The big six
Election reform
In the wake of Washington’s closest-ever governor’s race, Secretary of State Sam Reed and several lawmakers proposed a bevy of procedural changes to the state’s election system.
Where things stand: The House approved a bill requiring electronic voting machines to produce a paper record of each vote. The biggest bones of contention between Democrats and Republicans: requiring proof of citizenship at registration and requiring photo ID at poll sites. GOP lawmakers say reforms are badly needed; Democrats say that lesser safeguards will protect voting integrity without discouraging legitimate voters. A bill to move the state’s primary election from September to August died Friday in the Senate.
Education
Teachers and other school staff are hoping that lawmakers will reinstate Initiatives 728 and 732, which were suspended two years ago to save money. The measures were supposed to steer hundreds of millions of dollars more into teacher salaries and shrinking class sizes. School districts are also hoping for more construction money.
Where things stand: Budget negotiations are under way between the House and Senate, but since both included cost-of-living increases and smaller-class-size money in their budgets – as well as more money for school construction – education seems like it will get most of what it wanted this year. An exception: The House budget killed millions of dollars to help poor children learn. It’s unclear if that money will be in the final budget.
Liability reforms
Everyone seems to agree that liability insurance costs more than it used to and that something should be done. Agreement ends there. There are dueling initiatives to the Legislature this year, one favoring doctors’ solution – a cap on jury awards for pain and suffering in liability cases – and the other leaning toward lawyers’ proposal, which includes better discipline of bad doctors.
Where things stand: Now there’s a third issue that voters may have to weigh in November: a “Plan B” (for better and balanced) developed mainly by Democratic lawmakers.
Transportation
Washington faces billions of dollars in transportation backlogs, including replacement of Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct and the nearby SR 520 floating bridge, both of which are decades old, deteriorating and not built to withstand the earthquake that is widely expected to eventually shake the Puget Sound region.
Where things stand: The Senate has proposed raising billions of dollars with a 15-cent increase in the state’s gas tax over the next 12 years. The House last week proposed 9.5 cents over the next several years. The two houses are trying to find something both can agree on, although Republican votes are proving hard to scrape up in the House, and it’s quite possible that the session may end as scheduled April 24 with no new gas tax. Locally, the biggest worry for Spokane-area lawmakers is that the Senate budget includes only $100 million for the North Spokane Corridor, and the House includes less: $56 million. Proponents of the project were shooting for $300 million to $500 million.
Health care
Democrats want to expand the state’s low-cost insurance program for children. They’re also considering proposals designed to increase Medicaid reimbursements to doctors who treat the poor and to help small businesses afford to offer health insurance to their employees.
Where things stand: The final budget is likely to boost reimbursements for local hospitals, lawmakers say, but one worry for health care advocates is a controversial proposal to charge Medicaid recipients a $3 co-payment for each government-paid prescription they receive. The prescriptions are now free to the patient. Three dollars may not sound like much, a small group of protesters said in Olympia last week, but it can quickly add up for poor people with multiple prescriptions.
Taxes and fees
The session started in January with Democrats hinting that more taxes would be needed to avoid brutal budget cuts and Republicans saying that state government must learn to live within its means.
Where things stand: Lawmakers and the governor are singing largely in harmony on this issue: They all want to raise the tax on cigarettes (likely 60 cents more a pack), the tax on liquor (50 cents to $1 more per liter), and to reinstate the state estate tax (starting at a threshold value of $1.5 million to $2 million and probably exempting farms).