So Much for Transparency and Prioritizing Education | PubliCola

By Seattle State Sens. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, David Frockt, Adam Kline and Sharon Nelson

The beauty of the legislative process is that it is laid out for all to see. Public hearings, viewing galleries, and public records requests are among the many ways for citizens to monitor the actions and activities of the women and men elected to lead our state.

The process was messy and opaque and that is a large part of why the policy was so bad.

We?re firm believers in the ideal that a vigilant and informed public is the best way to ensure the most effective policies and practices for the state of Washington. To stray from that standard diminishes transparency and invites cynicism related to public policymaking.

This is exactly what happened last Friday when the minority Senate Republicans and three conservative Democrats formed a majority and adopted a legitimate, but rarely-used ninth order procedural motion to force the Republican budget and three other bills to the floor. What is of issue, though, is their then having imposed a vote on a budget that had not been seen or reviewed nor had received a public hearing, no matter what we requested. While it?s true as the minority party they did not have the means to schedule a hearing on their budget, they refused even to let Democrats have time to read and discuss their proposal. It didn?t matter what we requested?they weren?t interested. Their approach was the antithesis of Sen. Ed Murray?s bipartisan budget process last year and his invitation for their involvement this year. Instead of providing a public process, they gave Washington a lesson in backroom politics.

Instead of providing a public process, they gave Washington a lesson in backroom politics.

Such actions are an affront to our great political system, especially on the most critical issue to all Washingtonians?how we prioritize and spend public dollars.

So why did this happen? The answer, we think, is that it was a power grab, done in a way that avoided public view?especially as it did not reflect the powerful public testimony on budget requests that we heard firsthand in the Senate Ways & Means Committee over the past three months.

We heard repeatedly, ?No more cuts to K-12 education,? which was the subject of last fall?s State Supreme Court McCleary decision informing the Legislature it is not meeting its paramount duty to fund basic education. We also heard pleas from students, families and our colleges and universities to stop cutting higher education, which has resulted in ever-increasing tuition increases. And we heard from others, including children, who would bear the brunt of the brutal cuts made to our social safety net by the Senate Republican budget passed in the post-midnight darkness.

While the Senate Democrats? budget made no cuts to K-12 education, the Republican budget chops $44 million.

Their stories helped shape the majority Senate Democrats? proposed budget released last week. This proposal had been openly shared with the minority party, inviting them to contribute. It was a budget met with accolades and relief in a public hearing before the Senate Ways & Means Committee. (Interestingly, only a few Republican members bothered to sit in briefly on the public hearing.) It was a budget that left large portions of the safety net intact. It was a budget that made NO cuts to K-12 and higher education. And it maintained a $370 million reserve balance, higher than the Republican budget chief supported in past years.
While the Senate Democrats? budget made no cuts to K-12 education, the Republican budget chops $44 million. While the Senate Democrats? budget made no cuts to higher education and maintained financial aid, critical in a time of rising tuition, the Republican budget slashes $30 million.

The Republican budget makes cuts to education and social programs a tradeoff in the name of savings. In the end, a party that preaches the rhetoric of transparency knocked transparency aside in its rush to push through a budget few Democratic lawmakers, let alone the public, had seen.

The Republicans? budget passed the Senate utilizing their own version of ?gimmicks? like skipping a pension payment and raiding millions in environmental cleanup funds. Even with those ironic choices, their budget still had additional millions in cuts in K-12 and higher education. But, yes, it passed on a 25-24 vote. And as pure power politics, perhaps they deserve some credit. The process was messy and opaque and that is a large part of why the policy was so bad.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-36, Seattle, Chairs the Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee
Sen. David Frockt, D-46, Seattle, sits on the Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee
Sen. Adam Kline, D-37, Seattle, Chairs the Judiciary Committee
Sen. Sharon Nelson, D-34, Vashon Island, Chairs the Environment Committee

Source: http://publicola.com/2012/03/08/so-much-for-transparency-and-prioritizing-education/

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