By Dennis Box, The Courier-Herald

State Rep. Jan Shabro, a Republican from Lake Tapps, is beginning the second year of her first term in the Legislature. The 60-day legislative session began on Monday with the House Democrats in control 52-46 and the Republicans controlling the Senate 25-24.

According to Shabro, the session will be centered around the state's budget woes. "The budget and state fiancees are what drives everything," Shabro said. "My goal will be to do what we did in the last session - fiscal conservatism."

Shabro stated the Bonney Lake area is full of small, growing businesses and to stay competitive the Legislature must control costs.

"This is the wrong time to raise taxes," Shabro said. "We've been able to find opportunities in difficult times. We have to make lemonade of lemons. We need to stay the course the next two or three years and practice fiscal restraint if we are going to work our way out of this."

An issue she feels very strongly about was the use of the rainy-day fund during the last budgetary session. "The rainy-day fund was used to balance the budget. Now it's been frittered away," Shabro said "We have an excess $200 million in the general fund. That's a one-time fund. It will not be there next year."

Other issues that will top Shabro's list are "trying to get hold of the rising cost of workers' compensation. The proposal has been to raise workers' compensation by almost 50 percent over the last couple of years. That doesn't make us more competitive."

If the minimum wage continues to climb, Shabro said it will be unsustainable, and reining in the high cost of unemployment insurance should also be considered in the upcoming session.

Shabro stated the tax break given to Boeing during the last legislative session will help the area. "It was a very important deal," Shabro said. "The takeaways with jobs lost from Boeing is much worse. Every job lost at Boeing means seven to eight other jobs are lost."

Previously, Shabro served eight years on the Pierce County Council, calling it a tremendous training ground for the Legislature.

"This is where I should be," Shabro said, looking back over her years in politics, beginning with high-school government and on to the state capitol. "I'm at home."

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com