OLYMPIA -- The state Senate will take up the unemployment insurance changes once again this morning.

The temporary halt to the tax increase got wrapped up Wednesday in the House, but the Senate still needs to approve HB 1091, a separate proposal that gives an extra $25 a week in benefits to unemployed workers, increases training programs, and revises the rate structure long-term. It passed 98-0 in the House, could have fairly easy sailing in the Senate.

University of Washington students are planning a rally on the Capitol steps around lunchtime to protest cuts to higher education.

Otherwise it's a light Friday at the Capitol with only a few hearings in the early afternoon. Senate Judiciary has a hearing on human trafficking and Senate Higher Education will be looking at the practice of retired college employees who are collecting pensions going back on the payroll at their old institutions.

 

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