Same-Sex Marriage Ban Takes Center Stage Lawmakers Expected To Bypass Locke, Send Referendum To A Statewide Vote

Today is Gay and Lesbian Lobbying Day at the Legislature, and the folks who walk the marbled corridors this year will have their work cut out for them.

As lawmakers head into the fourth week of their 60-day session, an old issue suddenly is back on the front burner - a proposed ban on same-sex marriages.

Despite arguments from foes that the proposal will stir hatred and isn’t needed, the House is expected, probably on Wednesday, to pass a referendum banning such unions. The Senate is expected to follow suit only days later.

The issue roared back after moderate Republican senators quietly dropped their opposition to sending the measure to a statewide ballot in November, which the Republicans intend to do because Democratic Gov. Gary Locke has said he would veto the proposal. But the governor has no authority to veto a referendum sent to the ballot.

Locke vetoed last year’s bill banning same-sex marriages and said Friday he would do the same this year on the grounds that “same-gender marriages already are prohibited in Washington state.” He also said the legislation “only serves to create false fears and false dangers about contributing members of our society.”

However, backers want the referendum passed on the grounds that the state may be forced to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, particularly Hawaii, where voters are considering whether to allow them.

Amid fireworks over the emotional issue, lawmakers will take up or continue work on several other difficult proposals.

Among them:

A measure to out-law racial and gender preferences in state and local government hiring and contracting and in college admissions, along with a counter-measure to outlaw racial and gender “quotas” only. Both proposals will go before the Senate Law and Justice Committee this week.

A proposal to ban “partial-birth” abortions. The measure is expected to clear the House Law and Justice Committee this week for expected passage later by the full House. Passage in the Senate is considered less certain.

A House-passed proposal to ask voters in November to approve a $2.4 billion bond package to finance road improvements. The measure is expected to win Senate Ways and Means Committee approval this week, but a floor vote isn’t planned any earlier than next week. Senate leaders are waiting for economists to present revenue updates to be sure the bond package is fiscally prudent.

A package of measures to crack down harder on drunken driving. The measures range from tougher penalties to new limits on loopholes to avoid punishment once charged. The Senate may send its proposals to the House this week, while House committees are expected to finish work on their proposals.

Committees also will plow through less-contentious legislation as they face a Friday deadline for acting on non-fiscal bills from their own chambers. Bills not acted on by then are considered dead unless legislative leaders decide otherwise.

Among those bills is a Senate proposal to authorize charter schools, which is awaiting action in the Senate Education Committee. The House has passed and sent to the Senate its version of the proposal, which allows publicly financed schools to operate largely free of state and local regulations.

Natural resources committees in both chambers are expected to pass a handful of the 40-plus measures aimed at improving salmon habitat in Washington state. The issue is attracting attention as the federal government prepares to announce next month its intention to declare sometime next year that wild chinook salmon of Puget Sound are endangered or threatened.

A bipartisan measure to change the way the state and local governments manage water is expected to move out of a House panel by week’s end.

Also ready for committee action are Senate bills to better protect communities from juveniles placed in group homes as an alternative to jail.