Far from being a distraction for opponents of Washington’s new same-sex marriage law, Steve Pidgeon thinks simultaneously running both a referendum and an initiative to kill it is a “brilliant strategy.” “Essentially, it gives us an opportunity to play offense and defense at the same time,” he said. Pidgeon, who is also running for...
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The Washington State Department of Health and the state Board of Pharmacy have filed an appeal challenging portions of the February federal court that upheld the right of pharmacists to decline to dispense so-called “day-after” contraceptive pills that violate their religious principles. The state specifically asks the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn...
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Within hours of Gov. Christine Gregoire signing a bill last month that would permit  homosexual weddings in Washington state, opponents filed paperwork to overturn the new law by means of both a  referendum and an initiative. The question is whether having two seemingly redundant measures on the same ballot makes the odds of success...
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Legislative budget writers are making “good progress” toward breaking the log jam that forced the current special session and has shown few signs of breaking up since, according to Gov. Christine Gregoire. Speaking with reporters following a ceremony this afternoon at which she signed two bills into law, the governor said leaders from the...
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  KELSO – A Cowlitz County judge on Monday upheld the constitutionality Initiative 1183, which would privatize liquor sales in Washington state, saying the language of the measure did not violate the state’s single-subject rule. Superior Judge Stephen Warning granted a motion for summary judgment by the State of Washington that allows it to...
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Senate Republicans and the three Democrats who voted with them to pass a budget two weeks ago proposed a compromise bill today they hope will appeal to their colleagues in the House and end the current impasse. And if they need to advance it over the wishes of the Democratic majority in the Senate...
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  A Thurston County court  on Tuesday said a voter referendum to repeal Washington’s newly approved same-sex marriage law cannot state that the law “redefines” marriage, as its authors claim. In addition, Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee required that language must be included on the ballot referring to a provision in the law under...
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Democrat and Republican lawmakers may be divided over the question of school choice, but their constituents have no such indecision, according to a public-opinion poll released today. The “Washington K-12 & School Choice Survey,” co-released by the Olympia-based Freedom Foundation and Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, headquartered in Indiana, found Washington voters favor charter...
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Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman’s lawsuit to prevent construction of a light rail line from Seattle to the Eastside via the Interstate 90 bridge was denied on Friday in Kittitas County Superior Court. Judge Michael Cooper’s summary judgment rejects — for now, at least — Freeman’s claim that work to extend light rail service to ...
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As hopes for a state budget compromise evaporated in Olympia on Thursday night, so, too,  did hopes of passing a bill that would eliminate a sales tax exemption for out-of-state buyers. House Democrats said the plan could generate as much as $25 million to help fund all-day kindergarten but, although the measure won approval...
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