DeBolt took his shots during a House and Senate Republican sit-down with Capitol reporters today, slamming the emerging jobs proposal that would use revenue bonds to pay for public construction projects. The jobs plan has been described by labor and construction groups,
who favor a larger plan, as a way to create as many as 25,000 jobs. Most would be in the construction sector still rife with joblessness.
“They are treating it as a capital-budget bill … It is a dead bill,” DeBolt said bluntly.
In other words – don’t expect GOP leaders to give support in the House if Senate moderates agree on a jobs plan in the other chamber. A modicum of House GOP support is important, because revenue bonds proposed to pay for the projects need a 60 percent favorable vote to be approved in Olympia instead of going to the statewide ballot. Democrats have just 56 of 98 House seats and just 27 of 49 Senate seats, which minority Republicans quite relevant in both the House and Senate.
DeBolt and Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches, acknowledged that they had not seen the details for how Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, and Sen. Linda Parlette, R-Wenatchee, might finance the projects using revenue bonds. DeBolt was quick to label the proposal erroneously as a new version of “Hans bonds” – a reference to Rep. Hans Dunshee’s proposal a few years ago that would have used bottled water taxes to pay for construction bonds to pay for public school upgrades. [Voters rejected the funding source.]
As outlined by the Kilmer and Parlette in an email sent to legislators late Tuesday, they would earmark a portion of the toxics taxes collected each year on oil products and also a portion of public-works trust monies. But they would not tap the general fund or seek a new revenue sources. An outline document is here.
Dunshee, a Snohomish Democrat and chair of the House Capital Budget Committee, has a similar plan in the works. Republican Rep. Judy Warnick of Moses Lake has been discussing options with Dunshee.
The Washington State Labor Council, Associated General Contractors of Washington and other construction groups favor a larger plan. But Jeff Johnson, president of the labor council, said the emerging Senate and House proposals are a good start.
“I think it was an important move for Sens. Kilmer and Parletted to put out a Senate list last night and then Rep. Dunshee to put out a House list. ... It creates the dialogue that has to happen.”
“We are hoping that’s a starting point from which we can build the numbers up a little bit,’’ Johnson added. “All these projects are on priority lists already. It’s not like they are going to a legislator for [new] ideas. … Why wouldn’t we do things when costs are as low as they have been in decades and our unemployment level is so high?’’
I asked DeBolt if Warnick would now have to tell Dunshee to forget about a jobs package. He said no.
Instead, DeBolt said, if Democrats want to put together a larger bill that combines reforms with projects his caucus might be interested in the project proposals. But he said he also is concerned about tying of future funds and leaving accounts without cash for cleanup work, for instance, in the future.
DeBolt also complained that the proposal would pay for temporary government jobs. That does not appear to be what the jobs-package backers are talking about.
They also would not be leaving cash accounts empty in the future, which DeBolt implied. As outlined by Dunshee, Kilmer and Parlette, they would use just a fraction of the public-works funds and a fraction of the toxics clean-up tax receipts.
In this document Kilmer and Parlette sent to fellow lawmakers, they said they would pay $25 million a year in debt service out of public works assistance accounts, just 15 percent of the $162 million appropriation in 2011-13, and $17 million a year from the toxics account, or 10 percent of the estimated $172 million in 2011-13.
The package would finance $567 million in revenue bonds, $165 million in university bonds (dubbed certificates of participation in which rents are bonded), $160 million cash from public works accounts, and $95 million in bond savings from the governor’s supplemental capital-budget request.
Under the Senate plan, higher education would see $180 million in projects; K-12 schools would see $112 million; parks, $10 million; fish passageways in the forest-fish program, $10 million; veterans’ homes, $13 million; water safety grants, $20 million; various Department of Commerce grants for community and economic revitalization, housing for developmentally disabled, and “brown field” redevelopment totaling $160 million.
Dunshee also put.
out a statement today about his plan – described conceptually here with nearly $1 billion in projects.
That includes $468 million for Commerce including weatherization, energy grants to local government, and low-income housing assistance; $15 million for drinking-water assistance, $179 million for Department of Ecology grants including clean up of toxics sites, storm-water projects, and water quality; $8.9 million for parks; $10 million for fish-passage projects; $71 million for the Department of Fish and Wildlife including fish passage work and dry-forest restoration work; $41.3 million for Department of Natural Resources projects; and $35 million for the Riverpoint Biomedical and Health Sciences school in Spokane. Another $99.9 million is earmarked for community and technical colleges.
Dunshee also lists about 164 fish-passage projects that might be funded for $15 million.
As noted before, the Washington State Labor Council, Associated General Contractors of Washington, and the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council had a press conference this morning urging passage of what they are calling a “$2 billion Infrastructure Jobs Bond” package.
The labor council put out a news advisory quoting its president, Jeff Johnson, as saying: “Tens of thousands of jobs are within our grasp … The Infrastructure Jobs Bond is an opportunity for our leaders to be proactive in a time of crisis instead of just trying to mitigate the harm done by so many devastating cuts to social services and schools.’’
Dunshee put out a statement that described cooperation between business and labor, Republicans and Democrats, and the legislative chambers. “The House and Senate lists of construction projects are a little bit different, but those differences will be easy to bridge,” he wrote. “We stand united behind the goal of helping our state’s construction workers, veterans and small businesses get back on their feet, doing good work that will benefit our state for decades to come.”
Previous news stories about the proposal are here and here. A story on the coalition behind the plan is here.
Republicans Warnick and Parlette have not signed on to specific proposals, but both have said they see an opportunity to do necessary projects at a cheaper cost and when people are needing jobs the most. But both also have said they want to see projects that produce additional value – not just a job.
