Lawmaker’s death gives Democrats advantage on budget

Lawmakers have been fighting over a proposed state budget for 19 days of a special session without much progress, but the sudden death of a state senator might allow Democrats to push through their budget plan without interference from Republicans.

Republican Senator Mike Carrell died suddenly this week due to complications from his treatment for a blood disorder. His death temporarily erases a one vote Republican-led coalition majority in the Senate. The balance of power is now tied 24-24.

Republican Party chair Kirby Wilbur is worried that Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen, who is a Democrat, will cast the deciding vote in passing the Democratic budget plan while Carrell’s seat sits empty.

“If the Democrats wanted to take advantage of the death of Senator Carrell before that spot got filled, they could bring up their budget, pass it in the House, send it to the Senate and Lieutenant Governor Owen could cast the deciding vote and their budget with its tax increases could pass.”

Wilbur is concerned that with a July 1 deadline to pass a budget looming and the two weeks minimum it will take to replace Senator Carrell, Democrats will try to try to force their budget through.

“There is a time crunch here,” he said. “That time crunch could affect how they deal with this. We need to come up with a budget by July 1, and that could put pressure on some members of the majority coalition to crack. It could put pressure on the Democrats to enforce party discipline.”

There is also a question of whether the lieutenant governor has the power to cast a deciding vote on something as vital as the state budget.

Senate rules don’t allow the lieutenant governor to cast deciding votes on final passage of any bill, but the State Constitution reads the lieutenant shall cast the deciding vote when there’s a tie. Owen believes the Constitution trumps the Senate rules, and he has cast a deciding vote in a case like this once before.

The Republican Party’s Wilbur said it’s possible there could be a lawsuit challenging that deciding vote if this scenario comes true.

I reached out to the Democratic Party for its thoughts on this and its plans for the budget, but no one returned my calls to talk about it.

The Pierce County Republicans held an emergency meeting last night to come up with a list of names to put forward as Senator Carrell’s replacement. They narrowed it down to State Rep. Steve O’Ban, University Place City Councilman Javier Figueroa and former Pierce County council member Dick Muri. Muri is their preferred choice.

The names now go to the county council for a vote. The earliest Senator Carrell could be replaced is June 11, which is the final day of the current Special Session.