News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 19, 1999
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke urges passage of supplemental state budget

OLYMPIA – Gov. Gary Locke today said state emergency services, county fairs and school construction schedules all could face funding shortages unless the Legislature adopts a 1999 supplemental budget.

Locke said that without the Legislature's speedy action to approve the supplemental budget, he will have to make sure that the Military Department, which operates the Emergency Management Division, doesn't run out of funds in late April, two months before the end of the current biennium.

The department already has reimbursed local governments for their costs in fighting wild fires last summer. The agency took that money from its operating budget, so it will deplete its funding before the end of the biennium, unless the supplemental budget is approved or the governor takes emergency action to ensure funding.

The governor is sending a letter to leaders of the House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means committees to stress the importance of the supplemental budget. He said he is prepared to transfer general-fund dollars to a special, non-appropriated account that can be used to pay bills for fighting last summer's wildfires.

Without supplemental funding, steps would have to be taken now to begin layoffs and shut down programs in the Emergency Management Division. But Locke said he will not allow the agency to curtail its operations, especially since this winter's heavy rainfall and snowpack could result in even greater demand for emergency services.

"On my watch, no essential part of this state government will shut down because of partisan disagreements over budget issues," the governor said. "There will be no showdown, no threat to close down the government. I will simply take action to fulfill our obligations."

Locke said an additional $2.9 million still would be needed to meet the state's share of disaster funding for the Kelso landslide, flood relief in Ferry and Stevens counties, and accelerated payment for older disaster costs. Without a supplemental budget, flood-damaged communities will be forced to wait for critical funding, he said

Locke said the supplemental budget approved by the Senate addresses the critical needs identified in his supplemental budget plan.

"Now, the House needs to act — because every day of delay puts our emergency services system at risk, hurts school construction schedules, and hinders county fairs," he said.

The Senate concurred with Locke's proposal to make a one-time appropriation of $6 million to the Fair Fund to help state and county fairs over the next three years. It also agreed to provide $13.8 million to cover a shortfall that occurred in school-construction funding in the 1997-99 biennium because more projects than expected became ready for construction.

Funding for county fairs, fighting forest fires, flood relief, and school construction is part of the governor's supplemental budget plan for tying up loose ends in the current biennial budget. The Legislature is considering Locke's budget proposal for the 1999-01 biennium, which begins July 1.

"In the Olympia world of $20 billion biennial budgets, the supplemental budget for the remaining four months of the 1999 Fiscal Year might not seem important, but I can assure you that it has real impact on real people — particularly children," Locke said.

In eastern Washington, the Asotin County Fair is the first of dozens of county fairs this year. Fair planners are considering cutbacks in livestock shows and entertainment programs because they can't count on state's tradition of providing help for county fairs, the governor said.

"These fairs need to know what their resources will be before they can schedule events," Locke said. "When fairs have to cut programs that affect rural families involved in 4-H Club and Future Farmers of America, that hurts children, and that hurts our state."

In western Washington, the Sultan School District in Snohomish County is in dire need of $2 million in state matching funds to complete renovation of the Sultan Elementary School.

"We can't leave the Sultan Elementary School stranded," Locke said. "Without the state funding, students will continue to attend a school that's a muddy construction site with no adequate play space."

The $51 million, 1999 supplemental budget would leave total spending in the current 1997-99 biennium $22 million below the Initiative 601 spending limit, but add:

- $13.8 million to the common-school construction fund to cover current shortfalls.
- $34.5 million to the school construction budget in the next biennium.
- $6 million as a one-time appropriation to the Fair Fund to sustain it for three years.
- $15 million to help state community and technical colleges make minor repairs to facilities, as well as replace deteriorating portable classrooms.
- $12.8 million to improve school-bus safety by reducing by one year the replacement schedule for buses that still would be driven for as long as 17 years.
- $7.8 million to pay for fire suppression costs and reimburse local governments for fire mobilization costs in Fiscal Year 1999.
- $3.0 million for a contingency fund for future wildfires.
- $2.9 million for the state share of disaster relief costs, including the Kelso landslide, flooding in Ferry and Stevens counties, and accelerated disaster payments for prior disasters.


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