By Brian Everstine
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA — With the Legislature’s session half over, the biggest problem confronting lawmakers — filling a $2.8 billion budget hole — is largely unresolved.
But that doesn’t mean they’ve been idle. In long committee hearings and late-night floor sessions, lawmakers have mostly focused on other high-profile issues, hoping to get them resolved before focusing on the budget.
Among the hot topics: new laws in response to last year’s fatal shootings of four Lakewood police officers, changing tuition-setting control for major universities and expanding laws aimed at distracted drivers.
“We feel like we’ve accomplished almost all that we hoped to accomplish, and now we’re going into the toughest part, which is the budget,” said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.
The biggest fight so far has been over temporarily repealing Initiative 960, in which voters mandated a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature to raise taxes. Democratic leaders say they need the flexibility to raise taxes to balance the budget.
“Last year we had all sorts of federal dollars to help us,” Kessler said. “Now it’s all down to the bone marrow. It’s hard for people to understand that although we didn’t raise taxes last year, this year we’re going to have to raise some revenue.”
Minority Republicans, meanwhile, used procedural maneuvers and lengthy debate to make lifting the supermajority rule as difficult and public as possible, noting that voters had approved the initiative in 2007.
“There are clear differences of the two parties, like to tax or not to tax,” said Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, the minority’s budget chief. “There’s no room for negotiation between the two parties because we have a different philosophy about how to solve the problem than they do.”
So far, Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed three bills into law which aimed to keep costs down by freezing nonunion wages and suspending performance bonuses, agency hiring, contracting and travel. Her latest budget proposal cuts about $1 billion in spending while raising about $605 million in new taxes and relying on one-time fixes such as fund transfers to make up most of the balance.
Proposed taxes include tripling the rate on oil products and other pollutants, a penny-per-ounce tax on bottled water and charges on soda pop, candy and cigarettes.
Here’s a look at the ideas still alive in the Legislature, along with the proposals that might not happen this year. Any measures that didn’t get voted on by their chamber of origin by Wednesday are technically finished, except for any bills necessary for the state budget. That said, almost any proposal can theoretically be resurrected while the Legislature is still in town.
STILL ALIVE:
— POLICE SHOOTINGS: A package of changes sparked by the recent slayings of four Lakewood police officers has passed the Senate and is awaiting action in the House. A proposed constitutional amendment passed by both the House and Senate would allow judges to deny bail for people charged with crimes that carry a mandatory sentence of life without parole. The House has approved a different version of the constitutional amendment, and the final version would have to be approved by voters in November. Other proposals related to the shooting include strengthening the punishment for aiding a criminal and for assaulting a police or community corrections officer, and a task force to review the state’s bail system.
— DISTRACTED DRIVING: The Senate has passed a bill that would allow police to pull over and ticket drivers who were texting or talking on a cell phone without a headset. Current law allows officers to ticket drivers for such behavior, but only if they are pulled over for some other offense, such as speeding. The bill now awaits actions in the House.
— SHACKLED INMATES: A bill restricting use of restraints, including handcuffs and leg shackles, on pregnant inmates during labor and childbirth has passed the House. A former inmate sued the state last year, saying her constitutional rights were violated when she was shackled while in labor. The measure now heads to the Senate.
— PAID SURROGACY: Surrogate mothers could be paid under a bill approved by the House. Paid surrogacy is illegal under current law. The bill would set up a detailed system for surrogacy contracts with women who are not biologically related to the child they would carry. Surrogates would have to be at least 21 and have previously given birth to a child. The measure is now awaiting action in the Senate.
— BISPHENOL A: A measure that would ban the chemical Bisphenol A in baby bottles and other food and drink containers intended for young children. Exposure to Bisphenol A has been linked to brain problems in children. The House and Senate have each passed measures. The House version includes sports bottles used by adults.
