Recently the Legislature came to an agreement and passed

compromise supplemental budgets that address funding issues of transportation,

education and public safety. Here are some of the highlights of what

was passed.

Funding transportation

improvements

As you know, transportation solutions have been one of my main

priorities as I serve on your behalf. The final budget

contains $35 million in permanent, ongoing revenue

for transportation from interest on the state

reserves. That money is sufficient to support $440 million

in bonds for highway projects over the next six years.

Locally, this budget includes construction of the Interstate 90

Sunset interchange, Highway 18 improvements, off-ramp improvements

and signalization at the intersection of I-90 and Highway 18 near

Snoqualmie, off-ramp improvements on I-90 at North Bend, additional lanes on

State Route 202 from East Lake Sammamish Parkway to Sahalee

Way, a roundabout in Fall City at the junction of S.R.-202 and S.R.-203

and more.

Enhancing education

The budget we passed provides more than $81 million in

enhancements to school districts for such things as class size reduction,

significantly increased compensation for substitute teachers, professional

development for teachers and staff, and school safety. I had also hoped to

see lottery funds dedicated to education, but our opponents would not agree

to that.

Through some changes in the state’s emergency reserve fund,

we were able to provide a significant boost toward school construction.

In passing Initiative 695, voters asked the legislature to prioritize and use

the state revenue surplus to make up the loss of license tab revenue. We’ve

been hesitant to use the surplus; it is also the state’s emergency reserve.

In the end, legislators agreed to: 1. Protect the reserve by

eliminating the ability to transfer general fund monies to other accounts without

adjusting the limit. An Expenditure Limit Committee eliminates the Office

of Financial Management’s sole authority to calculate and adjust the

spending limit. 2. Adjust the calculation

of the emergency reserve to create a larger reserve in the school

construction fund. The adjustment means that $138 million will go toward

school construction within the next year. More than $530 million will be

available in the following biennium to build schools.

3. Use only a small portion of the unrestricted reserves now,

leaving a projected total reserve of $912 million for the 2001-03

biennium. While this may seem like a lot of money, remember that our state

revenues are very dependent on sales and business taxes. A mild economic

slow down, such as a drop in stock portfolio values, means a big reduction

in state revenue as people trim their purchasing decisions.

Reserves are an important part of prudent budgeting.

Property tax reductions

I am very disappointed that we were unable to reach an agreement

on cutting the state portion of the property tax this year. However, the

additional state support for schools should lessen the need for school

levies, which make up the largest portion of your property taxes.

Protecting local public safety

We allocated $148 million to help local governments maintain

police, fire, criminal justice and public health programs. Locally, the budget

provides a total of $984,833 for cities in the 5th District, ensuring that no

city will lose more than 7.5 percent of its overall budget as a result of I 695

revenue losses.

Making government more efficient

The compromise budget provides more than $189 million in

reductions by streamlining operations of the Department of Social and Health

Services, increasing Medicaid fraud and abuse detections, and through

welfare savings. I believe there is room for many more efficiencies elsewhere

in state government, but this is a small start in the right direction. By

definition, a compromise agreement means no one gets everything they want,

and this budget is no exception. The Legislature did make good progress

in other areas, such as unemployment insurance reform, health care

legislation, teen driving, pipeline safety, and more.

If any of you have comments or more specific questions, please

feel free to call my office at (360) 786-7852, or reach me at home at

(425) 413-5333.

Rep. Cheryl Pflug serves the 5th Legislative District, which

includes the eastern portion of Renton, Maple Valley, Issaquah,

the Sammamish Plateau, Preston, Fall City, Snoqualmie, North Bend

and Snoqualmie Pass.