No good reason why a government shutdown should occur, even in a deficit

DURING the last two state budget cycles, Washington lawmakers have come dangerously close to forcing a government shutdown due to failures in the budget process. The current 2015-17 state budget was signed just 18 minutes before a shutdown would have occurred. The 2013-15 budget was finalized just a few hours before state agencies would have been forced to shutdown.

In both cases, the tax revenue provided by citizens was increasing substantially, meaning these threats of government shutdowns were occurring at a time of rising revenues, not at a time of budget deficits.

There is no reason a gov...