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Jason Rantz

Gov. Inslee has begun vetoing bills as legislature fails to pass budget

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee threatened to veto bills should lawmakers fail to pass a budget by Thursday night. (AP)

Listen above to Republican Doug Ericksen and Democrat Kevin Ranker discuss why the budget will not pass before Gov. Inslee’s deadline.

Update

Washington Governor Jay Inslee made good on his threat late Thursday night to veto lawmakers’ bills if they should fail to pass a budget.

“I have begun vetoing bills. Tonight I vetoed 27 bills,” Inslee said, further saying he has called for a 30 day special session for legislators to get the budget job done.

Inslee also said that he signed 10 bills, weighing their importance to the budget. The signed bills have a “common thread” of public safety and health, he said.

“I realize this is the largest batch of vetoes in state history,” Inslee said. “None of these bills were as important as it is for the legislature to reach a budget.”

“The regular session is over but I am keeping the clock running. There is no break and there is no rest…They had 60 days to take care of relatively minor adjustments,” he added, saying that legislators have a bad “habit” of using special sessions to take care of their budgets.

Lawmakers in Olympia now have 30 additional days, which began at 10 p.m. Thursday night.

“There is really no reason legislators could not have produced a budget this session,” he said. “And there is no reason this special session should require more than a few days.”

Original story

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee threatened to veto bills should lawmakers fail to pass a budget by Thursday night. They failed. Now Washington awaits to see if the governor will follow through with this threat.

“I can guarantee there will be no budget out of the Washington state legislature by tonight,” said State Senator Doug Erickson, R-Ferndale.

Related: Gov. Jay Inslee threatens to veto bills if budget is not passed on time

Ericksen spoke on KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz Show. As did State Senator Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island. The two disagreed on why the budget was not completed by the Thursday deadline.

“What’s holding it up is one simple thing: the Democrats in Olympia want a $4 billion tax increase in the next legislative session, and they are working this year to cue that up,” Ericksen said. “They want an income tax, they want a capital gains tax, the want property tax increases and B&O tax increases.”

“Their strategy is to make the budget shortfall as big as possible next year so there is no choice but to come back and say they need an income tax,” he alleged.

Ranker, a Democrat, doesn’t agree with his Republican counterpart. He said he is the “number two Democrat” in the budget negotiations, so he is “in the room” as the two sides make compromises.

“The hold up is that we believe this needs to be a minimalist budget,” Ranker said. “It’s a supplemental budget year. But we also believe we can do no harm. This is not a year to cut mental health programs from some of the most vulnerable and needy. And it’s not a year to cut basic services.”

“We actually know there are proposals that can get us out of town without making those draconian and harmful cuts,” he said.

Ranker argued that the Republicans attempted to initially balance the budget by cutting pension benefits for retired firefighters and cops. That proposal didn’t pass.

Ericksen said that he would be surprised of Inslee kept his veto threat. Ranker said that he doesn’t believe that essential bills will be turned away.

“Sometimes we in the legislature need our feet held to the fire and pressure can be a good thing,” Ranker said.

Jason Rantz on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM

  • Tune in to KIRO Radio weeknights at 7pm for The Jason Rantz Show.

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