Welcome to Policy Watch 2008
PART II – WEEK SEVEN IN OLYMPIA
THE SCENE
One could easily think there wasn’t much going on in Olympia this week. After all, there were fewer (and smaller) Lobby Days, lots of empty seats in committee rooms, and fewer bills still alive – which in turn meant that some Committee meetings actually adjourned before their full two hours was up.
But in other ways the atmosphere is more intense now. Once a Session gets down to serious action on the state budget, for legislators and lobbyists alike there’s a sense of tension in the air.
The big events in Week 7 explain why:
(1) on Monday, 2/25, the full House passed its version of the state’s Supplemental Operating Budget, by a party-line vote of 62-33;
(2) the Senate Ways & Means Committee moved quickly to offer its budget the next day, 2/26, and on 2/28, the full Senate passed its version of the state’s Supplemental Operating Budget by a party-line vote of 31-17; plus…
(3) Friday, 2/29, marked “cut-off” for bills to be considered in the “opposite house,” and
action in the Policy Committees effectively ceased for the year.
Each of those dates marks a set of high-stakes decisions, with implications for everyone in the state (in many cases for years to come) - good reason for the people involved to feel a little tense.
Budgets set the mood in the Capitol
That tension in the air is also flat-out-human: after weeks of long days followed by evening sessions and early-morning breakfast meetings, a lot of legislators are just plain tired. They are sleep-deprived, and in many cases they miss their families. This is not an easy time.
It is also the case that budget discussions are always contentious – not for the sound-bite reasons that tend to dominate the media (we’re frugal/you’re spendthrift; we’re right/you’re wrong), but because the choices are indeed very difficult.
At an advocacy training that included many new Americans, the group was asked to select its top three priorities to take to their legislators, from a list of 18 items they’d drawn up. The complete list had grown out of a series of community conversations, so each of them was important to some segment of the community, but now they had to narrow the list – there wasn’t enough money to fund all 18. Everyone got to stand three times, to vote for the three items they felt deserved the highest priority.
Afterward, people crowded around, expressing a sense of wonder at what had just happened. “Is this what ‘voting’ means?” asked one man. “I thought ‘voting’ was between a good man and a bad man, a good thing and a bad thing… but all these things were good. We vote even when all the choices are good?”
Ah yes… we do indeed require votes “even when all the choices are good.” That’s what makes the job of our elected officials so tough. Every one of them will be held accountable by constituents who believe that their budget requests should get a priority and a claim on the state budget: flood relief, highway expansions, infrastructure, raises for teachers, affordable housing, English Language classes, tax relief for low-wage workers, dental care, long-term care, services for people with disabilities… “good things” all.
“Tax Expenditures”
Plus, there is another category of claims on the treasury that are often overlooked: tax expenditures. Any time the legislature votes to give some group a tax break -- whether it is tax breaks for veterans, or senior citizens, or particular businesses, or the services of self-employed professionals – that costs the state treasury just as surely as if the state wrote them a check. Each tax “break” (tax deduction, tax credit) for one group or activity… represents money that won’t be available for any body or any thing else. That’s why economists know them as “tax expenditures:” they represent a loss to the state; they carry a cost.
Supporters of tax breaks offer good reasons for adopting them: they may represent future savings, may help generate jobs, may help put money into fragile local economies. But the same arguments can be made for most direct expenditures: today’s spending on education, healthy communities - or most anyone’s pet issue - can be shown to have payoffs in the future.
The difficulties are more immediate: Do we have the money right now? If we commit to something with on-going costs, can we also afford it in the future? Of the many “good things” (whether for spending or tax breaks), which deserve to be at the top of the list?
“Good policy/bad politics”
Complicating matters even further, is the role of constituents. A Michigan state legislator once explained that two kinds of votes were easy: those for “bad policy/bad politics” (e.g., state-funded scholarships for the Ku Klux Klan), and those easily identified as “good policy/good politics” (the ‘motherhood-and-apple-pie’ votes that win easy, bi-partisan passage).
What’s difficult, he said, are the votes representing “good policy, bad politics.” Those are votes that an elected official may know is the right thing to do from the perspective of public policy, but for which there is little voter support (or, outright voter opposition). Often, those are votes that involve spending money on people that are either unpopular or too stressed to organize on their own behalf. People struggling with mental illness or Alzheimer’s, children in foster care or families fleeing domestic violence, disenfranchised prisoners or single parents working multiple jobs – most are not able to come to Olympia to lobby their legislators. Some have an added burden: they are the object of public prejudice. For any of their needs to be acknowledged in the budget process, others have to take up their cause.
If revenues were unlimited, there would be no question: the “good policy” items would always get funded, no matter how unorganized the beneficiaries. But revenues are not unlimited. Spending for ESL classes, foster care improvements, domestic violence protections, or affordable housing… invariably competes with other worthy activities. And just about EVERYone asks to pay less in taxes.
