People thinking about running for local council or district offices who haven't yet made up their minds need to make a decision pretty quick. Filing week starts Monday morning. On the ballot this year are council seats in cities and towns throughout Washington, as well…
OLYMPIA --Negotiators are making progress on a budget compromise that would cover the state's operating costs for the next two years, Gov. Jay Inslee said this morning. But not enough that Inslee could say for certainty whether the Legislature will be working full-time starting Monday,…
OLYMPIA – Taxes collected from all retail sales grew by 5 percent in Washington last year, the biggest jump from one year to the next since the recession began in 2008. Figures released Thursday by the state Department of Revenue showed that taxes from retail…
Washington beer drinkers pay a higher tax than any state west of the Mississippi in the continental U.S. So says the Tax Foundation in its weekly map feature that shows various tax rates. The rate in Washington is 76 cents per gallon, which is eighth…
OLYMPIA – State officials who ask the Legislature for more money or expanded programs could be fined, and pay the penalty out of their own pocket, if they don’t properly file lobbying reports with the Public Disclosure Commission. A bill sponsored by Rep. Matt Shea,…
OLYMPIA – Anyone convicted of a felony involving a gun could be required to register with the state law enforcement agencies for four years under a bill signed Wednesday by Gov. Jay Inslee. The felony firearms registry, which would be maintained by the Washington State…
Former Spokane Mayor Mary Verner has landed a new job at the Department of Natural Resources. She will start next month as the deputy supervisor of resource protection and administration, said department spokesman Matthew Randazzo. That is the lead position over the resource protection division,…
During a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing today, Sen. Patty Murray questioned Air Force officials about reports that nearly two-thirds of military women who reported sexual assaults were retaliated against by their commanders. The answer by Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force chief of staff, "we have…
As reported in this morning's paper, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers formally came out against a proposed West Plains casino as "encroachment" on Fairchild Air Force Base and the Spokane Tribe, which is planning the development, reiterated that it is no such thing. Want to read…
Congratulations to Councilwoman Amber Waldref, this year's top Bloomsday finisher among elected leaders (at least among those whose time we checked). She easily beat out the rest of her City Council cohorts, though in defense of the others, she is the youngest elected official we…
OLYMPIA – Before a special session was called Sunday for the Legislature to finish such important tasks as setting the state’s two-year operating budget, legislative leaders and Gov. Jay Inslee seemed to agree on one thing: it would cost taxpayers $11,000 a day. If history…
WASHINGTON — A change in Pentagon security procedures almost derailed Spokane's most recent formal pitch for new refueling tankers to land at Fairchild Air Force Base. A group of city business and political leaders were in Washington, D.C. last week to meet with lawmakers and…
OLYMPIA – For the fourth time in as many years, the Legislature will go into overtime to figure out how to spend the money it collects, and how much it should collect. Gov. Jay Inslee said he wants budget negotiators to stay in Olympia to…
OLYMPIA – There is an axiom in legislating, that when you have the votes to pass something, you shut up and cast them. When you don’t have the votes, you talk. A corollary to that in this year’s legislative session seems to be that when…
With remarkable speed, the Legislature approved a technical change in the state’s new legalized marijuana law that takes the plant’s chemistry into account. The biggest obstacle may have been the reading of the bill title in the Senate, where official reader Ken Edmonds stumbled over…
OLYMPIA -- Working with uncharacteristic speed, both chambers cleared the way for a special vote to change in the state's marijuana, and the House gave the bill near-unanimous approval. The problem with the state's legal definition of marijuana was discovered in the last week, as…
OLYMPIA -- Time is running out in the session, but the House voted overwhelmingly today to consider a new bill to fix a problem with the state's new marijuana law. As explained in a previous post, the definition from Initiativee 502 of what makes a…
OLYMPIA -- With a special session all but a foregone conclusion, some legislators might be wishing they were anywhere but here. Partially granting that wish, it is Hawaiian music day in the Capitol, with guitars and ukeleles strumming, hula dancers in the Rotunda, and leis…
OLYMPIA – New rules for dealing with wolf attacks on livestock and domestic animals, which seemed stalled in the Legislature, may be announced as early as today a result of action by key legislators and a state commission. Today, the House gave final approval to…
OLYMPIA -- Prosecutions in some marijuana cases are grinding to a halt in Washington, a result of a glitch in a new law, a lack of equipment at the state crime lab and the basic chemistry of the oft-discussed weed. The Washington State Patrol Crime…
Mike Fagan, Tim Eyman and Jack Fagan, left to right, to file an electronic copy of their new initiative at the Secretary of State's office Wednesday. After several attempts, they wound up submitting a paper copy and paying the $5 filing fee. OLYMPIA – Unable…
OLYMPIA -- Democrats in the House pushed through a $900 million package of tax changes they say is designed to improve public schools, but Republicans insisted were job-killers. On a 50-47 vote, it passed and sent to the Senate a bill that repeals or narrows…
OLYMPIA -- The House is debating a package of tax changes that would raise about $900 million over the next two years by closing or reducing some tax exemptions, credits and preferences. There are only a few amendments. The first, by Democrats, to give non-residents…
OLYMPIA -- The Legislature might still finish on time Sunday, even though the House and Senate have two very different budget proposals and disagreements on some key policy issues, Republican leaders of the Legislature and the Democrat who heads up the Senate's majority coalition said…
Gov. Inslee explains why he thinks Legislature will need more time. OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee all but conceded the Legislature will need a special session to finish work on budgets and key issues like education. "I think we'd have to draw to an inside…
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