May 4, 2009
Dear friends and neighbors,
Last Sunday, the Legislature
adjourned. However, many of you may have heard
about the possibility for a special session
to pass unsuccessful bills from the 105-day regular
session. A special session would cost $18,300
each day the House and Senate meets.
I am joining my fellow Republicans in opposing a
special session. Among the bills the governor and
majority party want to pass is a measure that would
cut levy equalization funding by $60
million to a vast majority of school districts, giving
more taxing authority to property-rich districts to
raise local property taxes.
House Bill 1776, which I oppose, would cut
funding throughout our district:
-
$3.28
million from the Spokane School District;
-
$831,000
from the Mead School District; and
-
$1.1
million from the Central Valley School District.
In addition, this legislation would shift more
responsibility of funding education to the locals when
all the responsibility should remain with the
state.
I need your help. Please consider
contacting the following leaders to express your
concerns about calling a special session to pass House
Bill 1776:
Budget and taxes
The Legislature managed to balance a projected $9
billion shortfall this year. While tax increase
proposals were put down by the dedicated voices
of thousands of citizens around the state opposing more
taxes, many fee
proposals were adopted that will still
burden taxpayers. In addition, I'm disappointed
that $3 billion in one-time federal
stimulus dollars in the operating budget was used to
backfill ongoing spending rather than for one-time
projects to help spur our economy.
Many hard decisions had to be made, and I saw the
shortfall as an opportunity to re-focus the
state's priorities. The Washington state
constitution says that education is the paramount duty
of the state, and yet many funding cuts were made to
education.
Transportation budget
The final transportation budget (read the highlights
here) included two great projects for the Spokane
area. I'm pleased the North-South freeway will receive
an additional $28 million in funding. While this project
still has a long way to go, I'm glad to see the funding
move forward for this economically-important
infrastructure.
Another critically important project for our area was
given $250,000 in the final budget. Constructing a
right-turn lane at the intersection of Highway 195 and
Cheney-Spokane Road will increase safety at this deadly
intersection. I would like to thank Debbi Hammel and her
neighbors for coming to Olympia to speak with
legislators and the governor to turn her daughter's
tragic death into a positive change for other residents.
This was a community-driven effort to ensure the
intersection is safer.
Education reform
I'm hopeful of the steps made within
House Bill 2261 to create a blueprint for where our
state is going in fully funding education. The effort
from legislators, parents, teachers and others could
lead to one of the most comprehensive reforms of
education funding.
District office opens soon!
In May, my legislative assistant, Spencer, and I will
be opening a district office to be more available to
you. I will provide you more details about the location
and phone number for the office at a later date. I hope
you'll come visit us once we're all set up!
Please feel free to call or
e-mail
me and let me know how I can help you. My contact information is at the top.
Sincerely,
Rep. Kevin Parker
6th District State
Representative
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