2008: The year to hold the line

Real estate transactions in Washington have dropped by nearly a third compared to a year ago. The value of those transactions also dipped. For the first time in four years, the state revenue forecast edged downward. If the rest of the country catches economic flu, Washington is poised for the sniffles.

For that reason, the Washington Legislature opening for business Monday should heed the governor's pitch to limit new spending and to squirrel away a chunk of cash in a savings account.

Caution and self-restraint are watchwords for the 60-day session. A supplemental budget is just that — with add-ons few, and targeted. Helping victims of December's storms near hard-hit Chehalis and Centralia is new spending that should glide to approval. We can afford millions for housing to help flood victims and help for small businesses in these areas, because supplemental budgets are designed for unforeseen circumstances.

Gov. Christine Gregoire can be chided for spending too much last year, but she is on target proposing a budget that deposits $430 million into the new, constitutionally protected rainy-day fund. If the Legislature holds the line — and it should — the new budget would also leave $774 million in unspent revenue. Total savings would be $1.2 billion — most helpful in a downturn.

The environment

An aggressive environmental agenda for a short session needs a careful look. Changing state buying rules to help put more locally grown produce in Washington schools supports better health and local farms. Easily digestible.

Promoting Evergreen Cities via tree planning and preservation of urban forests needs to be vetted against state land-use laws.

A third proposal looks like a good fit with Gregoire's efforts to blend the state's own climate-action goals with regional efforts in the West and Canada. Without a national response on global warming, the states have to lead.

Health care

Gregoire wants to make meaningful safety improvements to the state's health-care system; many of the proposals came out of The Seattle Times' 2006 "License to Harm" series. Top priorities should ensure state-licensed or -registered health-care professionals meet credible standards, and better standards for "registered counselors" must be enacted. Not to act continues to endanger the public.

Gregoire also intends to restore transparency to hospital reporting of preventable mistakes, something disrupted by a little-understood law.

Drunken driving

The governor is taking heat for proposed sobriety checkpoints, which are budget-neutral. Drunken drivers kill about 200 people a year in our state.

How the governor plans to conduct the checkpoints surpasses legitimate jitters about privacy. Law enforcement would gather data demonstrating a certain intersection is problematic, then obtain a warrant for a limited period. Drivers who read newspapers and check law-enforcement Web sites would be advised of checkpoint locations.

The best bet is to make the program a pilot project with a sunset clause, then reevaluate in a few years. Make the program prove itself.

Education

Spending for K-12 education ought to stay steady, with an eye toward making good on current priorities and promises. This is not the time for new ideas or spending to come bounding in from left field, or right.

Improving mathematics instruction and ensuring struggling students have access to academic help, from tutoring to summer and evening school, are priorities from last session that ought to flow into this one.

Education-related efforts that don't require new spending include improving data collection among school districts and mandatory recess for elementary students. Fresh air and exercise are free; literacy efforts have proven their value.

The Washington Assessment of Student Learning test should not be in the crosshairs of lawmakers. Nearly 85 percent of the class of 2008, the first required by law to pass the test to graduate, are on track.

Overall, the 2008 agenda proposal is modest: targeted, limited spending and retooling programs that improve people's lives but don't cost much.