The Washington Federation of State Employees has filed suit against the State Ethics Commission , alleging its sanctions against of two members who appeared in union-sponsored TV commercials in 2011 will have a “chilling effect” on the free speech rights of all state employees.

The union filed the lawsuit May 10 in U.S. District Court.

The TV spots, filmed on private property and during the members’ off-work hours, “encouraged members of the public to have their legislatures (sic) stop blaming public servants for the state’s budget woes.”

The employees volunteered to appear, union officials insist, and were not paid for their comments.

The Washington Federation of State Employees says the state Ethics Commission had no right to fine two of its members for appearing in a union-sponsored commercial.

The ads, they say, carried a clear identification that the union had paid for the spots and making it clear the two members “were clearly serving in representative capacities for the WFSE and the thousands of employees of the State of Washington it represents and speaking on a matter on behalf of the organization and its members,” the court document says.

But ethics watchdogs cited and fined the two members for alleged illegal use of state resources for personal gain because the commercials listed their state job titles under their names.

“The Ethics Commission basically said the state owns its employees’ job titles,” the union said in a news release on Thursday afternoon.

“The court should declare that the above-described conduct by defendants (the Ethics Commission) violates plaintiffs’ rights to freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution Art. I, U.S. Constitution by censoring and chilling plaintiffs’ speech and deterring them and other state employees from exercising their First Amendment rights,” the Federation lawsuit says.

The two member plaintiffs are Brad Samples, of Local 53 in Tacoma, who works for the state agency that oversees social and health services programs to protect developmentally disabled citizens; and Ginger Richardson, of Local 308 in Seattle, who works for the state agency in charge of state prisons and post-release correctional programs to protect the public.

“Samples and Richardson have shown great courage during this ordeal,” the press release stated, “so we’re not using their job titles or state agency names because challenging one ridiculous ethics commission action at a time is enough.

“We have not reported on this lawsuit sooner for those reasons,” it said, “but the lawsuit and their names began appearing May 17, so we thought it was safe to go public, too.”

The entire lawsuit can be viewed here.

The Department of Transportation's reluctance to release the results of drug and alcohol tests administered to the captain and crew of the M/V Wenatchee after it crashed into Colman Dock in 2009 has sparked a court battle that's still ongoing.

A Washington State Appeals Court on Thursday ruled that federal transportation laws created to protect the privacy of public employees trump the state Public Disclosure Act — even if that means shielding a ferry captain who may have been intoxicated on duty.

The case arose when Washington State Ferries vessel M/V Wenatchee slammed into Colman Dock in Seattle on Aug. 30, 2009, causing hundreds of thousands in property damage and minor injuries to one passenger.

The official inquiry ruled out drugs or alcohol as a cause of the mishap, and no WSF employee lost their job. Nonetheless, the Olympia-based Freedom Foundation responded the day after the accident with a request to view all records associated with the incident, including the results of mandatory blood and alcohol tests administered to the captain and crew.

“We weren’t so much implying we didn’t believe their version of the events as we were saying, ‘Trust us, everything’s fine,’ isn’t good enough,” said Mike Reitz, the Freedom Foundation’s general counsel . “If drugs and alcohol weren’t involved, show us the records and prove it.”

Mike Reitz

The Washington State Department of Transportation, however, released a redacted version of the records on Nov. 5 omitting any discussion of the substance abuse test or its results, citing U.S. Coast Guard regulations dealing with personnel matters.

The Foundation submitted a second public records request on Nov. 19 and WSDOT responded a month later with essentially the same information but did include a description of the kinds of tests and methodology used to determine whether the employees were impaired at the time of the accident.

WSDOT released the names of the captain and crew members it had tested, but steadfastly declined to discuss the test results, prompting The Freedom Foundation on April 16 to file a motion to disclose public records in Thurston County Superior Court.

The case was dismissed on a summary judgment when the judge ruled WSDOT was prohibited by federal law from disclosing personnel records.

The Freedom Foundation appealed the case in September 2011.

Yesterday’s appellate ruling affirms the Foundation’s position that WSDOT’s initial response was too heavily redacted and awards the plaintiffs court costs and legal fees. At the same time, it did not require WSDOT to release the test results as requested.

