Twentieth District legislators on Wednesday evening spoke via conference call to approximately 5,000 constituents about the state budget, business and education reform and their efforts to get out of Olympia on time.
The hour-long "telephone town hall," hosted by Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, and Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, offered local citizens the opportunity to ask questions of their representatives.
A man who identified himself as Chris from Centralia wanted to know the status of the state's capital budget.
DeBolt, the House Minority Leader, responded that the capital budget has been negotiated in both the House and the Senate and that a project list is being compiled. Work has been completed in a bipartisan manner, according to DeBolt.
"That's not going to be a problem budget this year," he said.
Orcutt added that local legislators are working hard to ensure flood control money is included in the capital budget.
In his proposed 2013-15 budget, released last week, Gov. Jay Inslee allocated $28.2 million to Chehalis Basin flood mitigation efforts.
The money awarded equals the sum requested by local leaders.
Former Gov. Chris Gregoire, in her outgoing 2013-15 Capital Budget, also suggested that money be awarded to the Chehalis Basin.
Bob, of Centralia, asked why dredging has not been used to mitigate flooding in the Chehalis Basin.
"Millions and millions have gone down the drain trying to solve flooding in Southwest Washington, and there's such a simple answer," Bob said. "I don't understand: why no dredging?"
"If you and I were king, there might be a simple answer, but we're not," said Braun, about the need to address many concerns and viewpoints in Chehalis Basin flood mitigation efforts.
Modeling of a wide variety of flood solutions, released in a Ruckelshaus report over the summer, indicated that "dredging came out OK," according to Braun.
"Water retention is the best option, according to science," he said.
"You'd have to dredge an awful long way down to address flooding issues in Chehalis Basin," Orcutt added. Water retention provides an additional advantage, according to Orcutt: increased flow that, in the summer, could provide benefits to fish.
"That's part of the reason the tribes are willing to consider this option," he said.
DeBolt, who for years has voiced support for local flood mitigation efforts, again pledged his dedication.
"We will get this funded this year," he said. "And then we'll come together again next year and get it funded again."
In November, local leaders requested more than $28 million in state money for a multi-pronged flood mitigation plan, including $9.2 million for the study and design of a dam and other long-term projects to improve Interstate 5; $10.7 million for local flood protection projects; $4.4 million for projects that reduce flooding while benefitting fish; $1.75 million for reducing damage to residences and other structures in the floodplain; $1.2 million for operation of the basin program and for project management; and $950,000 for state agency technical assistance and project permitting.
Gordon, who identified himself as a medical doctor who practices in Chehalis, on Wednesday told the local legislators he has been inundated with new rules and regulations from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Washington State Department of Health.
“Many of them do nothing to improve the quality of health care and in fact make us less efficient and less able to see patients in a timely manner,” Gordon said. “Are there any efforts to rein in this bureaucratic environment and make the rules more reasonable and rational, or even try to get rid of some of them?”
Orcutt responded that he has been concerned about this issue for several years and in 2010 managed to get then Gov. Gregoire to impose a moratorium on rule making.
“Unfortunately, she left a loophole so big you could drive the entire Department of Ecology through it,” he said.
Orcutt’s House Bill 1478, which would have imposed a tighter moratorium, failed to receive a hearing, he added.
During Wednesday’s town hall meeting, the 20th District legislators posed two poll questions; callers could respond to those questions through their telephone keypads.
First, the legislators asked the callers if they supported a two-thirds majority rule, as elected by voters for the last 10 years but recently struck down as unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court, or a simple majority to raise taxes.
According to the call’s moderator, of the 200 people who responded in the first 30 seconds, about 77 percent voted they support the two-thirds majority; about 12 percent voted they support a simple majority; about 2 percent voted they were not sure and about 9 percent voted it depends on the tax.
Second, legislators asked the callers if they would support a 10 cent per gallon gas tax increase to fund state transportation projects.
In the first 30 seconds, 85 percent voted no, 11 percentvoted yes and 4 percent voted they were not sure, according to the moderator.
