The week that was: Family leave measure surviving

Voters should have the final word on whether the state should take about 2 cents an hour out of every worker’s paycheck to fund a paid family leave program, Gov. Chris Gregoire suggested.

The proposal to make Washington the second state with a guaranteed paid leave has cleared the state Senate but barely survived a key test in the House.

The plan would provide $250 a week for leave from full-time work to care for a newborn or for a sick family member for five weeks, beginning in 2009.

Gregoire said Monday she endorses the plan if lawmakers will take out the automatic increases in grant size and the tax levy and if the public gets to vote on it.

“I think you’ve got a problem when you have an automatic escalator, both in terms of the payout and the tax,” she told a news conference. “I think those need to come back to the Legislature for approval in the future.”

Critics have said both the tax and the benefit check will soar over time, but sponsors said that they only want grants to keep up with inflation and that the tax might actually go down to a penny an hour.

Veterans cemetery: With a unanimous vote from both houses of the Legislature, a long-sought Eastern Washington state veterans cemetery is now just a signature away from becoming reality.

Gregoire proposed funding such a project in December and has repeatedly said she backs the project.

Exotic pets ban: A divided state Senate on Tuesday voted to ban most private ownership of a long list of “potentially dangerous wild animals,” including crocodiles, jaguars, gaboon vipers and all primates, even small monkeys.

House Bill 1418 now goes back to the House, which is expected to concur with changes made in the Senate. If it becomes law, people who already own such animals could keep them but couldn’t add any more, even through breeding.

Fire retardants: The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a measure that would make Washington state the first in the nation to phase out the use of some fireproofing chemicals in televisions, computers and upholstered furniture as long as a safer alternative exists. The bill now heads to Gregoire, who is expected to sign it.

Official vegetable: After a years-long lobbying campaign that included platoons of determined school kids, a political deadlock with miffed potato growers and free onion-flavored sausages handed out at the Capitol, the Legislature declared the Walla Walla onion the official state vegetable.

“This is a wonderful little bill that’s really important to the state of Washington,” said Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville. “And you’ll say ‘Why?’ and I’ll say, ‘Why not?’ “