To fill a $2 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Chris Gregoire is proposing eliminating the state’s health care program for the poor, trimming another 15 percent from higher education and reducing levy equalization for poor school districts by 50 percent.
“This is very personal. We’re talking about real Washingtonians,” Gregoire said at a news conference Thursday in Olympia. “They have needs we will no longer be able to meet.”
The governor struck a populist stance in laying out her proposed budget, largely blaming the reductions on Wall Street.
“These choices were made out of necessity due to a drop in consumer confidence brought on by actions on Wall Street, inaction by Congress and the European debt crisis. The list of options I’ve presented hurts,” she said. “This is not what I signed up for when I started as a caseworker 40 years ago. But it’s what the world economy handed our state and our country.”
The proposed budget cuts also include reducing the length of supervision for all convicts and ending alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs.
Lawmakers are due in Olympia in late November for another round of budget cuts totaling about $2 billion. Earlier this year, the Legislature cut about $4.6 billion of state spending.
Gregoire said her options are limited, but she will welcome feedback from the public before she releases her final supplemental budget proposal before November’s special session.
Several of the ideas presented Thursday have been proposed by her, but lawmakers managed to find cuts elsewhere. “This is a beginning,” Gregoire said. “I expect additional feedback from communities and various stakeholder groups that I will certainly consider before I present a more complete budget next month. This list will likely change before then. But not much — our options are limited. We’ve already cut $10 billion from state government over the last three years, which leaves very few options moving forward.”
The state’s economy continues to struggle, slashing any hopes of a recovery any time soon. Earlier this year the state’s chief economist said tax revenues will continue to drop.
The reductions put forward Thursday include eliminating the Basic Health plan, which provides medical care for the state’s poor. The cut would affect 35,000 people.
Gregoire also wants to cut off medical services to 21,000 people in the state’s Disability Lifeline program, which serves low-income adults, and the state alcohol and drug abuse program.
She also wants to cut the length of supervision for all offenders leaving prison. Sex offenders will be supervised for 24 months and all other offenders, for 12 months, her office said.
“I don’t want anyone to think that I like these options,” Gregoire said.
“This is what Wall Street has done to our state, to our country.”
