State Reps. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, and Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, agree that Washington legislators should not convene for a special session this year, despite growing budget woes.
Linville told a meeting of the AWB’s Governmental Affairs Council that Gov. Chris Gregoire should use her limited authority to trim the budget enough to get through until January when the Legislature meets again for a regular session.
Earlier in the day, Victor Moore and Marty Brown from the governor’s office raised the possibility of a special session depending on the severity of an expected drop in state revenue. A new quarterly revenue forecast is due Thursday.
“There’s no reason to call us back,” Linville said. “The plate always gets more full when we’re in town.”
Alexander agreed, saying “I don’t see any reason for a special session. It just opens the door to more problems than good.”
The lawmakers also agreed on other budget issues, including that the current budget is unsustainable barring a big turnaround of the economy, and that it relies heavily on one-time funds including federal stimulus funding.
Alexander estimated that Washington will face a minimum $8 to $10 billion shortfall in the 2011-13 budget given current conditions.
“It’s not only a current problem,” he said, referring to Thursday’s revenue forecast. “We need to start planning how we deal with the next budget.”