OUR ROLE: We may not cast the final votes on the budget, but we can influence how they come out by letting our legislators know which budget items we feel deserve the highest priority. And we can try to respect the difficulty of their positions – even when they don’t agree with us. Besides, the process gives us many opportunities to try to change their minds.
The PROCESS – Back to Rules Committee, Floor Action
Monday, March 3, marks “cut-off” for action in the Fiscal Committees (House Appropriations, House Finance, and Senate Ways & Means) on bills with cost implications that came over from the “opposite house.”
And promptly the very next morning, March 4, attention will once again shift to Floor Action. That’s when both the House and Senate gather to discuss, amend, and vote on as many of the surviving bills as they can fit into four days of virtually non-stop voting.
Acting as the “gatekeeper” to Floor Action are two of the most powerful, and most unconventional Committees: the House and Senate RULES COMMITTEES.
These Committees act as the Gatekeepers to the House and Senate Floors; they control which bills get out to the floor for a vote. Because the Rules Committee members wield so much power, assignment to the Rules Committees is much-desired, and treated as a prized assignment by the party leadership.
But they are not like most legislative Committees.
- They are larger than most Committees (Senate Rules has 19 members, larger than all but one other Committee; House Rules has 24 members and is the 3rd biggest in the House);
- Their Chairs are not drawn from the ranks: the House Rules Committee is chaired by the Speaker of the House, and the Senate Rules Committee is chaired by the Lieutenant Governor (whether s/he is from the same party as the Senate majority or not). And
- Their meetings are not regularly scheduled, nor are they listed in the Legislative Meeting Schedules. This week, e.g., a member of the Senate Rules Committee announced on the Senate Floor that the Senate would be taking a break for lunch and during that time, “Rules will be meeting.” A few days earlier, signs suddenly appeared everywhere – including the reception area outside the Governor’s office – announcing that the Rules Committees would be meeting shortly. (Word just went out that Senate Rules will meet at noon, Monday.)
- Their process is different from other Committees.
RULES Committee Process
With more bills coming out of Committees than there is time for on the Floor, Rules members decide which to select, or “pull,” from the list of bills eligible for Floor Action. A lot of bills die in Rules. Sometimes, if key members do not want to see a bill come to a vote on the Floor, they just “sit” on a bill in Rules – till it dies. Or, they may simply run out of time.
Rules Committee members work from two lists, or calendars:
a WHITE SHEET (on white) for bills when they are first sent to Rules from a Committee, and
a GREEN SHEET (on green paper) that lists bills “pulled” from the white sheet.
- Bills that make it onto the green sheet are eligible to go out to the Floor.
Try to picture a meeting of the Rules Committee. It is typically called rather hastily; there is no set time on the calendar for Rules to meet. The rooms are on the lower-level in the Capitol – and although theoretically “open,” space is limited and the general public isn’t likely to attend.
Once the members have gathered, the Rules Committee Chair will indicate how many “pulls” each Committee member will get at that day’s meeting.
The first time around the room, they decide which bills get pulled from the White sheet to the Green. E.g., if each member is to be allowed 3 pulls, each member in turn will say which 3 bills s/he wants pulled from the White Sheet to the Green Sheet. That is important, because bills on the Green Sheet are the bills eligible to go out to the Floor.
The second time around the room, everyone indicates which bill(s) they want pulled from the Green Sheet to go to the floor. The House and Senate have slightly different procedures.
- In Senate Rules there’s a brief discussion among the Rules Committee members;
- In House Rules a Committee Chair may sometimes speak about the bill.
- In neither body does anyone from the Public, or the rest of the body – e.g., another Senator or Representative – get to come and speak about a bill.
- In both cases the brief discussion is followed by a vote, and a majority vote is need for a bill to move out to the Floor.
If a bill does not get a majority to move on to the Floor to be scheduled for Second Reading, it slips back to the White Sheet. Then if there is still time, Rules members turn back to the White Sheet – for another round when members just announce a pull, and there is no debate or vote.
There are a few other actions that Rules can take (e.g., in some cases they will group several bills together to go to the floor and be voted on in a block, sometimes Senate Rules will start with the Green sheet and then work back… or work from both if the Floor Calendar isn’t full), but this is the basic drill.
A bill that has been voted out of Rules is ready to be scheduled for Second Reading – when it is debated and perhaps amended on the Floor. After that, a bill is ready for Third Reading – the time for an up-or-down vote by the full body, on the House or Senate Floor.
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YOUR PART: This week the useful action has four parts.
One: If a bill you care about has survived Committee action, ask your legislators to use their influence with their colleagues on the Rules Committee to get the bill out to the Floor.
