Business advocates here say they're going to be especially conservative this year when they submit funding requests to the Washington Legislature for the upcoming session because the state's supplemental budget likely will involve more deep cuts than new funding allocations.

With that in mind, they still have short lists of capital projects, and will seek to maintain funding commitments, such as for the North Spokane Corridor. They also will strive to keep planned projects, such as Washington State University Spokane's envisioned Biomedical and Health Sciences Building, on the radar, and get authorization for some local revenue-generating options, such as a street-maintenance utility.

Rich Hadley, president and CEO of Greater Spokane Incorporated, says capital funding requests that might go before the Legislature in the upcoming session will include two buildings at Spokane Falls Community College for which a total of $23.8 million would be sought and a $27.3 million second phase of Patterson Hall at Eastern Washington University.

Last year, the Legislature appropriated $26.6 million in the 2009-2011 biennial budget to fund construction of the first phase of Patterson Hall, a major classroom building. EWU had planned to request $34.8 million for the 2011-13 biennial budget to construct the second phase. Now, though, it's requesting a 2010 appropriation of $27.3 million to realize a projected cost savings of $7.5 million thanks to lower construction, engineering, consultant, and project-management costs on that phase.

The projects proposed at SFCC are a $19 million, 58,000-square-foot classroom building and a $4.8 million, 16,000-square-foot early childhood learning center.

Gary Livingston, chancellor of the Community Colleges of Spokane, says the SFCC classroom building is the top project on the priority list of the Washington state Board for Community and Technical Colleges. If approved, the classroom and early learning center projects would be funded in part through $10 million in state bond bid savings from three projects under way in the CCS district.

Aside from funding requests for the two buildings, Livingston says, "Our biggest request of the Legislature is to do no harm."

He says the top priority of the district is to provide access to anyone who wants to enroll.

"There is a waiting list in most programs offered at the colleges," Livingston says. For example, Spokane Community College's nursing program has a waiting list of more than 150 people, he says.

Financial aid requests also are growing, Livingston says. "People have to have financial aid to get new knowledge and skills," he says.

Hadley says, "Mostly this year, we're trying to preserve funding the state already has committed."

Because 2010 is not a budget-writing year, GSI also intends to inform the Legislature of upcoming priorities it has for the 2011-2013 biennium, and one item GSI wants to place prominently on the Legislature's radar is an anticipated recommendation to establish a four-year medical school here. The recommendation is expected be approved Dec. 1 by a committee of academics, medical experts, and business leaders, says Hadley, who is on the panel.

The medical school, which would be a joint effort of the University of Washington and WSU, would be housed in WSU-Spokane's planned Biomedical and Health Sciences Building on the Riverpoint Campus east of downtown.

The building was estimated to require 50,000 to 70,000 square feet of floor space when the Legislature approved $500,000 for pre-design and design work last session. Hadley says WSU will seek additional pre-design and design funding in 2010 to expand that vision to accommodate the medical school, which would have about 480 students. Construction funding for the building would be sought in the 2011-2013 biennium budget, he says.

"Right now the cost is estimated at $45 million, but it might need to be bigger," Hadley says.

In an education-related area, GSI says it will support legislative action to ensure that a deadline is extended for the use of flexible state training funds that already have been allocated. The time extension would ensure that the funds are used fully by work-force development councils and community colleges to increase work-force training capacity.

GSI also is supporting a request by Washington State University for $15 million in one-time funding to replace its aging core student-information computing system that serves all its campuses and distance-degree programs.

Transportation

GSI and the city of Spokane share some of the top transportation priorities. For the North Spokane Corridor, they're seeking to protect an already-budgeted $28 million and to pursue future funding sources, including $35 million in federal stimulus funds for construction of the freeway's southbound lanes between Farwell Road and Francis Avenue.

"The North Spokane Corridor is on the governor's list of her top three projects," says Sheila Collins, the city's director of government relations and outreach.

The city also will continue to seek priority funding for a proposed $12.5 million interchange at U.S. 195 and Cheney-Spokane Road, says Sheila Collins, the city's director of government relations and outreach.

