The state's 60-day legislative session ended April 13 after an extra 30-day session to work on the budget. Six days later, the state delegation from the 36th District – Rep. Reuven Carlyle, Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles – held a town hall to discuss the budget and how its legislation fared.

The mood from the delegation surrounding the budget was grim, and none of the three seemed pleased with the budget cuts and revenue increases that were settled on. Though, Dickerson tried to lighten the mood, doing her best Bruce Springsteen impression before moving on the the issues at hand.

Kohl-Welles said she is not happy with the size of the reductions in essential services, art and higher eduction. In order to preserve as much funding in those areas as possible, the legislature had to raise revenue, she said.

Cuts to the budget still overshadow new revenue sources. For every $1 raised in new revenue, $4.40 was cut from the budget, Dickerson said.

Dickerson said nobody likes voting for tax increases, and there weren't a lot of good taxes they voted for this session.

"We had to deal with a horrible situation in the best way we could," Kohl-Welles said. "I think we did it in a very responsible way."

She said new and increased taxes on nonessential items, such as beer, gum, candy and soda, will not hit has hard as a general sales tax increase.

One meeting attendee derided the state's tax system as regressive and asked when major reform would occur.

Dickerson said she does not think the new taxes passed are regressive. People can buy beer made in Washington, which is not subject to the new tax, and don't need to buy soda, which is unhealthy.

But, Dickerson said she agreed that Washington, which does not have an income tax, has one of the most regressive systems in the country.

"If the three of us controlled the legislature, there would be no problem," she said about the 36th District delegation. "We would have an income tax."

She said instituting an income tax would require two-thirds of the legislature to vote for it as well as a majority of the state's citizens, which would not happen at this point.

Dickerson said many policy bills were held hostage by the budget. For example, some legislators said they would not vote for the budget if certain bills were passed, she said.

She said she was please her Safe Baby Bottle Bill and Security Lifeline Bill passed.

Carlyle said he spent most of his time working on education. While the legislature didn't set the bar as high as he would like to see, it did take some positive steps forward in education reform, he said.

He worked on a bill creating a pilot project in Seattle that would make it easier for principals to be removed from their posts for underperforming but also give those principals more control over their budget.

Carlyle said he is also proud of his bill making it a primary offense to talk on a cell phone or text while driving.