“From Day 1, we told WSDOT it was in violation of the law,” Reitz said. “It’s gratifying to see the Court of Appeals agree that we were entitled to 90 percent of the information we sought.”

He continued, ““The broad mandate of openness in our state law should not be so easily displaced by the mere existence of a federal regulation. In 2011, the federal government completed 3,611 rulemaking proceedings. Our state transparency laws could be swamped over by the thousands of pages of rules pouring out of Washington, D.C.

“The public ought to know the details of a public employee’s on-the-job conduct,” Reitz said, “especially given the potential loss of life and property if a mishap were to occur.”

U.S. Sen Maria Cantwell was so pleased to earn the public workers' union endorsement that she showed up in person to accept it.

Washington’s largest public-sector employees union last weekend set the bar a little higher in terms of defining who its friends are — then wasted little time throwing its support behind those who toed the mark.

Not surprisingly, the list includes only Democrats. And given the more rigid standards being applied by the union leadership, it offers insight into who is and isn’t considered on board with the group’s Big Government agenda.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell topped the list of candidates earning early endorsements from the Washington Federation of State Employees at Saturday’s Early Endorsements Conference in Seattle.

Other candidates winning favor with the union included former state legislator and TVW founder Denny Heck, a Democrat running for Congress in the new 10th Congressional District; state Sen. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor), running for the open Congressional District 6 seat; former state Sen. Kathleen Drew, a Democrat running for secretary of state; Democrat Bob Ferguson for state attorney general; and former Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg for state Supreme Court Position No. 9.

Federation Executive Director Greg Devereux opened the conference with a warning that this fall’s elections will come at a particularly troublesome time for believers in a bigger, better-compensated bureaucracy.
“There’s the possibility of a perfect storm next November,” Devereux said. “If we’re not careful, we could replicate Wisconsin.”
In legislative races, he said, no endorsements went to incumbents with a voting record of less than 60 percent and those who voted for the pension bill that limited early retirement options for future public employees.

Endorsements were also not made in open races (those with no incumbent) except two state Senate seats where an incumbent House member is running for the upper chamber. Those endorsements went to Seattle Rep. Bob Hasegawa, a Democrat running for the state Senate in the 11th District, and Tacoma Rep. Jeannie Darneille, a Democrat running for Senate in the 27th District.

Newly appointed legislators who haven’t served a full two years will also be invited to local interviews.

The delegates agreed to hold off endorsements in most legislative races until candidate interviews take place among locals in the respective districts. Delegates also voted to oppose the re-election of two incumbent state senators –  Republican Sen. Joe Zarelli (Ridgefield), and Sen. Jim Hargrove (D-Hoquiam).

Cantwell, running for her third six-year term in the U.S. Senate, was so gratified with the union’s backing that she showed up in person to express her appreciation.

“I just want to thank you for what you do every single day,” she said. “You’re always in my heart.”

The union’s other favored candidates and causes included:

U.S. PRESIDENT
Barack Obama, D*

U.S. SENATE
Maria Cantwell, D*

U.S. CONGRESS
Congressional District 2 – Rick Larsen, D*
CD 5 – Rich Cowan, D
CD 6 – Derek Kilmer, D (Note: Current state senator, 26th District)
CD 7 – Jim McDermott, D*
CD 9 – Adam Smith, D*
CD 10 – Denny Heck, D

STATEWIDE RACES

GOVERNOR
Jay Inslee, D

LT. GOVERNOR
Brad Owen, D*

SECRETARY OF STATE
Kathleen Drew, D

TREASURER
Jim McIntire, D*

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Bob Ferguson, D

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER
Mike Kreidler, D*

STATE SUPREME COURT
Pos. 2 – Susan Owens, NP*
Pos. 8 – Steven Gonzalez, NP*
Pos. 9 – John Ladenburg, NP

STATE LEGISLATURE:

STATE SENATE

Dist. 1 – Rosemary McAuliffe, D*
Dist. 11 – Bob Hasegawa, D#
Dist. 22 – Karen Fraser, D*
Dist. 23 – Christine Rolfes, D*
Dist. 27 – Jeannie Darneille, D#
Dist. 34 – Sharon Nelson, D*
Dist. 40 – Kevin Ranker, D*
Dist. 46 – David Frockt, D*

STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Dist. 1 (Pos. 1) – Derek Stanford, D*
Dist. 1 (Pos. 2) – Luis Moscoso, D*
Dist. 3 (Pos. 1) – Andy Billig, D*
Dist. 3 (Pos. 2) – Timm Ormsby, D*
Dist. 11 (Pos. 1) – Zack Hudgins, D*
Dist. 19 (Pos. 2) – Brian Blake, D*
Dist. 21 (Pos. 2) – Marko Liias, D*
Dist. 22 (Pos. 1) – Chris Reykdal, D*
Dist. 22 (Pos. 2) – Sam Hunt, D*
Dist. 23 (Pos. 1) – Sherry Appelton, D*
Dist. 24 (Pos. 2) – Steve Tharinger, D*
Dist. 26 (Pos. 2) – Larry Seaquist, D*
Dist. 27 (Pos. 1) – Laurie Jinkins, D*
Dist. 28 (Pos. 2) – Tami Green, D*
Dist. 29 (Pos. 2) – Steve Kirby, D*
Dist. 32 (Pos. 1) – Cindy Ryu, D*
Dist. 33 (Pos. 1) – Tina Orwall, D*
Dist. 33 (Pos. 2) – Dave Upthegrove, D*
Dist. 34 (Pos. 1) – Eileen Cody, D*
Dist. 34 (Pos. 2) – Joe Fitzgibbon, D*
Dist. 35 (Pos. 1) – Kathy Haigh, D*
Dist. 37 (Pos. 1) – Sharon Tomiko Santos, D*
Dist. 38 (Pos. 1) – John McCoy, D*
Dist. 38 (Pos. 2) – Mike Sells, D*
Dist. 40 (Pos. 1) – Kris Lytton, D*
Dist. 40 (Pos. 2) – Jeff Morris, D*
Dist. 44 (Pos. 1) – Hans Dunshee, D*
Dist. 45 (Pos. 1) – Roger Goodman, D*

STATEWIDE BALLOT MEASURES

Initiative 1185 – Tim Eyman’s 2/3 majority scheme: OPPOSE
Referendum 74 – Uphold Marriage Equality Law: SUPPORT

Senate Minority Leader Lisa Brown hasn't said what she plans to do next, but insists she won't be running for office in the immediate future.

Washington State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-Spokane), following a spring that saw her party lose a bruising floor fight during which minority Republicans joined with a handful of Democratic defectors to defeat her preferred budget, has decided not to seek re-election this fall.

Brown, 55, announced on Thursday that after 20 years in the Legislature, she intends to retain  her part-time teaching position at Gonzaga University in Spokane, but otherwise is going to “wait and see what comes along.”

For the immediate future, she said, her plans do not include running for another political office.

“It wasn’t something I was planning to do, it was just one of those epiphanies,” she told The Associated Press. “It just felt like the right time, while I can still be open to other challenges.”

Brown has served as Senate majority leader for eight years, and before that she was minority leader for two years. Prior to that, she served in the House.

Democrats currently hold a 27-22 advantage in the Senate, but this year, three disgruntled Democrats voted with Republicans on a key budget decision late in the regular legislative session, infuriating Brown and her fellow Democratic leaders.

Brown, who won her seat four years ago with 75 percent of the vote, was slated to face off against Spokane councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin in this fall’s election. Her announcement leaves Democrats scrambling to find a replacement with the filing period set to open on May 14.

Brown’s official statement is reprinted below:

I have decided not to seek re-election to the 3rd district Senate seat this fall. Returning home two weeks ago, I began taking stock of my twenty years in the Legislature, reflecting on what I have been able to achieve with the help of colleagues and supporters. I decided that, though it is still immensely gratifying to serve Spokane and the state of Washington in this capacity, I am ready for new challenges.

