Washington House Democrats

State Budget and Finance

State Budget

Creating a budget that is sustainable over the long-term is crucial for our economic well-being.  To do this, we must bring the growth of all major elements of our expense stream in line with the growth of our revenue stream.

Revenue grows at about 4.5 – 5% per year. Over the last decade our expenditures on education have grown slower than this, pushing our state ranking down into the 40s in per-child expenditures. Our healthcare expenses, both to cover employees and those on medical assistance in one form or another are growing around 9% a year. This is unsustainable.

To address this we either have to significantly change the number of people we provide healthcare for, reduce the level of service to all of them, or find efficiencies that enable us to cut the rate of growth in half.  Overall Medicaid expenses are also growing very, very quickly. This includes long-term care for our parents.

To fix the growth of our health-care expenses we need to change the system nationally. This is not just a government problem – our business community faces the same problems every day.

Pensions

Pension plans from corporations across the country are breaking their promise to beneficiaries.  We have a duty in Washington state to honor our obligation to our recipients -- the teachers, police officers and public employees that serve all of us. If we want to attract and retain the best teachers and public servants, then we must ensure that we keep our promise to them.