Short-term budget cut long-term ideas

State House budgeteers were so intent on padding the supplemental budget in what should be a stay-the-course session that they started digging into budget bedrock intended to help stimulate the economy.

In an unfathomable move, the House Appropriations Committee cut $1.5 million out of money already appropriated last year for the innovative Research Stars program in the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. The program is an innovative collaboration between the agency, the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the state's two research universities to recruit top-flight researchers with a track record of commercializing their work. Read that: Creating jobs.If the cut holds, it will cripple efforts by the University of Washington and Washington State University to bring in researchers they have already recruited — and it would leave money lying in the street because federal grants supporting the scientists' work might be lost.

This money isn't for only two researchers; it's for two researchers, their programs, labs and building the traction it takes to transfer the technology into the private sector. That means jobs.

The UW has recruited Michael Hochberg, a California Institute of Technology expert on nanophotonics, an approach that could revolutionize the computer processing power speed. WSU has recruited Birgitte Kiaer Ahring from Denmark to help lead the school's new Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory at WSU Tri-Cities.

Ahring, who met with Gov. Christine Gregoire in Olympia last week, has a bead on how to convert things like agricultural waste — wheat straw — into ethanol with some potential for jet fuel. She's got the international chops to fuel the state's leadership in this field. Ahring's work not only will help state efforts to combat climate change, it will also create green jobs.

Senate budget-writers say they are standing behind the Research Stars commitment in the budget that will be released today. And House Appropriations Chairwoman Helen Sommers signaled Monday that she would support restoring the money if the Senate holds firm. There is still time to fix the House's error in judgment.