The Washington Legislature is dithering. Close to a finish – so the leadership said – at the conclusion of the regular session earlier this month, it now has put in two more weeks of a special with little to show for it. Its statewide favorables are likely to be dropping about now – and not, yet at least, for anything much they’ve done.
This came in today from state Senator Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee:
Share on FacebookFrom a Senate perspective the second week of overtime produced even less action than the first week: eight bills adopted over seven days, with no votes taken at all on four of those days. No employer who wants to stay in business would put up with such a pitiful level of productivity.
What we’re seeing here is the cost of inaction. The governor and the majority party could have taken significant steps to reduce state spending after the June and September and November revenue forecasts, each of which was worse than the one before. They didn’t. Maybe a plan to pursue tax increases this year had already been hatched, maybe it was just a gamble the economy would recover quickly despite the signs to the contrary. Either way, taxpayers have ended up on the hook.
