Just days before the Washington state legislature adopted the 2005-07 budget, Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) issued a news release highlighting Washington’s nomination for Harvard University’s “Innovation in Government Award.” The state was nominated because of its use of the priorities of government (POG) budget model in crafting a no-new-taxes budget in 2003.
Gregoire’s release read in part, “Washington’s pioneering budgeting method, which follows a process to prioritize state services within available resources, is among 18 government initiatives from across the nation to emerge as finalists out of an initial field of more than 1,000 applicants.”
Gregoire went on to say she “used the POG process to prepare the budget [she] proposed”–a budget that exceeded available revenue.