A great deal of attention has been focused on the state legislature’s efforts to close tax loopholes, reform government and cut spending during this severe economic crisis. We face a $2.8 billion deficit this year following a $9 billion deficit last year. That’s $12 billion in an overall general fund budget of approximately $34 billion.

I have been clear in my passionate argument that we as a state government have yet to find our footing in seizing the opportunity of this crisis. Still, as we struggle through this historic, structural, systemic time where demand for public services is skyrocketing while tax revenues are crashing, we need to acknowledge that we are taking steps forward.

We are, in fairness, taking a number of profoundly important steps forward. As with all government activities, some of these initiatives are bold, some modest, some courageous and some are more about public relations than substance.

Let’s take a quick look at two of the major steps we have taken.

We have embraced education reform in the past two years with passionate conviction. House Bill 2261 last year and the Race to the Top bill this year. We are poised to change the very definition of basic education–the state’s paramount duty–by including early childhood education. We did not go as far as I wanted in education reform but we took a genuine, meaningful step forward. With a 63% high graduate rate in Seattle and only a modestly higher rate statewide, we have no choice but to courageously move forward.

Through the hard work of my district seat mate Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, we’re reforming Security Lifeline (formally general assistance unemployable). This is the short term emergency program that provides a modest monthly cash assistance for housing and food to 2,194 people in the 36th District alone (6% of the statewide total of 37,057 people). We are helping move some people away from this short term program into a more appropriate long-term federal program. And we are providing the key wrap around services that people need from housing to food to medical care.

Some additional steps include:

House Bill 2021 moved the state’s financial aid efforts under one umbrella, and began creating a low-interest student loan program.

House Bill 2128 streamlined and consolidated state efforts to get health insurance to children and instituted important performance measures.

House Bill 2106 transforms child welfare contracts into performance based ones improving efficiency and quality.

House Bill 3178 attempts to bring about systematic change to how we inventory, assess, manage and oversee our $2 billion a biennium in technology spending. (Yes, I included my own bill in this list!)

In the state budget, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee and the State Auditor will evaluate whether agencies are meeting outcome-based performance measurements.

Step by step forward.

We are a multi-billion, 100,000 person enterprise. Much of the day to day operations of running this organization requires tactical, nuts and bolts steps that are not particularly exciting. Yet our obligation as the legislature–the board of directors of our state–is to look deeper. It is our obligation to tackle more systematic approaches to government efficiency and reform.

I am proud of the steps we have taken despite my disappointment that we have not done as much as I had hoped and that I believe must be a larger part of our agenda. We are not yet embracing the bolder more systemic challenges despite the historic times in which we live. My larger hope in the months and years to come is to embrace the opportunity of this crisis with courageous honesty.

We are so much more than what we’ve become.

Your partner in service,

Reuven.