OLYMPIA -- A major transportation plan will be unveiled Wednesday that features 2-cent per year increases in the state's gasoline tax. The proposal, from House Transportation Committee Chairman Judy Clibborn, will divide the money between new projects and maintenance and eventually raise the state's gas…
OLYMPIA – Washington will soon have two very different systems for legal marijuana, but a plan to tax medical patients similar to recreational pot users is unfair and unworkable, a legislative committee was told Monday. The proposal to place higher taxes on medical marijuana did…
OLYMPIA -- With the legislative session one-third gone, the pressure ramps up this week to get bills heard and voted out of their first committee. "Policy" bills -- changes to state law that don't come with a price tag -- must be out of their…
Freshman Sen. Andy Billig made his first official floor speech last week, which is traditionally a time for new senators to give gifts and older senators to give grief. It was during a resolution marking service of women in the Legislature, appropriate since Billig’s 3rd…
There was a time when the U.S. Navy received its ransom for naming rights. It didn’t hit up corporations but cities that were seeking the prestige of having their names on the latest frigate or cruiser. When the U.S.S. Spokane was christened, it received gifts…
OLYMPIA – Legislators are considering – not too seriously, it seems – a plan to allow the state to sell the naming rights to its many roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings and other facilities. Should it pass, Spokane residents might at some future date drive east…
State Sen. Mike Baumgartner returns to Spokane today for a pair of town hall meetings. He has a 10 a.m. session at the Cheney Middle School, 740 W. Betz Road. and a 2 p.m. session at the Museum of Arts and Culture in Browne's Addition,…
OLYMPIA – The fight over who decides what can get a police officer fired prompted a legislative hearing that pit beat cops against their chiefs and prompted Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich to say a state senator was attacking his character. “It was very insulting,”…
OLYMPIA – As state law enforcement officials began investigating more than 8,000 allegedly forged signatures for a pair of ballot measures, a legislative panel looked at changes to the century-old avenue for grass-roots democracy, the initiative process. One suggestion the Senate Governmental Operations Committee aired…
OLYMPIA -- Time is running out for "policy" bills -- the ones that don't affect the budget -- so today's hearing schedule is extremely full. Interested in changes to the initiative system, or genetically modified food, or changing the college tuition foreign students pay, or…
Proposition 2, the requirement for a supermajority approval by the City Council of any tax increase, gained slightly in Wednesday's count. Here's the latest map of precinct results. For a closer look, click on the document below. To compare with the election night tally, click…
OLYMPIA – What would Jesus do about gun control? A debate between a Spokane Valley legislator and a Seattle minister seemed to raise that question Wednesday in a hearing on proposals for new gun laws. Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, and the Rev. Sanford Brown…
Gov. Jay Inslee explains his Working Washington Agenda Wednesday. OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee added some specifics to his campaign themes of generating more jobs in key industries, releasing a package Wednesday of tax breaks and spending projects designed to train workers and cut unemployment.…
The Spokane Library Levy, which was Proposition 3 on Tuesday's ballot, received nearly 66 percent approval in the Election night tally. And as the map above shows it had strong support all over the city. For a more detailed look at the map, check the…
Proposition 2, the supermajority requirement for tax increases, is slightly ahead 50.65 percent to 49.35 percent in last night's tally. But it has strong support in some parts of the city and strong opposition elsewhere. The map above shows the Election Night totals, and we'll…
Proposition 1 is winning big around the city, as the map of tonight's totals shows. For more detail, click on the document file below.
OLYMPIA -- Driving from Spokane to Seattle might take a motorist west on the Avista Highway, across the Microsoft Bridge to the Starbucks Expressway under a bill the Legislature is considering to sell the rights to put corporate or other names on the state's roads,…
Today is the last day to vote in the February special elections in Spokane, Rockford, Spokane County Fire District 13 and East Valley and Orchard Prairie school districts. Spokane voters are considering three propositions that would give the police ombudsman more authority; require a City…
Following the lead of state voters, the Spokane City Council on Monday legalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by anyone 21 and up. Councilman Jon Snyder, who has led the effort on the City Council to consider the impacts to the…
OLYMPIA – Getting a drink of alcohol in a movie theater, a farmer’s market, even a senior center or a massage, would be easier under a series of proposals considered Monday by a Senate panel. Getting a taste of that $90 a bottle whiskey or…
OLYMPIA – Washington state would spend $10 million over the next two years in an effort protect schools from a massacre like Sandy Hook as part of a school construction proposal that moved quickly through the Senate Monday. With references to the Dec. 14 massacre…
Anticipating a large crowd at Tuesday’s forum on legalized marijuana rules, a state agency made an 11th hour decision to move to a bigger room. The Washington State Liquor Control Board’s forum on its efforts to comply with Initiative 502 will be held in the…
OLYMPIA -- Most work is in the committees today, with a full day of hearings on dozens of bills. The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee has 11 different bills involving some change to the state's liquor laws, including allowing beer and wine sales at theaters…
Fred Sittmann of Stanwood, Wash., listens to speakers at Friday's gun rights rally. OLYMPIA – Second Amendment activists came well-armed to a Capitol Campus rally Friday where legislators promised to protect their freedom to have firearms and speakers denounced President Obama and gun control. With…
OLYMPIA -- A hearing on a proposal to require insurance companies to cover abortion services if they cover live births was cancelled this morning, a few days after the committee chairman said he would hear the bill even though he didn't support it. The Reproductive…
The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.
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