Focus turns to jobs creation

"Higher taxes. Slashed programs. Whatever the Legislature's majority Democrats do to fix the budget shortfall in the special session starting today, it will be memorable to voters.

To leave behind something that will be remembered more fondly than their budget work come Election Day, Democrats have given themselves a second mission for the overtime period: Create jobs in Washington.

“I think one of our core responsibilities, particularly in this economic climate, is to get this economy moving,” said Sen. Derek Kilmer, a Gig Harbor Democrat.

More than 328,000 Washingtonians were considered unemployed in January, for a jobless rate of 9.3 percent. Yet lawmakers didn’t move forward any of their major initiatives on jobs in the 60-day regular session that ended Thursday.

The Senate sat on one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the House: asking voters to let the state borrow $861 million for energy-efficient upgrades to public schools and colleges. The supporters who dub it the “Jobs Act of 2010” say it will create more than 30,000 construction jobs spread over six years.

Even one of the Senate’s own proposals, a tax break for small businesses that create jobs, moved on to the House with only one day to spare.

Neither chamber tried a floor vote on an increase in the hazardous-materials tax backed by environmentalists. At first seeing it as a way to help the budget crisis, lawmakers now agree that the proposed tax on oil companies and other polluters should stay entirely devoted to preventing water pollution – projects that will help the hard-hit construction industry...."