By Emily K. Alhadeff , Assistant Editor, JTNews
To the bitter end, this year’s legislative session was a nail-biter, with Jewish Family Service of Greater Seattle and a number of Jewish cultural and social service organizations holding their breath.
“We are cautiously optimistic,” Lisa Schultz Golden, JFS’s chief development officer, told JTNews a day before the month-long special session ended on May 25 as the organization awaited word on whether its $9 million building-expansion project would receive state funding.
Now, said Schultz Golden, “we’re over the moon.” With the approval of the state’s Building Communities capital projects fund, JFS will receive $2.3 million, enabling it to continue building.
“We’re feeling great,” she said. “There’s great news in the budget for us. But there’s not great news for some of our clients.”
Overall, this year’s legislative session ended with cuts that slammed K-12 education, public colleges and universities, and health care for low-income adults, the disabled and seniors. But Jewish community organizations with programs that faced the chopping block made it through relatively unscathed.
For that reason, Schultz Golden noted, it is all the more important for the building expansion to continue.
“We can expect those people to turn to JFS more and more,” she said.
“They’re going to be able to handle many more clients and low-income people in a far more effective way, far more efficiently,” said Zach Carstensen, the director of government affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, who lobbies in Olympia on behalf of the Jewish community.
Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36th), who was instrumental in pushing the capital budget through, expressed his enthusiasm over the session results — at least regarding JFS.
“It’s a tremendously positive and wonderful reflection on the ability of the Jewish legislators to build a coalition among all legislators to see the unique role that JFS plays in the community,” he said. “All of us, whether Jewish or not, saw at the core — in an era of severe budget cuts — the state has a compelling public obligation to create the infrastructure of service. And that’s why JFS was funded.”
Gov. Christine Gregoire’s original budget had eliminated many services for low-income citizens and immigrants and refugees, both services provided by JFS. Legislators and social services lobbyists such as Carstensen were able to convince the two chambers to soften the blow by about half.
“She zeroed out a lot of stuff,” Carstensen said. “All those programs are not zeroed out now…. From zero to 50 percent, that’s an achievement.”
Shane Rock, director of refugee and immigrant services at JFS said he is happy that things did not turn out for the worst.
“The actual impact of [the budget cuts] is a 27 percent reduction from our current-year contract,” Rock said. However, an internal discussion is taking place at DHS to possibly move funds over from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. “Worst case is a 27 percent cut, best case is same as what we were,” he said.
Freshman Rep. David Frockt (D-46th) worked this session to pass legislation on shifting the burden of proof from women in cases of domestic violence, providing after-school childcare, banning environmentally harmful sealants and offering options for homeowners facing foreclosure. He said he stood behind the JFS funding after observing their work firsthand.
“You’ve got to have institutions like JFS to step it up and provide more services,” he said.
Despite his legislative victories, however, his overall sentiment was more glum.
“We did what we had to do,” he said. “We didn’t have many options. There were no revenue options that were viable.”
“It’s been a very challenging session. We had very difficult budget decisions,” said Rep. Marcie Maxwell (D–41st). “I think we worked very hard to consider our values for our people and our local communities, and the state we live in.”
Maxwell, who focuses on education and economic development, also supported the continuation of funding for the endangered 4Culture, King County’s public arts and heritage agency.
Lisa Kranseler, director of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, and Dee Simon, co-director of the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, both expressed relief with the decision.
“I didn’t know how we were actually going to do everything we do” without the funding, Kranseler said. “Our members support us, but they also support…all kinds of organizations.”
Without 4Culture, WSJHS would have had to pare down programming or staff, Kranseler said, “and we don’t have any staff to cut.”
“For an organization like ours, that 4Culture funds heritage projects is critical,” said the Holocaust Center’s Simon. “We’re delighted we can continue to apply for funding.” WSHERC will be able to move forward with projects that include the registration of artifacts in a software system for teachers to research the Holocaust online.
Jeff Cohen, CEO of the Caroline Kline Galland Center and Associates, had a tempered enthusiasm following the session.
“This is relatively good news,” he said.
Due to its large size, the Kline Galland Jewish nursing facility is responsible for only $1 per bed per day of a new $11 bed tax — enacted to backfill cuts to Medicaid and nursing staff — which means Kline Galland will need to absorb about $40,000. Without the tax exemption, Kline Galland would have had to make up for around $600,000.
Cohen said he is more concerned about how to handle rising operating costs with a static budget. Nursing home costs amount to about $300 per patient per day. For residents who receive Medicaid, the state offers only $180.
“What they pay us is not equal to what we spend,” Cohen said. This funding discrepancy is compounded by the cut.
Given a state operating budget that in essence does not raise new money to make up for the more-than-$5 billion shortfall in revenues means that all legislators had to cut to balance the budget.
“We live in a time of seriousness and reflection of the role of public services and the level of taxes that we’re willing to pay. And there are profoundly painful implications in these cuts,” Rep. Carlyle said. “No one will be spared some effect. The moral and spiritual challenge is to educate the public about the need for reflection and courageous honesty of our willingness to pay for essential public services.”
The decision to fund JFS, he said, was “one of the great moral victories of the session.”
The Federation’s Carstensen tried to be optimistic about the future given what was retained in this all-cuts budget.
“From where we started to where we’re at right now, there is reason to be hopeful and there’s a reason to think, as we come out of this recession, as we rebound, that we’re going to be able to restore what was lost,” he said.