Sens. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, (left) and Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, announce the proposed Senate operating budget. OLYMPIA -- The Senate released proposed operating and capital budgets this evening. Good news and bad news time. Bad news for schools, colleges, people who rely on the state for…
Sen. Lisa Brown discusses an amendment with Sen. Mark Schoesler during debate on the domestic partnership surrogacy bill. OLYMPIA – A proposal to make clear who has legal custody for a children in a domestic partnership cleared a sharply divided Senate Tuesday, but a provision…
OLYMPIA -- The Senate voted to reinstated a state board that decides what to call places in Washington -- the same board it eliminated last year in a cost-saving measure. Republicans argued that in tough budget times, the state Board of Geographic Names is something…
The Oregon House of Representatives managed to slip the words to a song into floor speeches, then cut and splice them together for a video that's going viral on YouTube. Which brings up an interesting question: If the Washington Legislature were to do this, what…
OLYMPIA -- The State Senate marked the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War with a resolution today that honors President Lincoln, notes that many veterans headed west and wound up in Washington after the war and recalls that a few former generals…
OLYMPIA -- The Museum of Flight in Seattle was not chosen by NASA to be the home for one of the retired Space Shuttles. It will however get a training module the astronauts used. The Museum of Flight was among facilities scrambling for a Shuttle…
OLYMPIA -- The Senate releases its 2011-13 general operating and capital budgets this evening, sometime after 5 p.m. Why so late? Because today is one of those make-it-or-break-it days for legislation. A non-budget bill that started in one chamber has to pass the other chamber…
OLYMPIA – Rules for the growing, processing and selling medical marijuana passed the House of Representatives Monday after heated debate on whether the proposed law has enough safeguards to prevent sales to children. Supporters said SB 5073 was an effort to be compassionate to the…
OLYMPIA -- Both chambers are likely to be busy today trying to pass bills sent them by the other house. The bell tolls for all non-budget bills Tuesday at 5 p.m., and there's a boat load in the queue. Meanwhile, freshman Democrats in the House…
Ping-ponging between the sobering budget hearings and the raucus budget protests of the past week has left me with a desire to get the legislators and demonstrators to the negotiating table to broker a deal. Not on the budget. I’m not smart enough to do…
OLYMPIA – Some 7,000 protesters chanting, singing and marching through the Capitol to the strains of bagpipes were unable to convince the Legislature to veer from the path from an “all-cuts” budget Friday. A proposal to close most of the projected $5.1 billion gap in…
OLYMPIA -- Sean Dannon, a union organizer from Tacoma, dresses in a costume he thinks represents most legislators on the issue of eliminating tax breaks on businesses.
OLYMPIA -- Unions representing trades, crafts, law enforcement, firefighters and other government workers brought some 7,000 protesters to the Capitol Friday for more than an hour of speeches and exhortations. Hundreds of them then marched into the rotunda and through the halls outside the legislative…
Protesters gather near the World War I memorial on the state Capitol Campus Friday. OLYMPIA -- The last of four days of protests in and around the Capitol over a proposed "all-cut" budget will feature thousands of labor union members joining other demonstrators on the…
State troopers arrest Karen Washington, left, outside the governor's office Thursday. OLYMPIA -- Sixteen protesters were arrested outside the governor's office today in the third day of demonstrations against proposed budget cuts. Fifteen were cited for disorderly conduct and released, while one was also cited…
OLYMPIA -- A few minutes after 13 demonstrators were arrested and taken to another part of the Capitol, state troopers formed a line outside the governor's office.
OLYMPIA -- About 100 protesters chanted into the evening in the Capitol Rotunda, ignoring a request to clear the building when it officially closed at 7 p.m. There's no threat of arrest. The Washington State Patrol is prepared to stay the night if the protesters…
OLYMPIA – As several hundred protesters chanted about corporate greed and demanded tax increases, House budget writers gathered to decide which of two plans to cut billions from state programs they would endorse. The state’s budgeting process, which is facing serious time constraints as the…
House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt makes a point during the unveiling of the GOP budget plan. OLYMPIA -- House Republicans unveiled a leaner spending plan for 2011-13 than their Democratic counterparts, one that eliminates some social programs but spends more on education. Like the Democratic…
OLYMPIA -- The plan to consolidate arts and heritage programs into a single "mega-agency" gets another chance to get out of a House committee this morning, and the general operating budget gets a chance to get out of its House committee this afternoon. The House…
Jim Camden joined The Spokesman-Review in 1981 and retired in 2021. He is currently the political and state government correspondent covering Washington state.