HOUSE, SENATE BUDGETS BIG GAMBLE ON PUBLIC SAFETY, OTHER ISSUES, UNION TELLS BUDGET WRITERS

Both the House and Senate budgets are big gambles on public safety in a number of areas, the Federation’s Dennis Eagle told the House Ways and Means Committee this week.

The Senate released its budget Monday and the House on Tuesday. Public hearings in both chambers took place both days.

“We are in a global economic crisis and we understand that,” Eagle, the Federation’s director of legislative and political action, told the House committee March 31.

“But the cuts that we’re contemplating here at this time really are going to undermine our quality of life in Washington state. We really don’t want to be the Alabama of the West. We urge you to find another path and alternative to the all-cuts budget.”

Both budgets hit public safety across the board, he said.

They both “gamble greatly with our public safety,” Eagle said. “And clearly we think that this is going to result in increased risk to people in the community eliminating hundreds of people from post-release supervision.”

He said closure of Naselle and Green Hill would cause “significant harm to the continuum of care in JRA.

“Eliminating much of JRA parole services and significant cuts to the Special Commitment Center all mean that there will be more offenders on the streets without any restrictions on what they’re doing.

“And it all means that there will be greater risk to our families and our communities.”

Eagle also questioned the cuts in natural resources programs, including the closure of hatcheries.

“We’re walking away from millions of dollars in economic activity and we’re abandoning our state’s cultural heritage with the cuts we’re doing in the natural resources programs this year in both budgets,” he said.

He praised both budgets for “looking for creative solutions to avert park closures.”

The cuts in higher education, Eagle said, “really are mortgaging the future of this state. All I can do is say, ‘Wow!’”