Governor urges saving

Washington’s once-torrid housing market is bound to cool down, and lawmakers need to be extra careful about spending too much of the state reserves, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday.

She said her economic advisers, including government and private sector economists, essentially are saying, “Better to be considered stupid for having saved money than stupid for having spent.”

The state Revenue Forecast Council will update its revenue projections next week, information the Democratic-controlled Legislature will use in drafting a supplemental state budget.

The bipartisan council of legislators and Gregoire officials released a forecast in November that projected a surplus of $1.45 billion accumulating by June 30, 2007, the end of the two-year budget cycle. Gregoire suggested spending about $500 million on new and continuing programs and saving at least $900 million.

Gregoire indicated she expects an uptick in the new forecast, but that prudence requires that the state avoid a spending spree.

The revenue boom has been led by an unusually vibrant housing and construction sector, but signs of cooling are beginning to appear, she said.

YAKIMA

Pesticide exposure drops

The number of farmworkers in Washington state who were exposed to pesticides declined in 2005, though nearly one in 10 of those who regularly handled certain pesticides experienced exposure, according to a new report.

Last year was the second consecutive year state officials monitored farm workers for exposure to pesticides that reduce levels of cholinesterase in the blood. Cholinesterase is a critical enzyme that helps regulate the nervous system.

Insufficient levels of the enzyme can lead to overstimulation of the nervous system with symptoms such as dizziness, breathing problems, involuntary muscle twitching and, in severe cases, paralysis.

Last year, 2,263 farm workers underwent tests before the agricultural season began to provide a baseline of their cholinesterase levels. Periodic tests then were conducted on 611 workers who handled organophosphate or carbamate pesticides – designed to kill insects – for 30 or more hours in any 30-day period.

The number of workers exposed to pesticides last year was about half the 119 reported in 2004, despite the state’s effort to expand the program and test more workers. In that first year, baseline tests were conducted on 2,630 workers, and 580 were subjected to periodic testing.

SEATTLE

Man held in ‘75 killings

Authorities in Lincoln County, Ore., on Tuesday arrested a man in the 1975 killings of a Seattle strip club owner and the owner’s girlfriend, a crime that came to the attention of police when they saw blood seeping from beneath the club’s locked door.

James B. Braman Jr., 56, of Toledo, Ore., was charged in King County Superior Court with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of John Hinkley, 45, and Barbara Rosenfield, 42. Braman was a manager at the Bear Cave, a topless bar on East Marginal Way in an industrial area south of Seattle. Investigators believe Braman killed them because Hinkley learned the manager had been stealing money from the club and was going to fire him, court papers indicate.

Braman’s arraignment is set for Feb. 14. It was not immediately known if he has a lawyer.

Two King County police officers were on patrol the night of Sunday, Dec. 2, 1975, when they saw the blood seeping from beneath the door. They called for backup and forced their way into the building, where they found Hinkley and Rosenfield dead, each shot repeatedly in the head.

OLYMPIA

‘Cow-share’ licensing OK’d

The Senate passed a measure Tuesday that would explicitly include so-called “cow-share” programs among dairy operations that must be licensed by the state and would make it a felony to buck the law more than once.

The measure passed on a 46-2 vote, with one lawmaker excused. It was spurred by an E. coli outbreak last month, in which raw milk from an unlicensed small dairy in Cowlitz County was linked to illnesses in at least 18 people in Washington and Oregon.

The bill does not ban raw milk or cow-share arrangements for raw milk, in which dairy consumers pay for an ownership stake in an animal in exchange for a portion of its food products.

The state Agriculture Department, which regulates dairies, already considers such arrangements illegal if the distributors are not licensed. But some confusion over the issue emerged during the December E. coli outbreak.

“This is a life-or-death situation,” said Sen. Mark Doumit, D-Cathlamet, prime sponsor of the bill. “This isn’t just about selling a few gallons of milk. This is penalizing someone for putting someone else’s life at risk.”

In addition to civil fines, people convicted of violating the licensing requirements would be guilty of a gross misdemeanor for a first offense and a class C felony for a second offense.

Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane, said that while he agreed with the licensing and regulation aspects of the bill, he felt the Class C felony for a second offense was going too far.

“I’m just picturing people in prison saying, ‘What are you in for?’ and someone saying, ‘Selling milk,’ ” he said before voting against the bill. “I can’t quite get there.”

The measure now heads to the House.

Six dairies in the state are licensed to sell Grade A raw milk from both goats and cows, according to the state Department of Agriculture.