Browsed by
Category: Legislature

Legislature

Senate Ds’ budget: No education cuts or sales tax hike

Senate Ds’ budget: No education cuts or sales tax hike

Majority Senate Democrats have unveiled a proposed budget that deals with a billion-dollar budget gap without cutting K-12 or higher education, or relying on a voter-approved sales tax hike. Their plan involves deferring a school support payment into the next biennium, saving $330 million; cutting spending by $356 million; adopting $31 million in new revenue; shifting $71 million in solid waste tax revenue to the General Fund from the construction budget; and capturing about $150 million in agency savings and…

Read More Read More

When voting age was lowered to 18

When voting age was lowered to 18

Two of Secretary Reed’s passions – history and voting – literally came together in his office Monday as he reminisced with other key players in Washington’s role to allow 18-year-olds to vote. Reed joined former Gov. Mike Lowry, Ian McGowan, Mark Brown and Wendy Bowen in a roundtable discussion in the Secretary’s office to relive memories of their successful effort to persuade the state Legislature in 1971 to ratify the U.S. Constitution’s 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from…

Read More Read More

House D budget: Cuts, delays, but no sales tax hike

House D budget: Cuts, delays, but no sales tax hike

Majority House Democrats launched the endgame of the election-year 2012 legislative session Tuesday, unveiling their plan to close a billion-dollar budget gap. They propose doing this by shifting $405 million in K-12 payments into the next biennium; creating a few new taxes; shedding some revenue-sharing with local government; and cutting higher education, social and health services, inmate supervision, parks, State Archives and other programs. The proposal includes some new revenue, including $18 million from a new tax on mortgage bankers…

Read More Read More

Centennial celebration: WA initiative process turns 100 in 2012

Centennial celebration: WA initiative process turns 100 in 2012

Secretary Reed draws a smile out of Tim Eyman Secretary of State Sam Reed and the Foley Institute at Washington State University teamed up Friday for a centennial celebration of Washington’s initiative process being approved by the voters. Panelists described the historic sweep of a hundred years of  “direct democracy” being used to pass some of the state’s landmark pieces of legislation — and talked about the growing expense of qualifying for the ballot, the rising role of well-heeled interests,…

Read More Read More

Suddenly, some rosy economic news for WA

Suddenly, some rosy economic news for WA

Light at the end of the tunnel: Washington economists are projecting a $96 million increase in the state’s revenue. Coupled with news that state government will save $330 million in lower caseload costs and that House Republicans will support closing a banking tax loophole, it could mean lawmakers can avoid calling a special election to ask voters to boost the state sales tax a half-cent for the next three years. It also makes it more likely that the Legislature will…

Read More Read More

And the “Archives treasures” poll winner is…

And the “Archives treasures” poll winner is…

The votes are in, our online poll is closed, and we know the winner of our January “Archives treasures” contest featuring items in our State Archives:  the Washington territorial seal. The seal received 38 percent of the vote, edging the boxing license applications submitted by heavyweight greats Muhammad Ali and George Foreman (33 percent) and a photo of the Legislative Building’s construction (29 percent). Thanks to all who voted. We’ll do it again in February and every other month this…

Read More Read More

Lawmakers working on PCO elections fix

Lawmakers working on PCO elections fix

A House panel has passed a bill that might resolve the issue of whether the elections of Precinct Committee Officers can still be run by the state. PCOs are local Republican and Democratic Party leaders who run neighborhood precinct organizations and help fill office vacancies. The issue surfaced last year when U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour ruled that Washington’s partisan PCO election system is unconstitutional since state voters switched to a nonpartisan Top 2 system. The judge wrote: “Washington’s…

Read More Read More

A Senate surprise for Slade

A Senate surprise for Slade

Photo courtesy of Washington State Senate When former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton traveled south to Olympia, he assumed he was just coming to talk with state senators about the new legislative boundaries that he and the other State Redistricting Commission members finalized recently. But unbeknownst to Gorton, the Senate had a surprise in store for him – a resolution honoring him on his long and influential career in state and national politics. The bipartisan resolution, sponsored by Senate Republican Leader…

Read More Read More

From Your Corner of Washington: Capitol Lake sunrise

From Your Corner of Washington: Capitol Lake sunrise

Photo courtesy of Dyan Boling In Olympia during winter, we are rarely privy to the sunsets and sunrises that more arid climates often enjoy.  Which is why this spectacular sunrise recently was particularly welcome to us, especially amidst the busyness of the legislative session.  It is already a privilege to work in state government, but driving to work with this kind of scenery made the experience quite thrilling. Have you traveled anywhere recently around our beautiful state and taken any…

Read More Read More

Slade talks redistricting, 9/11, Senate and more

Slade talks redistricting, 9/11, Senate and more

John C. Hughes and former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton sign copies of the book that Hughes recently wrote about the longtime statesman. Former state Attorney General and U.S. Senator Slade Gorton was the featured guest at a forum and book signing Thursday in the Legislative Building’s State Reception Room. More than 50 attendees heard Gorton speak about his enduring and prominent career in state and national politics.  Gorton is the subject of a recent biography entitled “Slade Gorton A Half-Century…

Read More Read More