OLYMPIA -- It's Day 40 of the Legislative session, which means the regular session is two-thirds over at day's end. House Republicans will be releasing their budget proposal at noon, which might best be described as an alt-budget to the spending plan that will move through the House Ways and Means Committee in the coming weeks.

Except that the majority budget isn't written yet, so there's no easy way to compare it to its main competition. This will, however, be the first full scale budget to compare to Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal from last November.

This morning, the House had a resolution honoring Japanese-Americans interned by order of President Franklin Roosevelt, which was signed 70 years ago today. While resolutions are nice, the Legislature booted an opportunity to provide the internees with a more concrete honor, by making them eligible for the state's POW plate, or giving them a special plate of their own.

There was such a bill, SB 6467, which got a hearing in the Senate Transportation Commission, then died a quiet death. The Senate did, however, approve specialty plates for the state flower and the National Rifle Association.

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