Two: Contact your legislators for bills in the “opposite house” – that’s where your bill must now be voted on by the full body, on the House or Senate Floor.
Three: If it requires funding, also request the funding level you want included in the Budget.
Four: Check the emails/websites of the advocacy groups monitoring the issues you care about.
Check the status of your bills often (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/dailystatus.aspx?year=2007).
Important actions are occurring daily, even hourly, and you will want to react as fast as possible.
PLUS: You can follow a lot of Floor Action in Olympia via TVW – our own Public Affairs television station. Much of their programming can be viewed on your computer.
It is easy to send a quick message to convey your wishes.
- CALL (directly to their offices, or TOLL FREE 1-800-562-6000)
- EMAIL/WRITE (lastname.firstname@leg.wa.gov)
- KEEP THE GOVERNOR INFORMED of how you feel about the bills being voted on. Remember, she has the power to sign, or veto any bill or budget item that is passed.
LAST STEPS IN THE BUDGET-WRITING PROCESS
The House and Senate have each voted for their own versions of a Supplemental Operating Budget. Since bills (including budgets) must pass both House and Senate in identical form, seven legislators (4 from the House, 3 from the Senate) plus someone from the Governor’s staff, have begun meeting to negotiate a final, compromise version. That will then be submitted to both the House and Senate, for a final vote. Last step: the budget goes to the Governor, who can sign, or veto in part.
By now all the advocacy groups have put out analyses of the two budgets, pointing out how their specific items fared, and calling on their readers to contact legislators and the Governor about the budget. At the same time all the major media have produced summaries of the major differences between the two budgets which can be read at their websites.
Those wishing to read the various Operating Budget proposals (in whole, or “highlights”) can find them at: http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/budget/detail/proposals.asp (A “Citizen’s Guide to the Washington State Budget” is available at the Senate Ways & Means Committee website.)
OUR ROLE: Throughout this process, whether you are pleased, disappointed, or somewhere in between, you can influence how the final details of the Budget are decided. But you have to speak up NOW. Tell your legislators and the Governor what YOU wish to see included in the final budget. If your item is mentioned in both budgets, say which version you prefer.
Also moving swiftly through the process are two additional Budgets: CAPITAL (Buildings, Housing), and for TRANSPORTATION. Check their respective Committees for details.
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SNAPSHOTS:
Observations from some Olympia newbies:
** “… I was impressed by how easy it was to walk into the Capitol building, overhear legislative sessions, drop by my Senator and Representatives’ offices…. I wish more people were aware of how approachable our legislators are… I’m twenty-five years old and I didn’t know!” (While listening in at one meeting): “It was great to hear legislators’ opinions straight from them, and see them in a more personal way. Even more surprising was when I turned and Governor Christine Gregoire was standing next to me, waiting for her turn!”
** “Going to Olympia showed me that using your voice about a policy or any other general concern is not complicated and that anyone can really do it. Anyone can use their voice and it can make a difference.”
** “Getting involved is a great cure for cynicism.”
** Some new visitors stopped by to thank a Representative for sponsoring the Working Families Credit, were invited in, used the opportunity to talk about some other key bills, and along the way discovered, “…she’s really chatty!”
** And from one of our state’s newly energized young voters after attending a Lobby Day for the first time: “It was A-MA-ZING!”
A few glimpses into legislators’ last-weeks’ actions:
** Committee Chairs had a variety of ways to keep things moving during these last, hectic Committee days. One deputized another member to hold up a sign reading: 30 SECONDS REMAINING, to get witnesses to stop. The verbal cue was equally blunt: “Please answer the questions succinctly… we need to move on.” One Senate Chair told a colleague: “we’ll be back here tonight at 7:00 pm if you don’t shorten your questions!” And when a witness was brief, the praise was immediate: “Love that short testimony!” she said.
** Even legislators can sometimes get confused when complicated bills are being amended. One Senator sought clarity through color, saying he wished to “…withdraw the amendment on pretty pink paper, and substitute the amendment on buff paper.” When asked to explain the changes, he admitted: “the buff amendment is what I should have asked for in the first place.”
And more trivia:
** Food Update. Early in the Session, Policy Watch reported that there were sandwiches in the Capitol cafeteria named “Liberal” and “Moderate.” Now there are two new sandwiches: a Conservative, and a SubCommittee.
** This week’s Trivia Quiz from the Legislative Information Center:
Question: what percentage of the bills that passed last year had NOT been amended?
Answer: 22% (which some of us think sounds high, but it still means bills have
a much better chance of passage if they’ve been amended at least once).
** Also getting into the trivia act, is the Olympia correspondent for the Tri-City Herald. He notes that the “largest majority in the history of the Legislature belongs to the pre-Depression era Senate Republicans.” They held a 41-1 majority in the Senate from 1929 through 1932. But the very next year… they were in the minority (one more reason legislators never feel too secure).
