Before budget time, 34th District legislators answer constituents’ questions in ‘telephone town hall”
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
State legislators are two-thirds of the way through this year’s session in Olympia – 71 days down, 34 to go.
And now they’re digging into the biggest challenge of all – the budget. Both houses released their proposals today (here’s the Senate proposal overview, and here’s the House proposal overview).
One week before that, our area’s three legislators – 34th District State Senator Emily Alvarado and State Representatives Joe Fitzgibbon and Brianna Thomas – held an hourlong “telephone town hall” last Monday night (March 17).
As each provided a self-introduction, Sen. Alvarado said the state budget challenges were among the major issues that constituents are concerned about. Balancing the state budget is the biggest focus of the session, added Rep. Fitzgibbon, who is House Majority Leader. He offered the perennial critique that our state’s “regressive tax system” is to blame for state revenues “not ke(eping) pace” with the cost of providing services, and said both spending cuts and revenue increases would be needed. Rep. Thomas, recently appointed to the Legislature in a domino effect from former Sen. Joe Nguyen‘s appointment as Commerce Department director, noted that “we’re behind on Idaho and Oregon in our tax structure,” and said she can’t imagine being behind those states in any other areas.
Their intros quickly segued into Q&A they opened up to questions.
Some were sent in advance, said the moderator, starting with: “We have a budget crisis. What actions are you taking to make our funding system more progressive?” In particular, the question writer also wanted reassurance that Climate Commitment Act funds wouldn’t be taken to balance the budget. Fitzgibbon noted last November’s vote to keep it rather than repeal it, while, he said, some legislators were pursuing proposals to take the money “and spend it on other things.” He said he opposes that and repeated that one “strategy” will be asking the wealthiest people and businesses in our state “to pay their fair share.” He also mentioned a proposal to increase liquor-license fees.
Sen. Alvarado suggested that since our state is heavily reliant on sales, property, and B&O taxes, being short on revenue is partly because middle-class and working-class people aren’t buying as many things, so sales-tax revenue is down, and that’s why the wealthiest people should be paying more – and the situation is even more dire because of looming federal cuts in education and health care.
Rep. Thomas said budget structures are important to keep in mind, with “buckets of money earmarked for specific purposes,” and that’s why there’s a proposal to allow local entities to tax more for public safety, particularly public safety with a behavioral-health focus.
On a more individual money matter, a “live” questioner then asked about rent stabilization. She said she was really concerned “that there’s no carve-out for small landlords.” If you’re renting out a second home to help pay for retirement, a seven percent rent cap might not even cover property-tax increases, she sai. Alvarado answered the question, saying the rent bill was hers, and the goal of this bill is to stop excessive rent increases, while allowing landlords to set the actual baserent wherever they want: “I believe the math works.” She said there is an exemption for properties up to four units where the landlord lives in one.
Next questioner asked about AI disruptions in the workplace. He suggested schools will have to educate students to deal with this. So how can education be apropriately funded to deal with that?
Fitzgibbon reminded the attendee, “The biggest thing by far that the state sends your tax dollars on is the public-school system.” He said they’ve heard from districts and families that what the Legislature passed in 2017 is not keeping up with the cost of education. While school funding has increased every year since then, Fitzgibbon said, “we have heard that it isn’t enough, particularly special education. That’s why we are absolutely going to be increasing funding for our K-12 education, especially for special education.” And schools do in fact have to prepare students to compete for the jobs of the future, he agreed. “Tech-facing jobs require familiarity with AI and other aspects of technology. I don’t think this is the kind of problem that lends itself to one solution.”
Thomas added that they’ve been working on worker protections and customer protections regarding AI in the workplace “so that when you’re getting services, they’re provided by people.”
Alvarado went back to the school focus: “We know we have a lot more to do to fund our schools. … We’re focused on working to better meet schools’ needs.” That includes “to better cover the cost of operating.” They’re also “passing bills to be sure that the curriculum in schools better keeps up with things like AI.”
A Vashon participant asked about state ferry funding. She said the unreliable nature of the ferries has been affecting her income, with people not able to get to her on Vashon iIsland.
Sen. Alvarado agreed, “Yes, we need to fix our ferry system” and mentioned the Governor’s recent announcement, which should mean, she said, the return of three-boat service in June. Also “we need to double down on some of the things we’ve done on recent years” like crew investments, paid training, etc, “we need to continue to make those investments.” but, she warned, “n general our transportation budget is under water.” She added that they’re still spending for expanded Vashon Water Taxi service.
Rep. Fitzgibbon praised Sen. Alvarado for fighting for that, and added that regarding Washington State Ferries, “we have a couple long-term problems with the ferry fleet (such as) the vessels are too old … we also have a workforce shortage … it takes a couple years to get folks … trained and certified to work on the water. … That said we will have three-boat service back on the Triangle Route this summer.”
Next was a person who wanted the legislators to commit to a budget that does not include state employee furloughs, for fear that’ll mean reduced services for vulnerable people. Rep. Thomas said she couldn’t promise “there won’t be a situation with a single furlough day,” but they’re trying to ensure that’s just one of the options. Again she returned to the theme that our state has potential access to money from high-income businesses and people, but right now “we can’t get our hands on it.”
Rep. Fitzgibbon reiterated, “I don’t know that we can really take anything off the table right now” because “our budget shortfall is really large.” He stressed again that they want to ask “the wealthiest in our state to pay their fair share.”
Next question was about education and the federal government’s policies: Does our state have a plan to combat the possible loss of federal funding threatened for “standing up for students”?
Rep. Alvarado promised that our state’s public-education system would continue “standing up for students” and pointed out that State Attorney General Nick Brown (also a West Seattleite) is suing as necessary “as we face these threats.”
Most of the rest of the discussion veered away from money, but here are the toplines:
-Rep. Fitzgibbon said he disagrees with the Sierra Club’s opposition to nuclear energy because “transitioning away from fossil fuel as fast as possible” is his priority “by far.”
-Rep. Thomas said that while she sympathizes with military families’ concerns about HB 1907, taxing self-storage, it could bring much-needed revenue. She observed that the U.S. has two storage units for every person.
-Sen. Alvarado expressed empathy for a participant urging that the stipend for National Board teachers be preserved, but said she couldn’t guarantee that.
-A bill giving the state more oversight of what the questioner described as the “conservative religious takeover of health-care systems” died in committee, but Rep. Fitzgibbon noted that a different bill giving the state more of a view into health-care companies’ finances was still alive, at least at the time of the “town hall.”
SIDE NOTE: After hearing a mention that more than 100 people were still tuned in at the very end, we asked the organizers how many people participated at the peak. We didn’t get a response. Meantime, if you have something to say to your legislators as they continue the session, you can find contact info for all three by going here.
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