The governor met her
constitutional responsibility by presenting a 2012 Supplemental Budget balanced
by offering an additional $2 billion in spending reductions in order to remain
within existing revenue. But because she finds many of those reductions to be
unconscionable, Governor Gregoire proposed several options for generating the
additional revenue to prevent the most damaging reductions.
(For information or assistance on the contents of this message from Secretary Dreyfus, contact Paul Montgomery, Aging Services of Washington)
Governor Gregoire proposed
asking state voters to approve a temporary half-cent increase in the state
sales tax from 6.5 percent to 7 percent that would raise just over $494
million. The revenue generated by the temporary sales tax increase would be
used for specific purposes outlined in her proposed referendum to the
people: $411 million for education; $42 million for long-term care and
developmental disability services that help to keep people in their home and
community; and $41 million for public safety services such as providing
community supervision and not releasing felons early.
Of specific interest to you
and the people we serve together, the public’s passage of the three-year
half-cent sales tax increase would prevent 1,600 individuals from losing all
personal care and other services and restore services for some of the most
vulnerable clients whose care has been reduced over the past three years. It
would restore nearly $13 million in home care and residential provider rates.
It would invest more than $15 million in programs that keep people who are
elderly and developmentally disabled in their own homes and with their families.
She also recommended $59
million in revenue additions that the Legislature could achieve by a simple
majority vote and $282 million that would require a two-thirds majority to
clear the Legislature. Should these revenue options be adopted by the
Legislature they could be used in a targeted way to prevent some of the spending
reductions identified in her budget proposal.
The revenue increases the
Governor recommended to the Legislature could prevent the loss of chemical
dependency services for nearly 5,000 low-income individuals. They could prevent
reductions in services to 8,000 people living safely in their communities
through crisis intervention, medication management and case management. The
additional revenue could prevent further reductions in TANF/WorkFirst grants to
low-income families. The additional revenue could avoid the loss of prevention
and treatment services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
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