OLYMPIA – With votes to spare, the state Senate passed a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry in Washington, sending it to the House of Representatives where it also has enough votes to pass.

A full gallery erupted after senators passionately but respectfully debated what Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle called “as contentious as any this body has considered, then passed it on a 28-21 vote.

Those who oppose it should not be accused of bigotry, Murray said. Those who support it should not be accused of religious intolerance.

“This is a difficult personal issue because it is about what is closest to us…family. Marriage is how society says you are a family.”

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OLYMPIA — Debate over the same-sex marriage bill is scheduled for 6 p.m. this evening in the Senate.

Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, the bill's prime sponsor, estimates a couple hours for debate, although it could go longer.

Will probably depend on the number of amendments, and the stamina of the two sides.

We'll be live blogging the debate here at Spin Control, and providing full coverage in Thursday's print edition and the web page.

OLYMPIA — The Senate began discussion of the 2011-13 Transportation Bill shortly afternoon — and stopped fairly quickly.

A ruling is needed to determine whether Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, can get a vote on an amendment that would require applicants for a drivers license to present a valid Social Security number or some other form of identification that proves they are citizens.

Washington is the only state that does not require citizenship before issuing a drivers license, Benton said. That makes it a “magnet” for illegal immigrants seeking some form of state-issued ID.

Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, argued that the amendment is out of order because it's outside the subject and scope of the transportation bill, which she said is about spending money on transportation projects over the next two years. Benton's proposed change would essentially create a new state law on drivers licenses that would extend beyond the life of the spending plan.

Benton argued it fits in the transportation bill, which has money for a pilot program for a new federal licensing program that mentions Social Security numbers as part of its qualifications.

The budget debate was put on hold, pending a ruling on whether Benton's amendment is out of order. A few minutes later, the Senate adjourned until Wednesday morning because its Ways and Means Committee has a hearing at 2:30 p.m. that will require much of the members to attend.

Shelly O’Quinn’s legislative race, like nearly every political race worth a darn, may be leaving some supporters with hard feelings, nagging questions and what ifs.

Wednesday’s ballot count showed O’Quinn has no real hope of moving out of third place, which is no doubt vexing to supporters who believed she was a candidate with great potential to be a rising GOP star. While they try to figure out why she lost, some apparently  have come up with a theory that it was Democratic perfidity that helped do her in.

The theory, recounted by one supporter, is that Democrats were afraid that freshman incumbent John Driscoll would  have a much harder time in the general against O’Quinn than John Ahern. There’s some logic to that speculation:

Driscoll beat Ahern, a well-entrenched encumbent, two years ago, so history is on their side.

Ahern outpolled O’Quinn, but she outspent him.

The Gallatin Group, a regional public affairs organization that has people who follow politics the way others follow Gonzaga basketball, opined as such in an election eve epistle titled “Pondering Politics in the Inland Northwest”: Here’s our prediction. In an Ahern vs. Driscoll match-up, Driscoll wins. However, the Gallatin office is split in our prediction that if O’Quinn manages a win tomorrow the seat will return back to its Republican roots with an O’Quinn victory in November against Driscoll.

So wily Democrats could try to sway the outcome of the primary by voting for Ahern now, then switching to Driscoll in November. Or so the speculation goes.

Speculation is one thing. Facts are something else.

One, it assumes Democrats are organized enough to hatch the plan, and execute it by having willing Driscoll voters cast ballots for Ahern. Democrats have shown themselves to be anything but organized this year. Were they that organized, they’d have fielded candidates in the 4th, and recruited a congressional hopeful who could win at least one county in the 5th District.

B, it ignores the fact that Washington voters love to split tickets on their own.

Lastly, if there was some kind of plot that could overcome the ticket-splitting tendencies of the electorate, it would show up in the vote totals when comparing the votes for the House race with those in the 6th District Senate race. Democrat Sen. Chris Marr pulled down about 2,000 more votes than fellow Democrat Driscoll, while Ahern and Quinn combined for about 4,000 more votes than Republican Senate hopeful Mike Baumgartner. Considering that Marr and Driscoll  have similar voting histories that would attract the same partisan support, if something fishy is going on, a pattern would likely emerge. Ahern would consistently do much better in precincts that Marr won handily as Democrats crossed over to vote for him to help Driscoll down the road; O’Quinn would consistenty run stronger in precincts where Baumgartner ran far ahead of Marr.

As the maps below show, that ain’t what happened. At least not consistently.

