From my weekly print column:It always astounds me how quickly the state capital becomes a ghost town when a legislative session ends.On Sunday, lobbyists were still swarming the Senate and House doors. Lawmakers rushed toward midnight in a mad scramble of last-minute deals, deadlocks and…
There are no known cases of swine flu in Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Wednesday, as health officials elsewhere confirmed dozens of cases -- including one toddler death -- in 10 states."Right now, we have no confirmed cases in Washington state, and we are doing…
From this morning's paper:OLYMPIA – All eyes were on state spending in Olympia this year, as lawmakers wrestled with their greatest budget problem in decades. But it’s not all that Washington lawmakers did. By the time they ended the session early Monday morning, they had…
-Andrew Villeneuve at the Northwest Progressive Institute blog has the much-predicted news that Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, is in fact going to run for King County executive. Also running: fellow lawmaker Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island.-Spokesman-Review editorialist Gary Crooks weighs in on the state's tax…
From this morning's paper:OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday she intends to call Washington lawmakers back into a special session to finish budget-related bills left undone when midnight struck Sunday night, ending the 105-day legislative session.But the governor said she first wants wrung-out lawmakers…
Gov. Chris Gregoire said she intends to call a special session, but wants to talk to lawmakers first.She said she hopes the session is soon -- not waiting for the June revenue forecast, for example -- short, and limited in scope. She wants to hash…
Lawmakers wrapped up around 1 a.m., adjourning even though several bills necessary to implement the budgets never made it to a vote. Among them: bills affecting school levy rates and another to require the deportation of non-violent foreign criminals.Gov. Chris Gregoire sent out a statement…
Gov. Gregoire’s statement on legislative session OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire released the following statement tonight on calling a special session of the 2009 Washington Legislature: “The 2009 legislative session completed the most difficult regular session in a generation with a balanced budget, very significant…
Lawmakers are on track tonight to end a grueling legislative session that saw two lawmakers hospitalized and left the state facing $4 billion in cuts to schools, adult day care centers, colleges, hospitals, and health coverage for the working poor."It has been a brutal year,…
Maybe. From lawmakers: "I think the stakes go up for everybody in the next few few hours, particularly for leadership, which does not want to be embarassed" and forced into a special legislative session. -Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane "There is the glimmering of a deal."…
Tensions have been brewing for days over an already-very-controversial bill: Sen. Chris Marr's SB 5840, which would retool parts of Initiative 937. Environmental groups have been unhappy with the changes, which they see as a wrongheaded softening of the goal of I-937: to spur investments…
It's clear from reviewing the proposed budget documents that in addition to major changes for schools, colleges, social services and health care, budget writers also did some work with the fiscal equivalent of a scalpel, trimming spending on things like the governor's bodyguards, classes on…
Washington legislators are very close to approving tens of millions of dollars in new buildings and other work in the Spokane region.The capital budget, expected to be approved by Sunday, includes new community college buildings, $4.3 million for a central Spokane YMCA/YWCA, and $350,000 in…
Also Friday, lawmakers released a transportation budget that includes $28 million more for the North Spokane Corridor project and $250,000 for a turn lane at the dangerous intersection of Highway 195 and Cheney Spokane Road.Lawmakers had hoped for more for both projects. But in a…
Just 10 hours after unveiling the details, House lawmakers on Friday night approved a $35 billion state budget that includes about $4 billion in cuts.The budget, which now goes to the Senate for approval, passed on a largely party-line vote, 54 to 42. It includes…
Is here.Tip when looking for your piece of the pie: Adobe's search function is your friend.UPDATE: Here's the more-helpful Agency Detail and highlights. Start with these, rather than the budget bill itself.
Total budget (two years): $31.4 billion.-Ending fund balance: $830 million.K-12 schools: total spending: $13.4 billion-net cut after federal stimulus dollars are included: $794 million-I-732 suspended for two years-I-728 reduced by $600 million-K-4 class-size reduction fully funded-Average per school district cut : $2.6 percent-one learning improvement…
Lawmakers, as has been written, reached agreement on the budget last night. $4 billion in cuts, we're told. People will die. Big tuition hikes. Cuts to the Basic Health Plan, to mental health, to hospitals, to the social safety net. "Everything got whacked," one lawmaker…
Rep. Eric Pettigrew, D-Seattle, confirms that his plan for a third-of-a-cent sales tax hike to offset deep budget cuts has collapsed. Proponents, including House Speaker Frank Chopp, have been unable to round up enough votes. "We looked at the vote count, and it didn't look…
This is an idea that legislative advocates should have had weeks ago: The folks at the private Washington State Budget and Policy Center have put together a handy online calculator to estimate how much a person would receive if the state working families tax rebate…
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, who had earlier proposed a state income tax on high-earners, now says that changing the state's tax system is still the right thing to do, but that this is not the year to do it."Many members of the Senate…
"Sens. Lisa Brown, Joe McDermott, Adam Kline, Jeanne Kohl-Welles and other member of the Senate Democratic Caucus with hold a press conference today at 12:15 p.m. in the majority caucus room about the need for a continued dialogue with the public about our unfair tax…
Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, suffered what's being described as a "mild heart attack" last night at the state capitol. He's been hospitalized, and doctors have scheduled an angioplasty this afternoon to clear a blockage in some of his heart blood vessels.Armstrong, on his way to…
After days of last-minute, late-night negotiations, Democratic budget writers in Olympia agreed Wednesday on a state budget with about $4 billion in cuts to schools, higher education, social services, health care and other state services.Lawmakers, facing a $9 billion budget shortfall, avoided much deeper cuts…