State-to-State

What issues are driving state associations' legislative agendas? What are the latest and most persistent challenges your county colleagues in other states are facing? What looks to be looming on the horizon?

State-to-State explores these questions and helps keep you in touch with your fellow leaders across the country.

Washington

Washington state's counties took a major step forward over the last two years when the Legislature agreed that their fiscal situation was not caused by the recession. Rather, 20 years' worth of data has demonstrated that years of decisions by the Legislature and results of citizen initiatives have put counties behind the eight ball.

"We have a structural problem with the way county government is funded," said Eric Johnson, the Washington State Association of Counties executive director. "We were averaging about 1 3 percent revenue growth, which has been exacerbated since the recession, and our expenditures have been growing 3 5 percent, so we're structurally in a constant mode of deficit or reduction in services, and it's unsustainable."

The association's legislative agenda is driven by its county fiscal sustainability initiative, which covers three main areas. They include determining what the Legislature can do to assist counties in controlling cost drivers by providing revenue flexibility, protecting existing state-shared revenues and allowing new revenue sources and opportunities.

"We have specific legislative proposals in each of those buckets," Johnson said. "Getting agreement from the Legislature on how we got in this situation was crucial."

How the counties move forward with the Legislature is a different story. The Republican-dominated Senate wants cost-driver controls; the Democrat-led House wants new revenue sources. Neither party favors the others' measures.

"We need options that are going to fit with our variety of counties and tax bases we have, from Garfield County in southeast Washington that has 2,300 people to King County that has 2 million," Johnson said.

Counties are trying to integrate mental health systems with physical heath care delivery, and improve both in the criminal justice system. They are emphasizing the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act to reduce recidivism. Water issues have popped up all over the state, with supply issues crucial in arid eastern Washington, flood control issues prevalent in western Washington and stormwater issues as they relate to the Clean Water Act, prevailing in urban areas.

Johnson is hopeful that the understanding the state government has about counties' issues will be helpful moving forward, but worries that distractions from court case requiring increased education funding. Although Washington's counties are not responsible for the education system, Johnson worries the Legislature's focus may be taken off county-related business. A 2012 state Supreme Court decision ordered the Legislature to make "steady, sure and measureable process each year toward fully funding K-12 public education by 2018, to the tune of $4 billion.

"We're worried we could get sideswiped or gored in the process," he said.