Setting aside the fact that there were much bigger swings in the Marr-Baumgartner race, which is common in a two-person contest, what happened was this: Ahern did very well in some of the precincts where Baumgartner did very well, but O’Quinn also ran strong in some strong Baumgartner precincts. And both had successes and failures in precincts that Marr won handily.

What the maps show more conclusively is that Ahern won because he won more of those same Republican-leaning precincts that Baumgartner won, and by bigger margins. It’s a pretty simple equation. Win more votes in more places, and you win the election.

OLYMPIA — TheSenate approved temporary jumps in state sales and business taxes, narrowly passing a tax plan that may not survive the weekend in the House.

Senate Democrats made some changes in the plan they passed during the regular session which also was gutted in the House. Instead of a three-tenths of 1 percent increase in the sales tax for the next three years, they approved a two-tenths of 1 percent increase for that period.

They approved temporary increases to the business and occupation tax, but also increased the credit for small businesses with sales of less than $72,000.

They also amended the bill to give exemptions from the business tax increases to researchers, non-profit hospitals and realtors.

Democrats emphasized that the tax increase was the smallest part of their budget solution, which also includes federal funding and cuts of some $5 billion from the budget they would have carried forward from the last biennium.

Republicans argued those aren’t all real cuts, but reductions in anticipated increases, brought on by overspending in previous  years.

OLYMPIA — Opening salvo in the Senate debate over a package of tax increases to help ballot the state’s operating budget.

Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, argues the whole bill is unconstitutional because it contains too many subjects. It’s logrolling, he contends.

This bill contains 21 different taxes and I don’t believe any one of these can stand on their own,” he says.

Senate Tracey Eide, D-Des Moines, counters the title of the bill is broad enough to cover everything in the bill.

Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, presiding over the Senate, breaks to make a ruling on Benton’s point of order: “The title properly reflects the content of the bill. Sen. Benton’s point of order is not well taken.”

Debate on amendments will begin.

OLYMPIA — Senate Democrats called for a two-minute caucus, and after they left Lt. Gov. Brad Owen,who presides over the chamber to express some doubts about their ability to tell time.

“Three words that don’t go together: two minute and caucus,” he said.

They’ve been out for several multiples of two…

When they return, budget debate is expected.

OLYMPIA — Proposed budgets are almost always “fluid documents.” This year’s budget proposals are so fluid that House Democrats don’t even have a tax package yet and Senate Democrats are making changes so fast that they aren’t even numbered.

Last night in a Senate Ways and Means Committee budget hearing, Democrats offered an amendment to add $1 million to the Department of Social and Health Services budget “to contract for the provision of an individual provider referral registry, pursuant to SB xxxx.”

Senate bills come with numbers, not x’s, so one can look them up and figure out what that line refers to.

For full text, Click here to go inside the blog.

OLYMPIA — Republicans argue that the bill should remove the emergency clause, because immediate enactment would block any chance of referendum by voters unhappy with suspending I-960. They have an amendment to that effect.

Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, “How can you say it’s an emergency when you haven’t even reached across the aisle to try to solve the problems.”

It will gut taxpayer protections without even giving voters “the time of day,” Benton said.

Democrats say that Republicans previously complained about the slow pace of the action, and that removing the emergency clause means it wouldn’t go into effect until long after the session is over. And if a referendum is filed, the supermajority wouldn’t be suspended until after the votes are counted from the November election.

Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R, notes that Democrats are only one-vote shy of a two thirds majority right now.

Republicans demanded a roll-call vote. It failed, 22-26, with all Republicans and Democrats Tim Sheldon and Chris Marr voting yes

OLYMPIA —The state Senate has reconvened for floor debate on several major bills.

First up, after confirming several gubernatorial appointments and introducing guests in the gallery, will be the debate over a bill covering flooding in the Green River Valley,

That will be followed by a bill suspending bonuses for many state employees, then a range of bills  that cover everything from the disposition of human remains to transferring emergency food assistance programs to the state Ag Department to the placement of minors during child welfare cases.

At the end of the list is SB 6843, which allows for changes to Initiative 960, the law passed by voters in 2007 that requires a two-thirds majority to approve any tax increases.

Stay tuned. Spin Control will offer updates as warranted.

OLYMPIA — The state Senate will vote soon on whether to suspend the supermajority provisions of I-960 for tax increases.

Republican members have been ready for a while, walking about the floor making “drink the Kool-Aid” references. Democrats are just coming out of their caucus where they discussed the upcoming votes.

In the gallery are more than 100 white-coated pharmacy students, so if anyone really does take poison, they could come in handy…

Before voting on Senate Bill 6843, they’ll be voting on propsals to freeze pay and hold back on bonuses for state workers.