WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION OF CHURCHES
ADVOCACY ALERT
March 21, 2002
Well its over. The 2002 Legislative session ended on-time, but left
few people celebrating. This year, legislators were faced with the daunting
challenge of filling a $1.6 billion budget hole. And they managed to do just
that and, to the surprise of many, finish on time.
The final budget was by many estimates not nearly as bad as it could have been, but still means some deep cuts to everything from K-12
education, higher education, human services and public employees. Budget details
can be found on-line at www.leg.wa.gov/scs/wm.
The final budget plan, a compromise between the House and Senate proposals,
includes over $600 million in spending cuts and fund transfers, raises $450
million through a controversial plan to "securitize" our future tobacco settlement dollars, raises nearly $80 million in new revenue and
spends $325 million from our state's emergency reserves.
While there were no general tax increases, numerous user fees are increased
and three business tax loopholes are rescinded. The budget plan also included an increase tax on liquor which would have raised $40
million, but legislators were unable to pass this increase. About $24 million will
be raised by joining a multi-state lottery known as the "Big Game".
There were many cuts including $58 million in aid to cities and counties, $39 million from health care for state employees and teachers, $50
million by eliminating the scheduled pay raise for state workers and professors, $90
million from public education and $57 million from higher education. Some state-run parks may close temporarily.
College budgets are cut $54 million -- 5 percent at four-year colleges and 3
percent at community colleges. The budget plan uses $325 million in reserves
and leaves an additional $306 million in our emergency reserve account.
The final budget includes some deep cuts to human services, but not nearly
as severe as some had predicted, Some of the most serious cuts include:
$1.68 Million from the Family Reconciliation Program;
An elimination of state-funded health care services for 25,000 immigrant children and about 2,000 adults.. These children and adults would be
"provided opportunities" to enroll in the subsidized Basic Health Plan (BHP). The problem with this plan is that the BHP doesn't provide
dental and vision care, plus it requires recipient cost-sharing, i.e. co-pays,
premiums, and partial cost of prescription drugs.
An elimination of the state supplemental SSI program, which provided additional SSI payments of, on average, about $16 a month.
Funding for the GA-U program is reduced by $5.4 Million.
The WIC program is cut by $423,000. The budget writers hope to access more
federal funds to make of for this cut, however, this is unlikely to happen.
ECEAP and Head Start are reduced by $838,000 and $235,000, respectively.
There are many other programs that are cut through this budget plan. But overall, human services programs did not receive the level of cuts
that they could have. That is due to the hard work of many advocates around the
state, like you, who spoke out about the needs in their communities and fought hard
to save the valuable programs that serve our state's most vulnerable.
TAKE FIVE
Issue: In the final budget, the Legislature restored many of the cuts to WorkFirst programs announced by Governor Locke in February. These
include the following restorations:
1. Job training - $4.5 million is restored to the community and technical colleges for job training, Families that work, and
childcare programs at the colleges.
2. Childcare - Childcare co-payment increases are limited to $2 per month ($8 million restoration).
3. Childcare for children with special needs - Funding for childcare programs that serve children with special needs is restored ($3.4
million).
4. After school programs - $300,000 is restored for after-school programs for middle school youth.
5. Alcohol and drug treatment - Funding for alcohol and drug treatment programs is restored.
6. Legal services - $900,000 is restored for legal services for the poor. In
addition, another section of the budget provides $1.5 million for legal services.
Governor Locke has indicated that he may veto the section of the budget that
includes these important restorations. In these hard times, we need to maintain our investments in programs that work. Low-income people
need the above programs to succeed.
ACTION: Contact Governor Locke and ask him NOT to VETO funding
restored for WorkFirst programs in the budget. Call the legislative hotline
1-800-562-6000 or his office directly (360) 753-6780. Via e-mail go to the
Governor's website www.governor.wa.gov, click on "contact" and use the
e-mail form.
Please contact the Governor TODAY!
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