OLYMPIA – Some animals fared well this week as the Legislature rushed to pass bills before a critical deadline. Folks hoping to sip local liquor at the farmers market, buy pot at a state liquor store or require proof of citizenship before the state gives out a driver’s license, didn’t do as well.

As is the case in most legislative sessions, many bills are all but dead after failing to pass at least one chamber before Monday’s cut off. There are a few parliamentary maneuvers that can shock a bill back to life, but they are far less frequent than a patient recovering when someone grabs defibrillator paddles and yells “Clear” in a TV doctor drama.
  

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OLYMPIA — Fourteen year-olds can probably forget about voting in this year's school board races.
English may be the language everyone in the state uses for official events and documents but it’s unlikely to be declared the state’s “official language.”
The death penalty will likely remain viable for another year.
Washington probably won’t ask the federal government to say the gray wolf isn’t endangered.
Proposed laws addressing these and dozens of other ideas died quiet deaths Monday as the first legislative “cut off” day passed. It’s one of the dates set to the cull the herd of ideas that attempt to become laws each year.
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