Legislators bracing for tough session

Clark County’s state legislators are looking ahead to another tough session in Olympia.

Lawmakers and business leaders gathered Tuesday morning at the Hilton Vancouver Washington for the Greater Vancouver Chamber’s annual Legislative Outlook event. Eleven of the county’s 12 representatives sat on a panel, fielding questions from business leaders and community members.

“It’s going to be difficult,” Sen. Adrian Cortes, D-Battle Ground, said of the upcoming session, which starts Jan. 12. “We’ve been told that from an operation budget standpoint, we’re not supposed to ask for any allocation.”

Similarly, transportation budget requests will be minimal, Cortes said.

Gov. Bob Ferguson said earlier this month his plan to balance the state’s budget will focus on cuts rather than raising revenue.

The state’s financial management office now anticipates state revenue in the coming years will be down about $66 million from the September forecast.

Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, said lawmakers will be reviewing any unintended consequences from the session that ended in the spring.

“We’re already hearing about some of them,” she said.

Lawmakers passed a slew of tax increases last session, including a massive expansion on sales taxes and business and occupation taxes and an increase in the state’s gas tax.

“We will be taking a very close look on the impact of what we do, both in terms of raising revenue and cutting programs — on how it affects our jobs, how it affects our future, how it affects the next generation,” Wylie said. “We’ll be balancing all of that in a 60-day session.”

The lawmakers fielded questions on workforce development and education, infrastructure funding, public safety, and economic development.

Although they agreed on the importance of each of those issues, lawmakers bickered over the ins and outs of the state’s tax system, the current Interstate 5 Bridge replacement project and cuts to the state budget. The discussion became heated as talk turned to the budget that the Democrat-led Legislature passed earlier this year.

“It was a tough budget cycle last year,” said Sen. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver. “I’m not going to blame anybody.”

But Harris said he believes lawmakers made some strategic errors, including imposing taxes on day care and health care providers and making cuts to Medicaid. Republicans, he added, were shut out of the process.

“Can we have an open dialogue of taxation in our state, in the Legislature, and do it thoughtfully?” Harris said.

Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, ultimately praised the Southwest Washington delegation, represented by several Republicans and a handful of Democrats.

“This is still the delegation that can have rich, challenging conversations and still deliver the strongest results for any region in the state because we can work together when the time comes,” she said.

Stonier also asked business owners to keep lines of communication open with lawmakers to address issues impacting them.