improve the security of our votes, since driver’s licenses   are allowed as evidence to legally register to vote in WA State.

Washington State has become a magnet for illegal immigration. A recent report from the Pew Hispanic Center found that one fifth of the workers, and five percent of the population in WA State are illegal immigrants. This represents a 35% increase over the last three years. This is the seventh highest increase in illegal immigrants of all the states. A significant part of the magnetism for WA  State is, we are one of only three states which allow drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. A drivers license is used as evidence of legal identity, therefore, obtaining a license, (without proof of legal residency), opens the door for obtaining government benefits, REGISTER TO VOTE, gaining access to more positive types of ID, such as passports, and so on.

As the federal government has cut back on some benefits to illegal immigrants, such as Medicaid costs for health care for illegal immigrant children, WA State has picked up those extra costs. That item alone is forecast to cost $59 Million in the 2011-2013 biennium. The cost of food stamps for illegal immigrants is $45 Million. Senator Zarelli recently indicated the state spends about $270 Million each biennium on healthcare, welfare, and child care for farm workers, and on illegal immigrant prisoners. There are also costs to public education, where for example, English as a second language has often required the hiring of additional staff to accommodate that need.

In past periods of severe economic downturns, our nation has restricted the flow of illegal immigration. In recent years, there seems to be interest in looking away from this problem by one party for the purpose of creating more people voting sympathetically to their causes. Members of the other party have constituents who take advantage of the cheap labor offered from illegal immigrants. There has always been a need for lower cost labor in the agriculture industry, however, it is time we recognize that the general public is then required to pick up the slack for the social services needed by this low income labor group. Not all illegals are working in low paying jobs. This problem has inundated the construction industry as well. There have been cases where employers have taken advantage of the illegal nature of these employees to withhold benefits, such as social security, or in some cases, deduct it, and then not forward it to the government.

With over 9% of the workforce drawing unemployment for the last two years, this has become more of a focus this year in proposed legislation. There is perhaps a more sinister problem with this issue. Washington State is a border state. A recent Pew report indicates 57 % of illegal immigrants are from Mexico, however, the rest are from other areas of the World. A recent report from the Government Accountability Office, (the watchdog arm of Congress), indicates most of the 4000 mile border with Canada lacks control of illegal access to America. The report indicated that only 1007 miles of the border had the capability to detect illegal border crossings, and only 32 miles “had reached an acceptable level of security”. There are also indications that Canada has more Islamist extremist groups than Mexico. We have about 300 of those miles along our border, yet our second congressional district rep answered concerns from the Senate Homeland Security in this regard was overblown, and no problem. There have been problems with the flow of extremely strong pot from Canada in recent years also. There are, and will be increasing public costs in dealing with the myriad of problems associated with illegal immigration.

There are several bills associated with this in the current session of the Legislature. There are two, which I will comment on. Senator Haugen of our 10th district has entered SB 5407. It will require every Washington applicant for a driver’s license to have a verified Social Security number. To get that number you have to prove legal status. A potential weak spot in this bill, is that it is possible to get legal status with a visa for work, or education, and that time expires. Checking with Social Security will not detect this change in status.

Another bill, SB5333 has been submitted by Senator Val Stevens from Arlington. It is more thorough, and does require verification of current legal status. Since Senator Haugen is in the majority party, and chair of the Senate Transportation committee, it is perhaps more likely her version will be adopted. A hearing of the committee is planned for Thursday, February 3rd.

SO HOW CAN WE THE PEOPLE FIND A PUBLIC VOICE IN THE DEBATE–
The Legislature, particularly on a budget year such as this one, will see thousands of proposed bills, which can affect us. Perhaps only 300 will survive all the votes our representatives will make in committee, or finally on the floors of the Senate and House, and finally survive combining versions from both houses. So how can we keep up with this, and offer testimony to our representatives, which may be needed to offset the normal, and intense input from special interest groups, such as various public unions, county, and city governments, etc.

First, create and maintain a dialog with your representatives. This is best done when they are not in session, however, once they are aware of your concerns, odds are they will notify you of bills which relate to issues you have expressed a concern about.

There is now an opportunity to participate with an organization called the Evergreen Freedom Foundation to keep track of important legislation. They are a research group which has been active for over 20 years providing research, and legal challenges regarding Washington State issues, budgets, property rights, political use of public union dues, and other issues, including those mentioned in this report, important to citizens of the state.  They have a new program titled CAN, (Citizen Action Network), to make it possible for us to participate more effectively in the Legislative process. This program is managed by Lasse Lund. These folks are providing the over sight, and research, to determine which of the myriad of bills we should be concerned about. You can find out how you can participate at www.effcan.org. In addition, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation is having a half day Legislative Day event in Olympia, and would like folks to participate. It is on February 22 nd. It is free, however, space has a limit so they need folks to register in advance. Furthermore, you can purchase lunch for $12.00, or bring a sack lunch. You can find out more, or register at <effwa.org/legislativeday>.

There are many issues before the Legislature, which will direct the future of Washington State, and our ability to survive the significant economic issues we citizens face. The days are over when we can simply vote every two years, and let others make all the decisions, with only the input from the special interest groups, which has led us to the financial brink to begin with. We should all keep in touch with our representatives to find out where our testimony can help. I recommend participating with the EFF CAN program to be most effective with that Legislative communication.

ISSUES WHICH IMPACT YOUR VOTE- 
On February 27th a report in the Seattle Times, on census changes in WA state over the last ten years indicates big trouble for conservative view points in future years. The report indicates minorities make up a growing share of the state’s overall population, however, the most significant share of minority growth is under the age of 18. Think increased liberal voters just around the corner. The number of Latino children grew 90% in King County. King County, with roughly 30% of the state population is not one of our agricultural counties. Meanwhile the white child population statewide dropped. Minorities tend to use government support, and tend to support progressive programs and candidates. If you look at past periods of serious economic issues, immigration has been controlled. Just the opposite has been the case in recent years, to the extent that the federal government is even challenging states which try to enforce illegal immigration.

 This has a budgetary impact on social services, health care, education, and progress in the classroom regarding english speaking students, in some cases. In the past, immigrants were expected to absorb our culture, speak our language, and so on. Now many districts offer English as a second language. Even if those students are segregated, it detracts from educators available to others. A decade ago, most children in Bellevue, Kent, Renton, and Federal Way were white. Now children of color outnumber them in each of these districts. Kent disclosed they had over 100 languages in their district. Tukwila is supposedly the most diverse school district in the Country. This is another reason why education outcomes have dropped. Legal adult immigrants after taking the required education for citizenship often actually have a better understanding of our civics than the average citizen. Children of all nationalities who are born here have a chance to learn what America is about, and why our form of government presents more individual opportunity than others. But what about the flood of illegal immigrants?

There are other issues affecting election outcomes, such as where campaign financing comes from today. The sum of all of these changes will affect the results of Conservative voters, which polls suggest are still a majority. Continuing to loose at the ballot suggests we have a lot of education to accomplish if we hope to save the future for our kids. Many seem complacent with the outcomes of the recent mid term election. The youth vote came out big in the last Presidential election. For sure they will be back in 2012. When you consider how much trouble our Country is in over government spending, it should be alarming that voters in this blue state turned down tax increases, however, in large part returned politicians responsible for the out of control spending to office.  We are going to have to find ways to educate our youth, around the liberal controls of the public education system. The above impacts on conservative thinking regarding elections will be the subject of further analysis.