106 Newhouse Building ● P.O. Box 40404 ● Olympia WA 98504-0404

Report from Olympia |  May 29, 2015

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it… I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it will get you pretty near.”

That sums up the job for the Senate Majority when it comes to protecting taxpayers this year.

Yesterday, the first 30-day special legislative session ended without a budget agreement, solely due to the unreasonable demand for new taxes by the House Democrat leadership.

The Senate proved during the regular session that we could fully fund education, cut tuition, and protect our seniors and most vulnerable without new taxes. Since that time, the financial picture has gotten even better, with state economists expecting another $482 million in new revenue to be generated by our recovering economy.

As the Iron Lady said, we have to be willing to fight this battle again. There is no need for new taxes. In fact, it is probably time to give some tax relief to small businesses struggling to grow and create new jobs. You can read more about the special session and budget below, but you can be assured that I will not support any attempts by Olympia to reach further into your pockets.

It is an honor to serve as your voice in Olympia. Please let me know if we can provide you with more information on issues relating to state government, or if we can be of assistance in any way to you and your family. Please feel free to contact me or my Legislative Aide Mike McCliment anytime via email or by calling our district office at (509) 921-2460.

Thank you, as always, for the continued opportunity to serve you in the state Senate.

Best Regards,

Senator Mike Padden

House Democrats force second special session, demand new taxes

Last week, state economists told us that our recovering economy is expected to generate another $482 million in revenue that can be budgeted for education and other services and programs – without a change in tax rates!

In fact, since the start of the regular session, the state has seen $1.1 billion in positive fiscal news. When added to the increase we were already expecting prior to the legislative session, we now have $3.2 billion more in tax revenue than we did the last time we wrote a budget. That’s a 9.2 percent increase.

But for House Democrats, this is still not enough. They are demanding more taxes – a capital gains income tax, a costly energy tax or a tax on small businesses.

What is becoming clearer by the day is that their resistance is not about spending. The Republican-controlled Senate delivered on every major issue this session, keeping our promise to prioritize education, bring tax relief to middle-class families, protect our elderly and most-vulnerable and live within our means with no new taxes.

The good fiscal news has also allowed the Senate to compromise and address many of the stated concerns of Democrats. In the latest Senate budget offer, the Senate agreed to fully fund both the collectively bargained state-employee contracts and teacher cost-of-living pay increases.

Clearly, new taxes are not needed; yet the bottom-line response from the House: “Not good enough. We still want more taxes.”

The reason the House leadership is pushing us toward an irresponsible and completely unnecessary government shutdown appears to be that it wants to raise taxes… solely for the sake of raising taxes.

CAPR recognizes legislative effort to defend property rights

Last Friday, Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights held its annual dinner event in Spokane. I was honored to receive its “Lifetime Achievement Award: Property Rights Defender” for my advocacy for private property rights as guaranteed under both the state and federal constitutions. CAPR was organized in 2003 as a non-partisan organization where individual citizens and existing organizations could work together to protect property rights. During the regular session I introduced a bill to protect private-property owners from having their property taken by government and given to a private company for economic-development purposes. The bill also would clarify that issues of blight and economic development are not sufficient causes for eminent-domain condemnations. Private-property rights are fundamental in both our U.S. and state constitutions. Even though there has to be just compensation, it is still taking property against the wishes of the property owner. Of course, there is no problem if you have a willing buyer and a willing seller, but to use the power of government to condemn that property is a serious matter and should only be done sparingly and for a clearly defined public need. The government should not be able to pick winners and losers, or have some understanding with a developer that they can come into an area they deem blighted and just take a property. Senate Bill 5363, which passed the Senate by a vote of 30-19, stalled in the House; so advocates of property rights will have to continue our efforts next year.

Work session examines issues around Supreme Court’s McCleary decision

This week the Senate Law and Justice Committee held a work session that included a review of several issues related to the state Supreme Court case of McCleary v. State of Washington. In the case, the Supreme Court ruled in January 2012 that the state isn’t meeting its paramount duty to adequately provide for basic education.

The Court has given the Legislature a 2018 deadline for fully funding basic education, and has held the Legislature in contempt for not making sufficient progress by its standard.

While no one questions the right of the Court to make a ruling, its method of enforcement is raising serious questions about the balance of power between co-equal branches of government.

The committee received testimony on this issue by phone from economist Eric Hanushek with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and Professor David DeWolf with the Gonzaga University School of Law. You can hear their insightful commentary by clicking the image above.

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