Tightening the belt: Gregoire orders spending cuts
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Governor Gregoire has just inked an executive order requiring most agencies and programs of Washington state government to trim their sails some more. The actual percentage -- in the 4-to-7-percent range -- will be filled in by the state budget office after the new revenue forecast is released on Thursday morning.
The cuts, which take effect Oct. 1, will apply to all programs without a constitutional protection, such as basic aid-to-education, bond debt service and pensions, or federal entitlements. A shortfall of, say, $500 million, would require a 6 percent cut, says budget Director Marty Brown.
Gregoire, who was leaving Monday on a trade mission to China and Vietnam, says she expects more bad economic news when the new forecast is released later this week. That would throw the state's $31 billion budget into the red, since the state's reserves are just about depleted.
That triggers either across-the-board cuts by the governor or a special legislative session to adopt more surgical cuts. Democratic leaders of the House and Senate have rejected Republicans' call for a special session, saying it would be nigh onto impossible to agree on budget revisions, particularly in the heat of the campaigns.
Lawmakers also face a $3 billion-plus shortfall in writing the 2011-13 state budget in the session that convenes in January.
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Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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