2001 Chair's Report

Early last year, the Washington Roundtable warned of “clouds gathering on the business climate horizon.” At the time, dot-coms were still being launched and growing at a significant pace, Washington was still Boeing’s global center, and most people would have scoffed at the idea that the Northwest would lose its traditional affordable electricity advantage. It has since started to rain, and it would be much harder to find elected officials and community, business, and opinion leaders who would dismiss concerns about the state’s business climate.

Unfortunately, while our business climate has deteriorated, solutions to many of the problems that affect Washington State’s economic health remain in short supply. For example, transportation is still a headache and solutions appear just as elusive, progress on education reform and improvement is mixed, our regulatory processes still provide no certainty to businesses considering investments in our state, and the progress in recent years toward sustainable fiscal policies seems to have stalled.

While we were deeply disappointed that our elected leaders in Olympia were unable to address issues fundamental to the state’s economic health during the 2001 legislative session, we believe it is time to shift the rhetoric away from finger pointing. We have the opportunity to establish Washington as an enlightened leader when it comes to partnering with business to ensure the health of our economy, and the members of the Washington Roundtable are ready to move forward.

As we take steps forward in partnership, we must make sure business climate issues become the focus of legitimate public policy debates, not political weapons. And we must remember that business climate does not mean a quick fix of passing a bill or two. It means changing the way that we make and implement public policy in this state, to account for it’s impact on the ability of business to grow and thrive here.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Helsell, chair

Washington Roundtable champions healthy state business climate

In response to growing concerns about the health of Washington State’s business climate, the Washington Roundtable joined together with the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Research Council to form the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy (Washington ACE). Washington ACE published Keeping Washington Competitive: The Need for a Healthy Business Climate, developed presentation materials, mailed brochures, conducted editorial board presentations, and initiated other activities to spread the word about the steps necessary to sustain our economy. The events of the last year, including the high tech slowdown, Boeing’s departure, and growing energy problems, have reinforced the Roundtable’s commitment to expanding the role of Washington ACE and improving our state’s business climate.

Legislature hits gridlock over transportation

The Washington Roundtable’s concern about the lack of action this year on our number one policy priority – addressing the state’s transportation infrastructure crisis – cannot be overstated. We believe this is the most significant failing in recent years by our elected leaders in Olympia. We simply cannot wait another year or two to revisit this issue, and the Roundtable will continue to work with state policymakers to find solutions.

Roundtable promotes energy principles

Concerned about the threat to the state’s economy posed by a lack of a sufficient, affordable and reliable energy supply, the Washington Roundtable developed a set of recommendations to guide the state’s efforts to address this problem. Those recommendations are grouped under five general principles, including (1) follow a long-term energy policy; (2) encourage new generation capacity and efficient use of existing capacity; (3) encourage conservation and improved energy use management; (4) improve and expand transmission and supply infrastructure; and (5) protect the benefits of northwest federal hydropower (BPA).

Certificate of Mastery maintained as graduation requirement

A number of bills were introduced this year to either delay the implementation date for the Certificate of Mastery graduation requirement or discard it altogether, despite the fact that it will not become a graduation requirement until 2008. Instead of delaying or eliminating the requirement that students demonstrate achievement of the state’s 10^th grade reading, writing, math, and listening standards in order to earn a diploma, the Washington Roundtable urged policymakers to focus on issues such as providing students have multiple opportunities to re-take the state’s 10^th grade assessment, ensuring access to help in areas where students are struggling to meet standard, and considering methods in addition to the 10^th grade assessment for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.  We commend the legislature for sticking with the 2008 implementation date.

Legislature fails to enact K-12 accountability provisions

The Washington Roundtable urged state policymakers to enact accountability legislation that provided targeted assistance for chronically low-performing schools and granted the Superintendent of Public Instruction authority to intervene if districts proved unwilling or unable to improve student learning in such schools despite the targeted assistance. Instead, the legislature appropriated funds for targeted assistance to struggling schools, leaving for the future decisions about what should be done if schools do not improve despite such assistance.

New state budget raises concerns about sustainability

The Washington Roundtable has consistently urged state policymakers to budget with an eye to the long term. Unfortunately, appropriations of the 2001-03 general fund budget adopted by the legislature are projected to exceed revenues by $667 million, drawing down the projected ending balance to just $161 million (the emergency reserve is projected to have an additional ending balance is $446 million). Adding to our concern is the continuing economic slowdown, the spending escalators required by the education initiatives passed last fall, and the potential for initiatives on the ballot this November to increase spending commitments or reduce revenues.

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