The big five
Education
Gov. Chris Gregoire is backing a slate of changes: phasing in all-day kindergarten, expanding prekindergarten learning programs, adding thousands more college students, increasing teacher pay and shrinking class sizes.
Where things stand: Lawmakers have approved bills to expand all-day kindergarten in an effort to improve school dropout rates, revamp the state funding formula for schools and improve early learning and math teaching. Still hanging in the balance: a push to make it easier for school districts to win voter approval for tax levies. That’s passed the House, but it stalled in the Senate last week.
Health care
With more than a month to go in the session, Gregoire has signed into law one of her top priorities: adding 38,000 children to state-paid health coverage. She has also proposed spending $26 million over the next two years to increase childhood vaccinations and a broad array of other reforms to make health care more affordable for more people.
Where things stand: The Senate has also voted to tax all workers 2 cents an hour to pay $250-a-week stipends for up to five weeks for workers who take leave to care for an infant or an ailing family member. The Senate also voted to clarify the state’s nearly decade-old medical marijuana law, trying to draw clearer lines about who can have how much pot.
The economy
From making health care cheaper to a “holiday” for some workers’ compensation costs, lawmakers and the governor say they want to help the cooling economy, particularly small businesses.
Where things stand: Lawmakers learned Thursday that Washington is faring better than most states in terms of a slowdown in home construction and sales. The state’s chief revenue forecaster noted, however, that real estate is likely to cool further here. Other news: The Senate voted to boost local economic development funding and make it easier to use tax dollars to pay for infrastructure needed by incoming or expanding businesses. The House passed some tax cuts for farmers (HB 1902).
Same-sex marriage
Proponents want it, or at least domestic partnerships that would include many of the legal rights of married people. Critics are countering with a call to write the state law banning gay marriage into the state constitution – which would require approval from a legislative supermajority as well as voters statewide.
Where things stand: The Senate has passed a bill to set up a state domestic partnership registry that would provide rights such as the right for partners to visit each other in the hospital, inheritance rights if there is no will, and the right to make medical decisions if a partner is incapacitated. Gay and lesbian couples, as well as heterosexual couples with at least one partner over 62, would be eligible to sign up. The bill has not yet passed the House but is expected to.
Environment
Gregoire has proposed spending $200 million toward the $9 billion problem of cleaning up Puget Sound, among other proposals.
Where things stand: The House, trying to spur the use of alternative fuels, passed HB 1303 to require state and local-government vehicle fleets to use biofuels by 2015 when practical. The Senate also approved a number of goals aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.