—EDUCATION REFORM: This bill requested by Gov. Chris Gregoire is designed to position the state to have a better chance at the Race to the Top competition for a share of new federal dollars. It would extend the probationary period of teachers from two years to three; approve the new school accountability plan from the State Board of Education; and establish the first state evaluation criteria for principals. The bill passed the Senate and has been heard in the House Education Committee.
— GRADUATION REQUIREMENT DELAY: A bill requested by state schools chief Randy Dorn would delay the requirement that high school students pass the math section of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning to graduate from 2012 to 2014 and delay requiring passage of the science test from 2013 to 2017. The bill is waiting for a hearing in both the House and Senate Ways and Means committees.
—SCHOOL LEVIES: The measure would increase local taxing authority to help make up for school budget shortfalls. The bill would allow school districts to ask for more money and would let them go back to the voters for more money in the middle of a levy cycle. The bill has passed the House and is awaiting a hearing the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
— COLLEGE TUITION: Would allow the University of Washington, Washington State University and Western Washington University to set their own tuition rates for academic years 2011-2012 through 2017-2018. The bill contains some restrictions on how high tuition could go. The bill passed through the Senate and is waiting for a hearing in the House Committee on Higher Education.
— SCHOOL FUNDING REFORM: This bill would be the next step in changing the way the state pays for K-12 education by setting up the parameters for a “protypical school,” from class size to supply needs. It would set a deadline for paying the full cost of student transportation and for implementing all-day kindergarten statewide. The bill passed through the House and is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education.
— PETITION GATHERERS: Would require paid signature gatherers, businesses and the organizers of petition drivers to register with the state Public Disclosure Commission. The state would require them to have their pictures taken, show they have not been convicted of fraud in the past five years and show their understanding of state regulations regarding initiatives. The bill has passed the Senate.
— PETITION SIGNATURES: After last year’s Referendum 71, when gay marriage supporters sued to expose the referendum’s signatures, lawmakers look to make the names and addresses on petitions public record. The bill has been approved by the Senate.
BILLS THAT APPEAR DEAD: Here are a few bills that did not have the support to make it to a floor vote in either the House or Senate.
— MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: A measure to legalize and regulate marijuana, and sell it in state-run liquor stores got a public hearing but was voted down in the House committee on Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Another measure to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana also was voted down in the House committee; a measure in the Senate that was introduced last year is still technically alive this year, but stuck in the Senate Rules Committee.
— PRIVATIZE LIQUOR SALES: Efforts to get the state out of the business of selling liquor are unlikely to go anywhere because Democratic leaders, including Gov. Chris Gregoire, oppose them. One measure would have sold off the state’s liquor distribution center, and would allow private licenses to sell liquor, as California does. Other proposals would have taken smaller steps toward privatization, including auctioning off franchise agreements, or allowing a limited number of smaller contract stores to sell booze.
— CHILDREN AT HOPE: A bill that would have change references to disadvantaged or at-risk children in state law to “children at hope” died in committee after some lawmakers said the bill was a distraction away from real work.
— ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN: An attempt to ban “military style” assault weapons died in committee despite high-profile killings in Seattle last year involving such weapons. Gun-rights advocates packed a a Senate Judiciary Committee and several senators vowed that the bill would not pass in this or any year.
— SUPREME COURT FINANCE: A measure that would create a pilot program for public financing of state Supreme Court races stalled in striking fashion on the Senate floor on Tuesday after Lt. Gov. Brad Owen ruled that a two-thirds majority vote was required under Initiative 960 because the bill included a $3 surcharge on court filings.
— HUSKY STADIUM: A measure that will divide up the taxes used to buy Qwest Field and Safeco Field passed the House, but it does not give any money to renovate the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium.
— SCHOOL BUS ADVERTISING: This measure would have allowed school districts to sell advertising on the outside of school buses, but never got a floor vote in the Senate.
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AP writers Rachel La Corte, Curt Woodward and Donna Gordon Blankinship contributed to this report.
