Today Gov. Chris Gregoire announced a set of budget-reduction alternatives to respond to the continuing shortfall of state revenues. As a result of declining revenues, the state of Washington has already reduced per capita spending to its lowest level in 25 years.

“These budget alternatives will impact real people,” Gregoire said. “They’re all around us. They’re in our neighborhoods, on our streets, in our schools – and they have needs the state will no longer be able to meet. I put myself in the shoes of the people who will be hurt. I asked myself of all the services our citizens receive, which ones are the most important and which ones – by necessity – are we forced to do without.”

Gregoire said that this is merely the beginning. She expects additional feedback from communities and various stakeholder groups, which will be considered before she presents a more complete budget next month.

"I said the work of slashing our budget by another $2 billion would be dreadful, and that’s what it is. Washingtonians are going to get a lot less of what they need,” she said.

Reductions that will likely be included in Gregoire’s November budget proposal would:

- Eliminate the Basic Health Plan, ending subsidized health care to 35,000 low-income individuals.
- Cut off medical services to 21,000 people enrolled in the state’s Disability Lifeline and ADATSA (Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Treatment Support Act) programs.
- Trim 15 percent from the support the state provides to colleges and universities.
- Reduce levy equalization, which helps property poor districts, by 50 percent.
- Cut the length of supervision for all offenders, based on severity of offense. Sex offenders will be supervised for 24 months, and all other offenders, for 12 months.

“I don’t want anyone to think that I like these options,” Gregoire stated. “These choices were made out of necessity due to a drop in consumer confidence brought on by actions on Wall Street, inaction by Congress and the European debt crisis. The list of options I’ve presented hurts."

Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, who chairs the Health & Human Services Appropriations Committee in the House of Representatives, said these budget cut alternatives should come as a shock.

“These budget-slashing alternatives must shock the conscience of everyone who shares our Washington values of supporting education and having compassion for the plight of vulnerable children, families and senior citizens," Dickerson said

"I hope this shock will awaken Washington to the need for temporary additional revenues to prevent devastating budget decisions that would ruin lives, undermine our future and shatter our moral compass."

Visit http://www.ofm.wa.gov/reductions/alternatives/default.asp for a full list of cut options.