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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lawmakers To Attempt Override Marathon Sessions Planned To Handle Proposals

Hal Spencer Associated Press

Lawmakers this week will try to override Gov. Gary Locke’s veto of a major business tax cut amidst marathon floor sessions to act on hundreds of proposals ranging from juvenile justice to intangible property taxes.

The Republican-led Legislature, which last Thursday reached the halfway point of the 105-day session, plans to work from dawn to dusk and weekends to beat a March 19 deadline for sending measures to the other house.

“There is all this stuff to do and not a whole lot of time to do it,” Senate Majority Leader Dan McDonald, R-Bellevue, said Friday.

“Very little of it is dramatic, but it is important to somebody and that’s why it gets to the floor,” he said.

In between the scores of humdrum bills disgorged from committees - for example, measures to fine-tune municipal codes and septic system permitting - the two houses are expected to act on major issues that include:

An attempted override of Democrat Locke’s veto last week of a measure to roll back the business-and-occupation tax to its level before 1993. Both houses had heavy Democratic support for the $202 million cut. Given past reluctance to override their governor, the Democrats are expected to deny the GOP the two-thirds majority needed to override.

Locke said the rollback was too expensive, but added he would support a reduction if it didn’t take effect until next year.

A House-passed proposal to clamp down hard on violent juvenile offenders by automatically sending 16- and 17-year-olds into adult courts and jails. Senate Republicans also favor the proposal, but Locke contends it is extreme and would be expected to veto it.

House action on measures to authorize charter schools, which are publicly financed but independently operated, and to allow local school districts to waive many state and local regulations considered burdensome. The Senate is considering similar legislation. The measures’ fate with Locke is uncertain.

House passage of a flurry of bills to revise water law in Washington, in terms of both management and allocation.

Senate passage of measures to inhibit, if not bar, county assessors from taxing “intangible personal property” of businesses such as brand names, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, franchise agreements. The House favors the legislation, and Locke said last week he is sympathetic.

Possible passage in both chambers of a proposal to let voters decide if same-sex marriages should be banned in Washington. Locke vetoed identical legislation, calling it unnecessary and hateful. A referendum would bypass his desk. House leaders have put off action on the proposal partly because they’re having trouble rounding up the support of some moderate Republicans.

Behind the scenes, both chambers will continue to work issues from overhaul of the welfare system to a plan to finance a new $402 million stadium for the Seattle Seahawks.

Fiscal committees of the two chambers on Monday also will act on scores of bills that must be out of their panels by day’s end in order to survive.