McKenna: Speaker of the House holding transportation package hostage

Despite his faith that the Legislature will get the job done and pass a budget before a government shutdown, former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna remains worried.

“I am concerned about the transportation package … because the Speaker is not allowing it to move, pending other decisions being made,” McKenna tells KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross. “He’s essentially holding it hostage. I worry that they won’t have time to get it done before they finalize the budget and they’ll have to wait until 2016 or have a special session.

“Given the progress made this week, the Speaker of the House, as a matter of good faith, ought to let that package go forward so it can be done,” he said.

Washington’s legislators continue to face a budget deadline that, if not met, will furlough thousands of public employees and stall services.

McKenna, however, tells Ross he doesn’t think politicians will go beyond the June 30 cutoff.

“My prediction is that the Republicans will &#8212 at the eleventh hour &#8212 agree to close a few [tax] loopholes,” McKenna said. “The Democrats will be able to declare victory that they closed some. And everybody will be able to go home, taking credit for what was accomplished. Obviously, that needs to happen before July 1.”

Furlough notices have already gone out to 26,000 employees across Washington.

In King County, a massive furlough could equate to 28,000 people losing public services, including approximately 10,000 people living in Seattle, according to Seattle Council Member John Okamoto.

Okamoto issued a statement warning of the consequences of stalling the budget any longer. He notes that state-funded family caregiver support, home delivery meals, transportation and other services are among those threatened.

“In addition, 11,000 elderly and individuals with disabilities are at risk of losing services that allow them to remain safely in their homes,” Okamoto said. “Along with service disruptions, over 100 staff members at Seattle’s Human Services Department will face layoffs. [The department] will also be forced to delay University District Food Bank improvements and some park department and affordable housing projects.”

“Despite its best efforts to mitigate these impacts, [the Human Services Department] will not be able to effectively operate these programs without a finalized state budget,” he said. “…A shutdown will have very serious consequences for our most vulnerable communities in Seattle and King County, and we must ensure they do not experience a break in services that puts their safety at risk.”

Despite the risk to services, this is not the first time state lawmakers have come close to the deadline.

“This is far from being unprecedented, even though it’s like a depressing Kabuki performance,” McKenna said. “You know exactly what is going to happen. It seems unnecessary, but there it is.”

McKenna, a Republican, notes that Democrats are asking for more tax dollars even though there is a projected 9 percent increase in tax dollars to be collected, or $3.5 billion.

“The challenge is the Democrats are insisting that they want to increase a lot of other spending as well,” McKenna said. “Even though the Republican Senate budget expands non-education spending by over 5 percent, the Democrats in the House are insisting that’s not enough and they’re saying ‘We want a capital gains tax, we want to study a carbon tax, etc.”

Governor Jay Insee has abandoned his goal of a carbon tax, relegating it to a study, and therefore the tax won’t be part of the latest budget.