State budget big issue for lawmakers and agriculture

Washington Ag Today January 11, 2010 The Washington State Legislature begins a 60-day session today and it is obvious what the major issue before lawmakers is.

Jesernig: “The biggest issue for everybody, including agriculture, is going to be the budget deficit the state is facing.”

That is Jim Jesernig who represents several agricultural organizations in Olympia including the potato and wheat industries. Lawmakers need to come up with a supplemental budget for the current biennium that erases a 2.6 billion dollar deficit.

Jesernig: “You will have some combination of cuts, rainy day fund reserves and some kind of taxes will be on the table to try and bridge that budget gap.”

Because so much of the budget is off-limits Jesernig says lawmakers only have about seven billion dollars in spending from which to get the 2.6 billion in savings. He says a big junk of that seven billion, about 1.5 billion is higher education.

Jesernig: “And so there is no way it doesn‘t come into the discussion. So specific to the ag community there is going to be a focus on trying not to take a bigger cut in ag research.”

The budget Governor Gregoire submitted in December proposed an additional 13.5 million dollars in cuts at Washington State University, which has already seen 54 million in reductions this biennium. The governor’s proposal also would reduce general fund support for the Washington Department of Agriculture, which could lead to higher fees for users of some of the department’s programs.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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