Inslee signs budgets
OLYMPIA – With some 20 minutes to spare before a partial shutdown, Gov. Jay Inslee signed budgets Tuesday night to keep state government operating for the next two years.
Spin Control archive for June 2015
TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015
Legislature passes $3.9 billion capital budget
OLYMPIA -- The Legislature passed a $3.9 billion capital budget that would spend millions on new classrooms around the state as well as money for school projects, park improvements and buildings at Spokane Community Colleges and Eastern Washington University.
Will Lege swap 1351 changes for assessment tests?
OLYMPIA -- A new roadblock may be developing in the Legislature's plans to suspend parts of last year's initiative that requires small class sizes throughout the K-12 system.
Update: Inslee signing operating budget sometime
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee will sign the $38.2 billion state operating budget sometime this evening, not at 3:30 p.m. as his office previously said.
MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015
Senate passes $38.2 billion operating budget
OLYMPIA -- The Senate passed and sent to the House a $38.2 billion budget that would allow the state to avoid a partial government shutdown on Wednesday.
Senate begins budget debate with a bit of Zen
OLYMPIA -- The Senate began debate on the 2015-17 operating budget about 5:30 p.m., and there may be good karma for passing it and avoiding a partial government shutdown. . .
Details of $38.2 billion budget released; votes expected later today
OLYMPIA --The proposed state budget would spend $38.2 billion over the next two years, boost public schools by some $2.8 billion, give teachers and state employees cost-of-living raises, and reduce tuition for college students. And yes, there's money for a Spokane med school. Details inside the blog.
Budget details still being worked out
OLYMPIA -- Some details of the state's proposed $38 billion budget continue to be worked out as the Legislature prepares to vote later today.
Revived transpo package has $1 billion in Spokane projects
OLYMPIA -- The transportation package that would raise gasoline taxes to pay for major road, bridge and rail projects around the state would have more than $1 billion for Spokane-area projects. UPDATE: Budget details just posted
SUPCO says commissions can redraw districts
Washington and other states that use a commission to redraw congressional boundaries are within their constitutional rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today.
SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2015
Sunday Spin: How much pot will each of us be responsible for?
Washington state is counting on pot smokers for a lot of money. We figured out everyone's joint quota.
Budget deal? Apparently yes. Details? Not hardly.
OLYMPIA -- Gov. Jay Inslee and legislative leaders say they have reached a deal on a two-year budget and staved off a partial government shutdown that would have started Wednesday. But they released few details of that deal that had eluded them for 163 legislative days. The public will have to wait at least a day, they said.
FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2015
House passes pot tax changes
OLYMPIA -- Medical marijuana users would pay many of the same taxes as recreational pot users under a bill approved Friday by the House. On a 59-38 vote, the House passed revisions to Washington's rapidly changing marijuana laws even though some representatives said the tax rates were too high.
Senators praise, criticize same-sex marriage ruling
OLYMPIA -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes same-sex marriage legal in all states was praised as a landmark support of personal liberty and criticized as an infringement on religious freedom in speeches on the Senate floor today.
Senate passes Elson Floyd Med School bill
OLYMPIA -- The Senate unanimously passed a bill calling for a proposed med school in Spokane to be named for Elson Floyd.
City Hall opens its doors to hot Hoopfest-ers
Free climate control, free water fountains, free shade
Court ruling on same-sex marriage won't have much effect in WA or ID
Today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage may have big impacts for some states, but won't change things in Washington or Idaho.
THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2015
Senate GOP offers latest budget, plus a July stop-gap plan
OLYMPIA – With the clock ticking toward a partial government shutdown, the Legislature was presented Thursday with several options to “keep the lights on and the parks open."
McMorris Rodgers remembers Elson Floyd on House floor
In a floor speech delivered Thursday, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers called Elson Floyd "a giant for Eastern Washington."
Washington has 7 million people
OLYMPIA -- If you're a Washington resident, you're one in about 7 million.
Legislature honors Elson Floyd
OLYMPIA -- Legislators lauded late Washington State University President Elson Floyd as a leader who made WSU a winner and higher education accessible to students around the state.
Senate panel to look at new budget plans
OLYMPIA -- The Senate Ways and Means Committee will hold hearings on some of the latest iterations of a budget plan this afternoon, including one that would stave off a shutdown for a month. It would extend the current budget through July, with only a few additions like the money to pay for debt service and $14 million for drought.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015
Bill making 4th DUI a felony again passes Senate
OLYMPIA -- Drivers caught for a fourth DUI would face a felony under bill Senate approved again.
Average state wage near $55,000
OLYMPIA -- The average state wage went up in 2014, and is now $54,829, the Employment Security Department said today.
TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015
Campaign to name new Med School for Elson Floyd
A Facebook campaign calls for naming the new Washington State University medical school in Spokane for Elson Floyd, the late WSU president.
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