Vetoes cut into budget

Gov. Chris Gregoire used her veto pen to strike $15 million in spending from state lawmakers' supplemental operating budget Tuesday, leaving behind $850 million in savings for the next budget cycle.

Vetoes in the operating budget included extra cash intended to improve the state's foster care system. Also affected was construction money for minor repairs on the Capitol Campus and $150,000 for a study of child care needs there.

The construction funds are redirected to other uses — including for Capitol Campus sewer and water projects and to repair drainage, lighting and benches at Olympia's Heritage Park.

Republican lawmakers did not immediately comment on Gregoire's vetoes, but her fall election opponent, Dino Rossi, blasted her for not vetoing more, calling it a blown opportunity to avoid tax increases next year.

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, predicted that individual lawmakers will be upset over losing funding for pet projects but said the budget overall is strong for education and children.

What is left in the operating budget is a net increase of $329 million in general operations spending — including $5 million for sex-offender DNA collection, millions of dollars for K-12 education programs and $62.4 million for larger pay raises for teachers.

The $277 million capital-­construction budget includes money for flood-control projects along the Chehalis River. The operating and capital budgets also contain money for low-income housing and flood-related aid to local governments, including a program to increase phone alerts for flood areas.

Gregoire said the spending plan is a strong reflection of residents' values.

"Their priorities are what's in this budget. They want jobs. They want us to stand up for transportation issues. They want health care. They want education. They want community safety. That is what that budget is all about," she said after signing the bill.

More than 40 sections of the budget bill were vetoed because they included money for legislation that didn't pass — such as training for long-term-care workers — or because Gregoire didn't favor the spending. Thirty-four other vetoes were for items she said she supported but didn't think were appropriate to pay for now — including about $3 million for foster care improvements.

Laura Lippold of the Children's Home Society called the vetoes of money to help students in foster care and money for in-home support specialists "unfortunate." But Lippold said Gregoire left intact many increases in foster care spending that majority Democrats in the House and Senate had agreed to.

"She did a lot for kids and foster care," Lippold said.

Another veto killed off $75,000 for a study that would have looked at how to expand the YWCA of Olympia's non-food products bank to other places in the state. Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County, had fought for that.

The foster care vetoes included $1.1 million in state money for 20 home-support specialists, including two in Shelton, two in Aberdeen and five in Tacoma.

"I know today I disappointed some friends, because if I could've, I would've funded all of what they wanted," Gregoire said. "But I had to be smart about whether you want to hire state employees or other people elsewhere only to find we had to let them go in literally less than a year. I didn't think that was the right thing to do."

Rossi's campaign said in an e-mail, "Since taking office, the incumbent has increased spending by over 33 percent, turning a $2 billion surplus into a $2.4 billion deficit."

"Facing a $2.4 billion deficit next year, Governor Gregoire still increased spending," Ross said in an accompanying statement. "By signing this budget today, she blew our last opportunity to significantly reduce spending and address this deficit now. By refusing to say 'no' to more spending, the incumbent is saying 'yes' to a huge tax increase, if she is re-elected."

Gregoire entered office with a deficit of close to $2 billion, not a surplus, and Gregoire said warnings of a deficit or shortfall next year ignore the unreliability of predictions. She contended that budget predictions from the time Rossi was Senate budget writer in 2003 showed a shortfall of $5 billion this year instead of the surplus she has enjoyed.

Estimates by the nonpartisan staff with the Senate Ways and Means Committee have said the shortfall next year could be $2.4 billion, but Gregoire's budget writers say it could be closer to $2 billion, based upon revenue forecasts that could change before December.

Brad Shannon is political editor for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.