At last...
SB 5751: "Creating a wine and beer tasting pilot project in grocery stores."
SB 5751: "Creating a wine and beer tasting pilot project in grocery stores."
“There’s an expression our president likes to use: `If there’s a turtle on a fence post, it didn’t get there by itself.'”-Washington State University's Larry Ganders, making a budget presentation to a House committee this morning.
Despite resistance from some some lawmakers, Gov. Chris Gregoire says she'll likely sign a proposed compact that would allow the Spokane Tribe of Indians up to 4,700 slot-style machines at as many as five casinos."I'm delighted they finally did come to the table," said Gregoire,…
(Background for Eastern WA readers who haven’t been following the drama: Gov. Chris Gregoire and key lawmakers are very, very reluctant to spend the extra money replacing Seattle’s elevated Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel. They fear Big Dig-style massive cost overruns. It would be…
Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, wants to ban paying signature-gatherers by the signature. It encourages fraud, she said, since the going rate for ballot measures is $2.50 to $5 a signature."To me, that is pretty obscene," she said at a House hearing a few minutes ago.…
Both Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and House Speaker Frank Chopp say that the proposal to provide same-sex partners with some of the same legal protections that married couples get has good odds of passing both the Senate and House this year. Nearly half the…
Excerpts from House Speaker Frank Chopp's weekly meeting with capitol reporters Wednesday:-The House likes a proposal to let school districts pass levies (typically for a few years at a time and typically used for maintenance and operations) with a simple majority of voters but wants…
It's clear that the state Republican Party is keeping a list of controversial bills to be used as political ammunition at campaign.That's nothing new. Both parties do it every year, trotting out those proposals and bad-sounding votes at campaign time. What's unusual is that this…
After more than a decade of court fights and a year of negotiation, Spokane tribal members told skeptical lawmakers Tuesday, an agreement allowing the Spokanes up to 4,700 slot-style machines at five sites would be a good deal for both the tribe and region.The plan…
Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made. - Otto von Bismarck
The fight over the Viaduct is producing the legislative version of Greek choruses, with various alliances of lawmakers trying to stake out their positions with increasingly opaque joint statements:First came this, from Gov. Chris Gregoire, House Speaker Frank Chopp, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, Sen.…
"The economy of the future is going to require that every citizens of Washington State function at their maximum potential. Everyone. We do not have the luxury of having anyone not perform at their maximum."Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup
Flexing her political muscles – and making some Seattle leaders very unhappy, Gov. Chris Gregoire has given the Emerald City an ultimatum: agree to a simple $2.8 billion replacement of the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct or the money will go elsewhere*.Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has…
In the opening salvo of a statewide fight this year, critics of a two-year-old policy forcing state workers to pay union dues or similar fees are trying to vote themselves out of union representation."We believe the unions have literally sold out workers' rights in order…
As the Everett Herald's Jerry Cornfield and Eric Stevick report this morning, some lawmakers are proposing a broader reprieve for the Class of 2008.So far, Gov. Gregoire and legislative leaders have proposed delaying for three years next year's requirement that students pass the math portion…
The bill: SB 5130, sponsored by Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle.How the short title printout and website describe it: "Expanding hunter access to certain private lands."What you discover, though, if you actually read the bill: That the bill would expand access and preserve habitat -- by…
Unfazed by years of talk about how a state income tax is the third rail of Washington politics -- touch it and you die – Senate veteran Rosa Franklin has launched Senate Bill 5150, proposing a state income tax starting at 2.2 percent for individuals…
For obvious PR reasons, it’s hard for elected officials to tell the public that they (and, in fairness, their successors) deserve larger paychecks. Nonetheless, most of those who testified before the salary commission this week ended up – diplomatically -- at that conclusion.One of the…
What state officials are paid now:Gov. Chris Gregoire: $150,995Attorney General Rob McKenna: $137,268Supreme Court Justices: $145,636Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown: $44,311Lt. Gov. Brad Owen: $78,930What some of their peers are paid:Tacoma City Manager: $189,444Richland City Manager: $150,756King County Prosecutor: $168,372Spokane Mayor: $138,768Spokane Valley City Manager:…
With a big assist from Woodinville investor Mike Dunmire, initiative promoter Tim Eyman says he'll draw a political paycheck this year of $86,742.On Dec. 12, according to state campaign finance reports, Dunmire and his wife ponied up $100,000, nearly half the $209,000 that supporters contributed…
Lawmakers, including the Legislature’s five openly-gay legislators, just released the details of bills they plan to introduce on Tuesday.While conceding that gay marriage seems politically impossible to achieve in the statehouse this year, proponents said that domestic partnerships are only a half-measure, for now.“People’s hearts…
When new Sen. Claudia Kauffman, D-Kent, and (at left) Rep. Don Barlow, D-Spokane, were sworn in today, they doubled the number of American Indians in Olympia -- and apparently set a record. Kauffman is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe; Barlow's a member of…
Two years after a burst water pipe saturated state business records, some dating to territorial times, Secretary of State Sam Reed is calling for a $112 million new library and archives center to be built into an Olympia hillside.For decades, Washington has been storing millions…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
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