Washington State Lt. Gov. Brad Owen said on Thursday one possible solution for the difference of opinion over the budget that’s made necessary a 30-special session would be for Democrats to stop extending the courtesy of a proxy vote to ailing GOP Sen. Mike Carrell. “At some point … you might have to say...
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Twenty-sixth District Rep. Jan Angel wasted no time transitioning from governing to campaign mode on Monday, launching her active bid to claim the Senate seat left vacant in November when Gig Harbor Democrat Derek Kilmer was elected to Congress, succeeding longtime U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks. Incumbent candidates are banned from raising money while the...
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Gov. Jay Inslee was forced to order a special session of the Washington State Legislature when lawmakers adjourned on Sunday far short of an agreement on a two-year budget. Republicans had urged the governor to start the extra session on Monday to underscore the urgency of completing the task as soon as possible. Democrats...
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Even as the Washington State Legislature races to reconcile diametrically opposing views in the House and Senate regarding education, transportation and the operating budget in time to adjourn by Sunday, Gov. Jay Inslee signaled on Wednesday he still hasn’t given up on several pieces of social legislation that had been presumed dead. Asked if...
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A day after the House Transportation Committee endorsed a laundry list of tax increases to fund new road projects, the House Finance Committee on Tuesday approved an additional $900 million in tax hikes, ostensibly to fund education. Republicans on the committee, however, refused to concede either that the increases were necessary or that they...
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Initiative activist Tim Eyman’s newest ballot measure follows a familiar theme. Like numerous Eyman initiatives in the past, the latest effort, announced on Monday morning, seeks to impose a two-majority requirement on the Legislature for all tax increases. The difference is, this time the standard would be included in the state constitution. “Five times,...
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Democrats in the Washington State Senate will apparently be unable to pass either the Dream Act or a hotly debated abortion bill during the current session thanks to Bellevue Sen. Rodney Tom, who on Tuesday refused to go along with a parliamentary maneuver that would have brought the measures up for a vote on...
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A week earlier, Democrats were repeatedly thwarted in their attempts to amend the no-new-taxes budget plan adopted by the Republican-dominated Majority Coalition in the Washington State Senate. On Friday evening, the roles were reversed, as House Democrats brushed aside GOP efforts to tone down a $34.5 billion operating budget proposal whose centerpiece is $1.9...
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In a late-night committee session, House Democrats on Thursday passed a budget proposal that Republican critics believe raises taxes, guts the state’s rainy day fund and sets the Legislature up for a game of “chicken” between the House and Senate. Rep. Gary Alexander (R-Olympia), the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, said he...
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House Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a budget that spends even more on K-12 education than Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposal and funds the increases by eliminating a longer list of tax cuts. “This is an honest, straightforward budget that meets our constitutional obligation to our schools,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ross...
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