A life-and-death need for new state revenue

Eighty determined advocates will be meeting with their state senators and representatives this month, following through on the issues discussed and approved at the Fourth Annual PSARA Legislative Conference November 19.

Always essential, active citizen participation in the legislative process has never been more crucial than it will be in the 2011 session, to be gaveled to order January 11, charged with producing a budget in the context of a severe recession and a devastating decline in state revenues.

PSARA’s activists and allied organizations will focus on budget and revenue issues in a struggle to minimize the human toll resulting from deep budget cuts. To generate more revenue, they will urge legislators to submit to the voters in March a referendum that would close specific targeted loopholes.

They will also support legislation to create a State Bank, similar to the highly successful State Bank of North Dakota, to allow the income earned from state funds to be directed into programs that support education and human services.

And they will support legislation addressing two separate housing needs:

• A measure to require mediation in foreclosure actions, to provide a means of challenging foreclosures and reducing their number.

• Legislation that mandates a fair screening process for renters, assuring that renters get a copy of their credit and rental history if such information is required by the landlord; and assuring that the renter’s credit and rental history remains valid for at least 60 days after receipt by the renter to avoid the renter facing multiple fees for these reports.

The overall budget outlook is grim indeed. Some $4.3 billion in cuts have already been imposed on vital state programs over the past two years. Any additional cuts will come from essential services, including those relied upon by seniors.

The home and community based services that keep the elderly out of nursing homes are vulnerable, even though cutting those services is costly in the long run. Florida placed 69,000 people on waiting lists for home and community services in 2009, and 5,700 ended up in nursing homes.

Nursing homes cost the state an average of $5,900 a month; home and community services costs $1,500 a month.

Washington State’s funding crisis was deepened by the outcome of the 2010 election, where revenue-raising measures were defeated and Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1053, requiring a two-thirds vote for any tax increase, was approved.

Governor Chris Gregoire has told state agencies to be prepared for cuts of 4 to 7 percent.. “We’re going to see…not the cutting of a program but the end of programs,” the governor said. “No more podiatry. No more dental services. No more vision services.”