During my tenure in the Legislature we have created in Spokane a health sciences education and research campus, which will be a centerpiece of our regional economy and will educate thousands of pharmacists, nurses, dentists, doctors, and other health professionals. The building that will house the University of Washington medical school and the Washington State University pharmacy received its final funding in this year’s capital budget.
I have also championed the clean-up and protection of the Spokane river, Spokane’s aerospace cluster, our film and video industry, and spearheaded the funding of the Fox Theater, the MAC, the refurbished YMCA/YWCA facilities, and numerous non-profits in Spokane, such as Crosswalk, the Northwest Autism Center and Sally’s House.

At the state level, I am most proud of my work to create mental health parity legislation, and my work on the state budget to enhance childcare and healthcare for working families. I am equally proud of my efforts to protect the state’s partnership with numerous non-profits who serve vulnerable people across the spectrum: abused and neglected children, the elderly, homeless people, and people with disabilities, and of our fourteen year fight to pass a simple majority plan for school levies.

Given the challenges of the recession and the reductions in the alternate budget proposed by the Senate Republicans, I am particularly pleased with this year’s final budget, which protected not only vital human service programs, but also made no further reductions to K-12 education or higher education.

I have been involved in the promotion of women’s rights and civil rights throughout my life and legislative career. This year’s path-breaking marriage equality and human-trafficking laws are two examples of the kind of legislation that originally motivated me to run for office. Serving as Ways and Means chair and then as the leader of my caucus for ten years has given me a tremendous opportunity to be deeply involved in all the major public policy issues facing our state and to work with talented elected officials and advocates.

I would like to thank Gov. Chris Gregoire and Speaker Frank Chopp for their leadership and for the productive relationship we have enjoyed for eight years. In particular, I appreciate the governor’s unwavering commitment to the economic future of Spokane and I want to thank the speaker for his dedication to the most vulnerable people in our state.

I will miss the incredibly dedicated staff of the state Senate and many of my colleagues in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle. In particular, I appreciated working with Sen. Jim Hargrove on mental health and human service funding, Sen. Ed Murray on marriage equality and the budget, Sens. Tracey Eide and Rosemary McAuliffe on simple majority, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles on gender equity, Sen. Derek Kilmer on economic development initiatives, Sen. Joe Zarelli on the Rainy Day fund constitutional amendment, Rep. Ruth Kagi on childcare and early learning, and my seatmates Timm Ormsby and Andy Billig on numerous Spokane initiatives.

Senate Democrats are well-positioned to continue to lead the state. I look forward to watching the careers of our seasoned members as well as our emerging leaders.

The people of Spokane have given me the tremendous honor of representing and serving them for 20 years.

My son, Lucas, and many dear friends have accompanied me and supported me on this journey. I am immensely grateful to all of them.

Hundreds of taxpayers showed up on the Capitol steps on Saturday for what became a pep rally for liberty. Jeff Rhodes/The Freedom Foundation

“We’re in nothing less than a battle for the future of our nation,” Shelton business owner Pat Tarzwell told a raucous crowd gathered on the steps of the Capitol Building in Olympia on Saturday. “And we have some serious catching up to do. Progressives have a 100-year headstart growing the size of government.”

With federal income taxes due the following day, Tarzwell said it was a perfect occasion to talk about slashing spending at both the national and state levels.

“Our own governor says we’ve cut $10 billion from the budget in recent years,” he said. “Don’t believe her. She didn’t cut a nickel. Spending goes up every stinking year.”

“Four years ago were promised hope and change,” added blogger Keli Carender, who fellow Tea Party members have dubbed the “Liberty Belle.” “But at this point, hope is about all we have left — hope that change is coming.

“As bad as some of us thought an Obama presidency would be, he’s been far worse than we could have imagined,” she said. “We’re facing a very serious situation, but fortunately, there’s still time to heal the nation.”

The Olympia event featured 10 inspirational speakers — plus music — over two hours. And the prevailing theme was how government has eroded personal freedoms while stifling the economy.

“I can’t figure out why people keep voting for candidates with ‘experience,’ ” said Olympia resident and conservative activist Sharon Hanek, who refers to herself as the “Research Mom.”
“Do we want to keep voting for candidates with experience taking away our rights?” she asked. “Or should we start electing people who believe they were called by God to restore those rights?”

