Gov. Jay Inslee makes stop in Ephrata

EPHRATA — Governor Jay Inslee made a brief stop in Ephrata Tuesday to talk about the state’s pending capital budget and the 2016 Washington Supreme Court decision in the Whatcom County vs. Hirst case. Judy Warnick (R-Moses Lake), 13th District senator, and 13th District Representative Tom Dent (R-Moses Lake) were among those in attendance to listen to Inslee’s presentation.

Supreme Court justices ruled that counties have an obligation to decide whether well drilling would have an affect on surface water before wells can be drilled, even wells that are exempt under state law. The Washington Legislature attempted to address the questions raised by the Hirst decision, but a bill passed by the Republican-led Senate didn't make it to a vote in the Democrat-led House.

The capital budget, which pays for projects like school construction, water and sewer replacement and other capital projects, has been stalled in the Senate. (Both the House and Senate have agreed to the projects included.) Warnick has been the leading negotiator on the Senate Republican side in the effort to find a solution.

“The two need to go hand in hand, in my opinion,” Warnick said in an interview before Inslee arrived.

The delay in approving a capital budget has meant projects around the state have been delayed in turn. One of those affected was the proposed water project in Ephrata.

City manager Wes Crago explained the city’s problem. Money for replacing a section of city water line is in the capital budget, and that section of water line is in a section of Basin Street scheduled for repaving by the Washington Department of Transportation. City officials had hoped to coordinate with DOT to install the water line before the road is paved.

“Would you allow me to opine?” Inslee asked.

“Go ahead,” Warnick said.

Inslee said he agreed that the questions raised by the Hirst decision need to be addressed, both in the short term and the long term. “That needs some legislation.” But in his opinion the capital budget was a separate issue, he said.

He said he thought the Republican-controlled Senate was holding up what should be a bipartisan agreement on partisan grounds. Warnick said some of the projects in the capital budget are affected by the Hirst decision. As for solutions, the Washington Senate has “passed my bill four times,” and the House declined to consider it.

Warnick said she has been talking with House member Larry Springer (D-Kirkland), the House’s lead on the issue, since the end of the session. The last meeting was in early August and included House and Senate Republicans, House and Senate Democrats, a representative from the governor’s office and a representative from the Washington Department of Ecology. “We traded some paper, if you will,” she said. But since then “I haven’t heard anything,” she said.

She asked Inslee to “ask the Democrats, from the House especially, to come with an idea” that the two sides can talk about, and asked him to call another special legislative session to work on the question.

Dent said some amendments he authored were in the House version of the bill, and he believed the Democrats had agreed to them. But at the last minute the bill died. “I struggled with that,” Dent said. He asked Inslee to encourage the Democrats to come to the table.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.