Statement from Rep. Norm Johnson on budget measure
The House of Representatives today approved a measure that would reduce the remaining fiscal year’s nearly $600 million budget shortfall by $222 million. That leaves a budget gap of about $378 million for the 2009-11 fiscal cycle, which ends June 30 of this year.
Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Yakima, voted against House Bill 1086 and issued the following statement:
“While I’m glad the Yakima Valley School in Selah is left intact, it saddens me that this budget would close the Francis Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton, which cares for people with autism.
“I also have major concerns about further reductions in education, especially the K-4 early learning programs, which this budget would retroactively remove funding from all the way back to September. That’s a very painful hit on our schools, because they’ve already spent that money to date. Our schools cannot absorb these costs, and we cannot accept them.
“Education, protection of our state’s most vulnerable citizens and public safety must remain the top three priorities in the budget, yet this legislation continues to save unneeded programs while further cutting education. It’s time we get the priorities of government in order and stop kicking the can down the road any further.”
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