Here's an audio excerpt from the Senate Ways and Means Committee earlier today. The bill being discussed is SB 6051, which extends a state law steering part of King County's hotel/motel tax to museums and other arts and heritage programs.Committee chairwoman Margarita Prentice's advice to…
Yes, golden parachutes on state boards are nice, Sen. Darlene Fairley says, but there's serious budget cutting to do.At issue was Senate Bill 6065, which would save $728,000 over the next two years by replacing the three-person, paid Liquor Control Board with part-time volunteers. The…
But I reckon they all would like to see "all options on the table," which has come to mean "raise taxes" in much the same way "tax reform" means "pass an income tax." -Richard Davis, in a blog post about a spat over the economist…
Managers at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife have been telling more than 100 workers this week that their jobs may be axed, a victim of the state's $8 billion budget shortfall.On the chopping block: biologists, administrative staff, fish hatchery workers, computer technicians, budget…
Top House and Senate lawmakers this afternoon unveiled their plan for spending $341 million in federal transportation money that's coming to the state from President Obama's economic stimulus plan.Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen described the plan as a back-to-basics, fill-the-potholes approach. Rather than building new road,…
Lawmakers must speak well of Olympia to their family members.Yesterday, the state House of Representatives welcomed new Rep. Laura Grant-Herriot, D-Walla Walla, who was appointed to the seat recently vacated by her late father, Rep. Bill Grant.Now Pat Hailey, wife of former state Rep. Steve…
OLYMPIA – To state Sen. Chris Marr, it’s a simple cost-benefit analysis.The cost: an estimated $18.2 million a year in state road damage from metal tire studs hammering away at concrete pavement.The benefit: better traction only during a relatively rare driving condition: a roadway slick…
OLYMPIA – In what one senator described as “Spokane versus Spokane,” health and government officials clashed Monday over a proposal to remove most of the elected officials who now oversee the Spokane Regional Health District. “Unfortunately, our regional health district has been politicized,” Sen. Chris…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
