Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 5, 2003
Contact:  Roger Nyhus or Kirsten Kendrick, Governor’s Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact:  Hal Spencer, Office of Financial Management, 360-902-0525

Gov. Gary Locke Praises Passage of No-New-Taxes Budget Based on His Innovative Priorities of Government Approach

Gov. Gary Locke today praised the state Legislature’s passage of a $23 billion General Fund budget that closely follows the innovative, priority-driven spending approach he proposed in December.

“When I proposed the Priorities of Government spending plan, I knew this budget had plenty of pain to go around,” Locke said. “There are many good programs we simply cannot afford to fund now because of a $2.6 billion budget shortfall. It wasn’t easy for me to propose these difficult solutions and I know it was hard for the Legislature to enact them. But it had to be done.

“Our legislators rose to a difficult occasion to pass a responsible budget that is well-suited for difficult times – a budget that sets priorities and does not rely on gimmicks or tricks. I’m proud of what they have accomplished in a bipartisan fashion. In many cases they adopted my priorities, and in a number of cases they worked creatively to improve on what I proposed. I’m grateful for the difficult work they have now completed.”

The Legislature’s two-year spending plan was built on a budget framework Locke hammered out in December that reflected his government-wide call to identify and fund citizens’ highest priorities – within existing resources. The approach has drawn praise from government experts around the nation as well as newspaper editorial support around the state.

“As I had hoped, the Legislature’s budget shows the citizens of this state what their tax money can buy, but also clearly shows what we cannot afford to buy given this difficult economy,” Locke said.

“This budget has important implications for the future,” he said. “Our state government will deliver the most important services now, but with this budget we are also laying out an important framework for the future. Many states are giving in to the temptations to borrow, use creative accounting, short-term fixes or to increase general taxes. We, however, focused on what is most important and have stepped up to make the hard choices that the public expects from a responsible, forward-looking government.”

Locke said the new budget, which takes effect July 1, addresses today’s economic realities. Among the most difficult decisions, he said, were changes to three voter-approved initiatives and reductions or eliminations of funding for a host of areas. They ranged from cuts in social programs and general government services to staff reductions of 1,150 employees and no pay raises for state workers and most teachers.

Nevertheless, the governor said, the budget buys the state’s most vital services. The budget provides the following:

·$10.5 billion – nearly half of total General Fund spending – for basic education services for 1 million public-school students. It maintains efforts to reduce class sizes, increases funding to improve academic achievement, and still helps get low-performing schools on track;
·$2.7 billion to fund the education of more than 215,000 students at the state’s colleges and universities, including more than 1,200 new enrollment slots. Also includes more than 500 slots for high demand enrollments such as engineering, software and nursing;
·$4 billion in state funding for Child and Adult Protective Services, emergency food and housing, mental health care, institutions, nursing homes, foster care, temporary assistance to needy families, employment training for disabled adults and child support services;
·$31.6 million to boost the pay of home health care workers;
·$125 million to nurture economic development through strategies that create new jobs, assist emerging new industries such as biotechnology and clean energy, assist local economic development efforts, operate the Washington Trade and Convention Center, and market Washington products to the world;
·$3.6 billion in state funds for health care for more than 1 million children, adults and families;
·$1.4 billion to pay for the state prison system, supervision of prisoners after their release, supervision and treatment of sex offenders, confinement and treatment of chronic juvenile offenders, the state Crime Lab, aid to crime victims, help for at-risk youth, emergency preparedness for natural disasters and terrorism, and the State Patrol;
·$297 million to protect the state’s clean air and water, and its forests, farmlands, fish and parks; and
·$312 million in reserve funds.

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