Nealey and Walsh Support Final Budget

Late on June 30, the Washington State Legislature passed a compromise budget that came, litereally, at the last minute. Washington state government was facing a potential shutdown if the budget was delayed further.

Both state representatives from our 16th district voted for the budget compromise, which passed the house 82-11.

Negotiators in the state house and senate agreed to a total budget of $33.6 billion. The final budget added $1 billion to the state's education budget and included enough money so that public university tuition could remain at current levels.

Rep. Nealey issued the following statement:

"I'm very pleased that the final negotiated budget provides an additional one-billion dollars toward our state's paramount duty of education. In addition, it ensures there will be no tuition in- creases at our colleges and universities for the first time in 28 years. That's huge, especially for our struggling middle-class families who are largely funding tuition themselves and don't qualify for grants or other assistance. So it is truly an educa- tion budget.

"It also retires about a half-million dollars in business and occupation taxes for small business- es across the state. That will help to free up funding for employers so they can hire more people.

"One of the reasons I ran for office is because I was concerned about the runaway spending in the budget and how taxpayers were being treated as if their money belonged to the government. But this budget puts 630-million dollars into reserves, with nearly a half-billion dollars going into the rainy day fund, which will help protect taxpayers if we have another economic downturn. While it is not a perfect budget, it puts this state on a much brighter path for our children, jobs and taxpayers."

Rep. Walsh issued this statement:

"Though it did take two special sessions, I'm pleased with the final outcome. My greatest priori- ties with the budget this year were to not increase taxes on hard-working families and small busi- ness, and to protect our most vulnerable popula- tions. We have done both with this budget, and in a strong bipartisan manner.

"I'm especially pleased that the original pro- posal by House Democrats to make a business and occupation tax increase permanent on small, Main Street businesses was taken off the table after public outcry. This would have severely hampered the ability for businesses, already teetering in this economy, to keep their doors open and would have put more jobs in jeopardy. I'm proud of my colleagues on our House Republican leadership team, who were instrumental in mediating the budget negotiations between the majority parties in the House and Senate, working to provide so- lutions in difficult times, and staying focused on consensus."

We applaud our legislators in reaching this compromise, even though it took a regular session plus two 30-day spe- cial sessions to get there.