I'll be amazed if someone doesn't file a court challenge to the proposed ballot language for Referendum 71, which asks voters to veto a new law giving same-sex domestic partners the same state rights and responsibilities as spouses.Not that the language is that murky. But…
Gov. Chris Gregoire, who will be in Seattle tomorrow to testify at what promises to be a packed and lively EPA hearing on global warming, says that she will afterwards "announce a landmark initiative to reduce greenhouse gases in Washington."The hearing is one of only…
Not surprisingly, the citizen's panel that sets salaries for lawmakers, the governor, many judges and other state-paid officials has voted not to give any of them raises for the next two years."The Commission regrets the need to take this action," said a statement put out…
As the Washington Policy Center's Jason Mercier points out, Gov. Gregoire's list of line-item vetoes in the state budget yesterday did not save the Department of Natural Resources' plane.That was despite an 11th-hour appeal from new Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark, an experienced pilot who used…
The governor's office has posted the listed of items she vetoed in the budget. Some, like vetoing lawmakers' plan to take $29 million from the state auditor's office, are substantial. But in dozens of cases, the vetoes were simply technical adjustments, such as taking out…
Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.