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SOME ISSUES -- UPDATE
Bills have been introduced on such a broad range of issues that PW cannot mention them all. This list simply notes a few health/human services Bills still alive by this week.
2 NOTES: 1) the “cut-off” for Fiscal Committees is Monday night, 3/03. Bills in the House Appropriations or Finance Committees, or the Senate Ways & Means Committee, are alive until then. Appropriations is meeting on Saturday; Ways & Means will meet twice on Monday. 2) Some of the bills listed last week are DEAD, but their “live” Companion bills are listed instead.
Just a few of the bills still alive and heading for Floor Action
BILL TOPIC Status
Some House Bills Committee or Chamber
HB 1421 Privacy Protect’s for DV victims Now in Senate Rules Committee
HB 2474 Superv’n Require’t’s for Social Workers Now in Senate Rules Committee
HB 2487 Vulnerable Adults Now in Senate Rules Committee
HB 2551 Juvenile Treatment Now in Senate Rules Committee
HB 2602 Victims of Domestic Violence Now in Senate Rules Committee
HB 2679 Educa’l Outcomes for Foster Youth Now in Senate Ways & Means Cttee
HB 2834 Foster Parent License Now in Senate Rules Committee
HB 3133 Mobile Home Parks & Manufac’d Housing Now in Senate Rules Committee
HB 3104 Expand’g Domestic Partner Rights Now in Senate Rules Committee
Some Senate Bills
SB 6267 Nurse Practitioners Now in House Rules Committee
SB 6333 Work Group on Health Care Now in House Appropriations Cttee
SB 6357 Protection Orders in Domestic Violence Now on the House Floor
SB 6364 Long-term Care Insurance Now in House Rules Committee
SB 6448 Behavior Supports for Children w/DD Now in House Appropriations Cttee
SB 6483 Local Farms/Healthy Kids Now in House Rules Committee
SB 6809 Working Families Credit Now in House Finance Committee
And much, much more… Check the House and Senate Floor Calendars to see whether bills you care about are scheduled for Floor Action. Click on “Agendas, Schedules, and Calendars” and then click on House Floor Activity Report, and Senate Floor Activity Report.
In a few cases, a bill may die, but an activity will get funded and survive through a “budget proviso;” be sure to check this possibility with the group monitoring your issue closely.
YOUR PART. Use the tools available. We have three ways to contact our representatives to tell them how we wish to be represented: we can CALL, WRITE, or VISIT.
If you go to Olympia in Week Eight, first read over POLICY WATCH for WEEK FIVE to remind yourself about “pulling legislators from the Floor.” That’s where legislators will be from Tuesday through the end of the week. You can send in a brief Floor Note to let them know the bill or budget item you are concerned about, and if they have time they’ll step outside the chamber, on the 3rd Floor of the Capitol building, to talk with you about it.
Either way, be sure to stop by their offices to leave a brief note and meet with staff. Every Senator gets two aides, every Representative gets one aide, and the whole place gets the help of Committee staff (who work for members of both parties) and Caucus staff (who work for either Democrats or Republicans). All are eager to be helpful, and all are very good about passing information along.
TWO EASY ACTIONS -- Same As Last Week
- Get and read the legislative alerts from an advocacy group that monitors the issue(s) you care most about. POLICY WATCH lists health/human service/low-income groups, at:
http://depts.washington.edu/sswweb/policyw/2008Useful_Info.pdf
If that doesn’t have what you need, ask friends, co-workers – or google.) Those who write alerts monitor what is happening and will tell help you use your voice effectively. You don’t need to be an expert, you just need to care about an issue, and tell your legislators what you want.
- Try to make a call or send a note or email about the issues in the Legislative Alert you care most about. Use the state’s TOLL-FREE LINE (1-800-562-6000) to leave a brief message for your Senator, your 2 Representatives, and the Governor – all in just minutes.
Brief Note. POLICY WATCH should be read with three things in mind. First, we ask a lot of the men and women we elect to serve. They deserve our respect. Second, every activity, every program, every issue affected by the budget has its champions and detractors; legislators will be pressured from all sides on every item. Third, it is our privilege to help our citizen-legislators sort among competing needs and difficult choices. They need us to help them make hard choices.
Pay Attention to the Legislative Calendar.
The 2008 Legislative Session runs from Jan. 14 – March 13. Every day is counted (Weekdays/ Sat/Sun/Holidays) Session. The legislature may also meet on weekends late in the Session. “Cut-off dates” control the action on bills; those failing to get action before “cut-off” usually die.
…here are the last critical points in the 2008 Session:
- 3/03 – last day for bill consideration in the Fiscal Committees of the "opposite house"
- 3/07 – last day for bill to be considered on the floor of the “opposite house”
- 3/13 – 2008 Session adjourns for the year.
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