What’s so special about a second special session?

The Washington State Legislature is going into a second special session, and KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross wants to know if we can still call it “special” if there are two.

“Are there any deadlines in this process and are we getting a tax increase or aren’t we?” Ross asked.

A variety of taxes remain on the table and Democrats and Republicans are taking their usual stances on them. As lines are drawn, debates continue over which taxes will be passed, or voted down, this time around.

Ross can say two things with certainty, however, that we are putting pressure on legislators.

“There are at least two real deadlines that I can see,” he said. “The first one &#8212 strangely enough &#8212 is the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. A lot of out-of-town legislators rent hotel rooms during the session to be close to the Capitol, and they will have no place to stay come June 15 because all the available rooms are booked for the Open.”

“The other big deadline is July 1 because that’s when, by law, a budget has to be in place, otherwise, by law, state checks start bouncing,” Ross said.

Ross spoke with Jason Mercier from the Washington Policy Center to get some context on what is happening in Olympia.

“If there’s not a budget, there’s no legal authority and those checks can’t be cashed,” Mercier said.

The current budget discussion takes into account that the state is receiving more than $3 billion in revenue this time around, in the wake of economic recovery. Democrats are pushing for more taxes, however, to make the system more fair and to raise money for education, Ross said.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans remain adamantly against tax increases, unless there are changes, for example, to how raises for state employees are negotiated, Ross said.

But Mercier told Ross that the proposed gas tax is likely to pass.

“I think right now, the proposal is 12 cents over three years and the Senate has already voted for that, so there is support for it, the house has support for it,” he said. “The question is do you also allow the governor to do the low-carbon fuel standard. If the governor doesn’t drop that demand, it is very unlikely the Senate will pass the transportation budget.”

The low-carbon fuel standard requires new refining processes, which will add costs, in the amount of cents, to gasoline. It is unknown how much that cost will be.
Legislators are still considering a range of other taxes, such as a capital gains tax, business and occupation surcharge and tax, and a sales tax on bottled water.

“Everything is still on the table; they are just trying to see what the Senate is willing to agree to,” Mercier said.

“Part of the challenge they are seeing there is that if you look back at the history of the state when it comes to tax measures, even when the Legislature musters the vote to approve them, the voters usually repeal them in an initiative,” he noted.