OLYMPIA – Three weeks of debate over suspending Initiative 960, can be boiled down to this: If you change an initiative, you are crushing the will of the people. Not if it’s something that really needs doing, in which case you are exercising the leadership…
OLYMPIA – With the bare minimum votes needed and debate over taxes yet to come, Senate Democrats passed a general fund budget Saturday designed to close the state’s $2.8 billion budget gap.Even without a firm decision on which taxes to add or alter to raise…
OLYMPIA -- Washington teachers should be able to tap into a union trust fund to reduce their health insurance costs, Senate Republicans argued in the debate over the state's budget.Republican Sen. Dale Brandland proposed an amendment that allows teachers to tap into the Washington Education…
OLYMPIA -- The Senate is beginning its debate on its budget proposal to fill the $2.8 billion gap in the state's operating budget.First up is an amendment on home health care workers, sponsored by Republican. It goes down 26-16.Next is an amendment by Sen. Mark…
OLYMPIA -- The Senate passed a multi-million dollar transportation budget this afternoon on a vote of 41-3.The proposal was described as a jobs bill, a way to improve government and a guide for the more contentious operating budget, which comes up next.Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane,…
OLYMPIA -- The Senate came back from caucus and has taken up the Transportation Budget.Amendments done. Debate and vote on bill starts now.
OLYMPIA -- Senators ran through a list of non-controversial bills -- and argued over one contentious one -- then broke for party caucuses before taking up budgets.Republicans tried unsuccessfully to push through a series of amendments to HB 1080, which allows impact fees to be…
OLYMPIA -- Washington coastal beaches are under a tsunami advisory as a result of the earthquake in Chile, which means folks should stay away from them, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Saturday.Here's her full statement:“Our hearts are with the people of Chile following last night's earthquake.…
OLYMPIA -- Rahm Emmanuel take note: You'll have to watch your language in this Washington.The state Senate gave unanimous approval Saturday to a law that takes the term "mentally retarded" from state law, substituting it instead with the phrase "individuals with intellectual disabilities.""We all know…
OLYMPIA -- Senators have returned from caucus and are voting on some fairly noncontroversial bills, such as expanding the safety zone around emergency vehicles.
OLYMPIA -- Senate Democrats called for a two-minute caucus, and after they left Lt. Gov. Brad Owen,who presides over the chamber to express some doubts about their ability to tell time."Three words that don't go together: two minute and caucus," he said.They've been out for…
OLYMPIA -- Proposed budgets are almost always "fluid documents." This year's budget proposals are so fluid that House Democrats don't even have a tax package yet and Senate Democrats are making changes so fast that they aren't even numbered.Last night in a Senate Ways and…
OLYMPIA -- The Legislature has a Saturday workday. Both Ways and Means Committees had morning hearings and the Senate has an 11 a.m. session, which started and went into caucus.Details to come.
The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.