"Mayor Mary Verner has worked with the Washington state Department of Transportation to get it designated as a safety project," Collins says. "That makes it more significant on a statewide schedule."

The city also will request $2 million to construct 2.6 miles of the Fish Lake Trail. The project would include two bridges to be constructed over three BNSF Railway Co. tracks, and would link the Centennial Trail and the Columbia Plateau Trail.

GSI has included requests for two transportation studies on its legislative agenda. One would be an $850,000 study to identify a potential arterial road connection between north Spokane County and the West Plains area. The other would be for a preliminary design and engineering study for a pedestrian bridge and Division Street gateway in the University District east of downtown.

In Spokane Valley, GSI supports a $3 million proposed Barker Road overpass, which would span three BNSF Railway Co. tracks and state Route 290 as part of the multiyear Bridging the Valley initiative.

Revenue and growth

In Spokane, one of the mayor's highest priorities is to seek a renewable-energy designation for electricity generated at the waste-to-energy plant, Collins says. Because of state requirements that require certain utilities to supply 15 percent of the electricity they provided with renewable power by 2020, nonrenewable sources won't be as highly sought after. The state's current definition of renewable energy excludes electricity generated by incinerators such as the waste-to-energy plant.

"Without the designation as renewable energy, the value of the electricity would be diminished, by almost half—or $6 million," Collins says. "We're trying to make the case for why it's important to our community. The cornerstone is the value of the power generated."

The city also will ask the Legislature to approve local tools to encourage economic development.

One such tool would be a broader allowed use of the community empowerment zone designation, an incentive that allows qualified businesses to apply to the Washington state Department of Revenue for sales-tax deferrals and business-and-occupation tax credits.

Collins says the city will seek to expand eligible industry classifications to include energy products and services, transportation-related industries, and wholesale and distribution operations. As proposed, the incentive also would include wage criteria for jobs it would create.

"It wouldn't be used to subsidize low-wage jobs, but would promote family-wage jobs," she says.

The city will join other municipalities in asking the Legislature to create a grant program to pay for required storm-water treatment and abatement measures, Collins says.

As envisioned, the legislation would establish a $1.50 fee per barrel of unrefined oil, and it would generate about $120 million annually statewide.

Spokane also likely will support legislation that would allow county commissioners to enact a local ordinance increasing tax rates on wired and wireless phones. The state portion of the tax would increase. It would be the first increase of those taxes since 1992. A combination of higher costs and the increased use of non-taxed communications devices by consumers has diminished funding needed to support 911 technologies and operations, Collins says.

The city likely also will advocate legislation that would give local jurisdictions the authority to create utility districts that would establish a dedicated funding source for street maintenance and preservation.

Spokane Valley Mayor Rich Munson says that city also would support the concept of a street maintenance utility district, noting that voters would have the final say on taxes proposed in such a district.

Business climate

GSI and the Association of Washington Businesses say they will ask the Legislature to improve the business climate from a policy standpoint. Both organizations say they will ask the lawmakers to avoid tax and fee increases, which they say would only slow economic recovery.

AWB will promote workers' compensation reform aimed at reducing the costs to employers, says Don Brunell, the association's president. Specifically, the business group will seek a settlement procedure to help resolve workers' comp cases more quickly, Brunell says. Compared with other states, Washington has a disproportionately high number of people getting disability payments, he says.

"The goal should be to get employees back to work rather than on pension," Brunell says.

AWB also wants the Legislature to reduce or at least hold the line on unemployment insurance costs.

"The employer pays all the taxes that fund unemployment insurance," he says. "Our costs are the second highest in the nation and three times that of South Carolina, where Boeing is locating a production line."

AWB also will oppose any state climate-change initiatives that would have more stringent regulations than federal climate-change efforts, Brunell says.

"Our state can't afford to be out in front of the federal level," he says, adding that stringent state regulations could put Washington state businesses at a competitive disadvantage because costs would be higher.