After long debate, the state House of Representatives this afternoon approved an "everything but marriage" bill granting same-sex domestic partners most of the rights and responsibilities of spouses.The bill passed, 62-35. It now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it into…
There were no torches, but there were some pitchforks. Thousands of people descended on the state capitol today for a demonstration blasting taxes and government spending. "We're here to remind lawmakers that they work for us," said Lynn Harsh, with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, which…
(This admittedly falls into the category of better-late-than-never news, but I suspect that proponents would say the same thing of the bill itself.)Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed into law a bill -- closely watched in Spokane -- to extend the statute of limitations for some…
Those little lead weights clipped onto your tires may soon may go the way of lead type, lead toy soldiers and lead paint.Washington's state Senate on Tuesday voted to ban the installation of lead tire weights by 2011. Tire dealers will be required to use…
State Rep. Kevin Parker, R-Spokane, will hold a telephone town-hall-style meeting tonight from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.Lawmakers, particularly those in large Eastern Washington districts (paging Sen. Schoesler) are increasingly using these group phone calls to interact with constituents. Want to listen in or ask…
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown has been issuing a Harper's-like index of statistics over the past few days. Today's looks at taxes. Here's an excerpt -- and the last line is the key one:-Number of states where households pay more in state and local property…
For weeks now, Sen. Ken Jacobsen has been trying to revamp the state's Fish and Wildlife Commission. The backstory, from an earlier blog post I wrote:Commercial fisherman say the board is tilted too far in favor of sport/recreational anglers. The latter say that the board…
In a startling moment on the Senate floor, a bill to allow child care workers to collectively bargain with the state was largely gutted Monday night after lawmakers instead turned the bill largely into a study."Was it a surprise? Yeah," said Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane,…
This has nothing whatsoever to do with politics, and yet I'm quite confident it will be my best-read post of several today:Plagued by ground squirrels at Spokane's Finch Arboretum, the city's parks and recreation folks have strapped on their Rodenator Pro, a device that pumps…
Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, this morning introduced HB 2344, which would do away with the existing 7 percent limit on tuition increases at the state's four-year colleges.Under the bill, lawmakers would set tuition levels every two years when they write the budget.Haigh suggests that higher…
A new poll re: possible tax increases to support state parks comes back with these results:-$5 fee to park at parks and trails? 55 percent support, 43 percent don't.-an (unspecificed) tax on motor homes and campers? 52 percent support, 43 percent don't.-A 1-cent-per-$1,000-value property tax…
Alan Parmelee, an inmate at the state penitentiary at Walla Walla, has filed a large records request for "any and all records in any format, from any agency and/or person, relating to the prospective and subsequent passing, directly or indirectly, of HB 1181 and SB…
Washington's Secretary of State's office has been pretty innovative in bring yellowed-paper archives out of their boxes in cool storage and into the digital age. The state's Digital Archives has scanned in -- and hand-indexed -- years of territorial newspapers, old marriage and other personal…
Sen. Tim Sheldon, who's also a county commissioner in rural Mason County, told the local weekly that he felt that his well-armed constituents would dampen the effect of proposed budget cuts at the county sheriff's office.“There is no bag limit. There’s always an open season…
This morning, Sen. Karen Keiser and Sens. Brown, Prentice and Tom introduced Senate Bill 6158, which would delay for three years a planned $250-a-week stipend for workers who take time off to bond with a new child.These payments, which were championed by Brown and other…
...which this morning hit its 100th question. The site has also logged nearly 4,000 votes for best question.Perhaps not surprisingly, the most popular question asks for more details about a possible state income tax being floated by Senate Democrats:"Can you describe your vision for how…
Remarkably emotional floor speeches today on the House floor at lawmakers debate changes in unemployment insurance. Rep. Hasegawa was just moved to tears, recollecting what it was like when he had to collect unemployment, and how an extra $10 or $12 mattered so much.With equal…
Really.Taxable retail sales statewide declined nearly 11 percent during the 4th quarter of 2008, the state Department of Revenue said today. What's dropping: construction was down 12 percent, cars and car parts were down 27 percent, hotels and restaurants were down 5 percent and building…
Meeting with reporters today, House Speaker Frank Chopp said that a proposed third-of-a-cent sales tax increase to reduce cuts to hospitals, nursing homes and health care programs is "better than 50/50 to be on the ballot" in November.Income tax?He sounded less enthusiastic about a "high-earners"…
When Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed 14 percent tuition hikes over the next two years, I and most of the other reporters in the room reported that as a total 28 percent hike."Totally incorrect," writes alert reader Pamela Dixson. She points out, quite correctly, that the…
A study of how Washington stacks up in the view of companies like Boeing has been leaked to Leehamnews, an aerospace blog. Here's a copy.The governor has called a 2:45 p.m. press conference to discuss the findings "as well as proposed aerospace legislation" presumably aimed…
As I mentioned yesterday, Senate Democrats have set up a website to take budget-related questions from the public.So far (11 questons from 23 people), the questions range from friendly:"When is the legislature going to wake up and realize we have a revenue collection shortfall problem…
A quick wrap-up on a busy day:-The Association of Washington Business points to a new report by Forbes magazine that ranks Washington 8th highest for tax burden:Washington: Average tax burden per person: $2,553. Thanks to California, the West Coast has a reputation for heavily taxing…
-Pollster Bob Moore's firm, Moore Information, recently asked 500 Washington voters whether they'd support an increase in the state sales tax from 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent "to ensure that education and other important state programs have adequate funding."The results are not promising for lawmakers…
David Spring, a teacher and former legislative candidate, is trying to convince lawmakers to embrace a tax plan that he says would add billions of dollars for schools and state services while touching only the wealthiest 5 percent of Washingtonians."We don't need to be raising…