WaLeg Day 79: No vote on $12 minimum wage
OLYMPIA -- A Senate committee will not vote on the proposed $12 minimum wage, a mandatory sick leave policy or a new equal pay law. Those proposals, which all passed the House, could be dead for the session.
Spin Control archive for March 2015
TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015
Senate GOP budget: Cut tuition, no tax hikes
OLYMPIA -- Senate Republicans unveiled a budget that cuts tuition at state colleges and universities, pumps money into public schools and doesn't raise taxes.
Transit tax creates rift on Spokane County Commission
The relatively monolithic Spokane County Commission showed signs of dissent Tuesday, as commissioners argued about their stance on a proposed sales tax increase to fund changes to the area's transit system.
WaLeg Day 79: Senate Republicans to release budget
OLYMPIA -- Senate Republicans will release their budget at noon.
MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2015
WALeg Day 78: $12 minimum wage debate continues
OLYMPIA – Raising the state’s minimum wage to $12 by 2019 was described as not enough by some and too much by others as a Senate committee provided another forum for what’s become a familiar debate in this session.
McMorris Rodgers says Facebook kudos for Obamacare mostly about parts with bipartisan support
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said Monday that most of the messages of support for Obamacare posted on her Facebook page concerned parts of the health care legislation that had bipartisan support.
WaLeg Day 78: More changes for oil train bill
OLYMPIA – Trains crossing Washington with crude oil would need larger crews but those with other farm chemicals would not, under a revised bill passed by a House committee Monday. The latest version of a bill on one of the session’s hottest topics also has a higher tax than Senate Republicans approved this month.
"Morning again in Spokane," County GOP releases election year video to stir members
The county's Republican Party released a video today, kicking the election year off in grand old fashion. The video is part uplifting, part combative as it first takes on the Spokane City Council, the media and the Democratic Party, before shifting and re-branding itself as...
WaLeg Day 78: Committee stubs out e-cigarette tax
OLYMPIA – A state agency could set up rules for advertising and warning labels for e-cigarettes next July, but an excise tax that would almost double their cost was stripped for a proposal by a key committee.
WaLeg: Coming this week
A minimum wage hearing, a budget vote and a med school bill signing
SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2015
Sunday Spin3: Say what?
Who said: “Being weird has never stopped us from passing a bill.” And why?
Sunday Spin2: More on voting law changes
Last week’s column about Oregon’s new law that automatically registers residents as voters when they get or renew a driver’s license prompted some readers to conclude Spin Control is against more voters. Not true...
SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2015
Sunday Spin: A little levity, a little history
OLYMPIA – Slogging through stories of budgets and taxes, the average reader might think Olympia is a pretty dreary, humorless place. Some days it is about as gray as the fog that rolls up from the South Puget Sound. But not always. . .
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015
House budget would add $1.4 billion for schools, require capital gains tax
OLYMPIA -- House Democrats rolled out a $38.8 billion spending plan that would sent an extra $1.4 billion to public schools over the next two years. To help pay for some of the programs, it calls for a capital gains tax on high income residents.
THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2015
WaLeg Day 74: Senate gas tax hike gets heavy support in House committee
OLYMPIA -- Business leaders and local government officials calling for a higher gas tax dominated a House committee hearing. Environmental groups objected to the "poison pill" over carbon fuel standards.
Public Disclosure Commission fines Mielke over campaign email
The Washington Public Disclosure Commission on Thursday fined Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke $100 and put him on four-year probation after finding he improperly used county email to obtain information ahead of a candidate debate against John Roskelley in June 2012.
Auditor invited to Senate hearing by former opponent
OLYMPIA -- State Auditor Troy Kelley, who has had his house searched by federal agents and documents collected from state offices, is being asked to appear at a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday.
WaLeg Day 74: Tuition, transportation on tap
OLYMPIA -- The House Transportation Committee looks at the Senate's 11.7 cent gasoline tax hike and the House Higher Education Committee looks at the Senate's tuition cut bill.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015
Senate passes WSU medical school bill
OLYMPIA -- On a 47-1 vote, the Senate gave final passage to a bill giving WSU authority to start its own medical school in Spokane.
WALeg Day 73: WSU med school bill may get final vote
OLYMPIA -- WSU's hopes for its own medical school should get a big boost today with the Senate expected to give final passage to the bill that gives it that authority.
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
WaLeg Day 72: House budget coming Friday
OLYMPIA -- House Democrats say today they will release their 2015-17 operating budget late Friday morning. House and Senate Republicans responded by reiterating their "show me the money" demand, that any extra revenue have a specific tax source.
MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015
WaLeg Day 71: Pot vending machines? Drive-thru sales? Research licenses?
OLYMPIA -- Pot again provided legislators with plenty to talk about.
Riccelli says no to Spokane mayoral rumors
Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, said Saturday he would not challenge Spokane Mayor David Condon in this year's city elections. Riccelli, the prime sponsor of a House bill that gave Washington State University the authority, although not the money, to start a new medical school in...
WaLeg Day 71: Voting rights, marijuana, mental health, drones. . .
OLYMPIA -- A long list of bills with a wide array of topics on the committee hearing schedule today.
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
Sunday Spin: Is automatic voter signup really a good idea?
OLYMPIA – The state of Oregon has some good-government types agog and aglow over its new law on voter registration. Perhaps that’s because the good-govs have had little to celebrate on the voter registration front recently that they jumped on a law to automatically sign people up. In fact, it's a terrible idea.
The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.
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