“The most troublesome aspect of America today isn’t the division between the right and the left,” said event host Mike Siegel, a longtime conservative talk radio host. “The most troublesome thing is the division between the left and the Constitution.

“It’s time for a change in America,” he said. “It’s time to stand up and be counted.”

Democratic Sen. Derek Kilmer, left, and Republican Linda Evans Parlette believe the capital budget bill will fund projects the state needed to build anyway and do so at a reduced rate of interest.

In the final, frenzied moments of a special legislative session that extended seven hours past its deadline of midnight Tuesday, exhausted Washington state lawmakers who’d spent the past eight months trying to close a $1.6 million gap between projected expenditures and revenues, easily passed a capital budget that included $1.1 billion in new construction spending.

“That’s typical of capital budgets,” explained Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center. “They don’t get as much scrutiny as the operating budget because they tend to be the ‘Christmas tree’ budget that everyone wants to hang something on.”

The capital budget passed 44-1 in the Senate and 85-13 in the House of Representatives.

“I had a lot of reservations about the bill,” conceded Rep. Jan Angel (R-26th District). “But at the end of the day, I had to look at what it included for my district — projects they’d have to find a way to pay for themselves if the state didn’t.”

Angel said she ultimately voted against the operating budget, which she described as “unsustainable,” but in favor the capital budget because, “As much as I didn’t want to see the state spend that money, I just didn’t see how I could go back and tell my constituents they had to pay for something the state had offered to pay for.”

According to its Democratic sponsors, Snohomish Rep. Hans Dunshee and Gig Harbor Sen. Derek Kilmer, the capital spending bill will kick start Washington’s stalled construction industry by “creating” up to 22,000 new jobs.

Meanwhile, they argue, the projects funded under the bill — which include stormwater upgrades, boat ramps and school construction — need to be done at some point regardless, and doing so gives the state an opportunity to borrow at historically low interest rates.

The proposal originally called for selling $1.3 billion in revenue bonds to finance the package. But Republicans preferred using general obligation bonds, which are guaranteed by state taxes rather than revenues from the projects involved.

They also pared the cost down to $1.1 billion.

“The conversation about making investment in infrastructure — especially when it’s cheaper to buy, and you’ve got a lot of folks in the construction industry unemployed — it’s one area of consideration around job creation,” Kilmer said in an interview in the Peninsula Gateway.

“It’s a way to make investments in things the state is going to invest in anyway,” Kilmer said, “while folks are out of work.”

Kilmer, whose full-time job is is vice president of the Pierce County Economic Development Board, said while the construction jobs themselves may only be temporary, the infrastructure they build will be an economic engine for their respective communities.

That’s a difficult case to make, however, for every project. In Olympia, to cite one example, $1.5 of the capital budget bill is earmarked for making upgrades to the Camp Quixote homeless encampment.

Even more problematic, because of the state’s requirement that public construction projects must pay contractors the prevailing — usually union-negotiated — wage, even $1.1 billion won’t build as much or hire as many workers as it would without the regulation.

“Research in Washington and across the United States shows that prevailing wage determinations rarely mirror actual market wages,” noted Bryan Leonard, a budget analyst with The Freedom Foundation.

“For example,” he  wrote, “Washington pays some workers nearly twice the actual market wage. This big increase in the capital budget seems oddly-timed at best — and foolhardy at worst.”

Altogether, the 2012 supplemental capital budget funds slightly more than $1 billion in projects, including $320 million for higher education-related projects, $254 million for economic development and public infrastructure, $57 million for skills centers and more than $200 million for stormwater, hatcheries, parks, forest health and other natural-resource projects.

“We wanted to invest in projects that will improve the curve of our state’s economic recovery,” said Sen. Linda Evans Parlette (R-Wenatchee). “(We decided to) purchase them now, while prices and interest rates are low, and invest in projects that will help ease the pressure on future operating budgets.

“We accomplished our goal,” she said, “and I look forward to getting the projects in this budget under way.”

Below is a partial listing of the projects funded under the capital budget.

• Adna Athletic and Fitness Facility — $80,000
• American Lake Veterans’ Golf Course — $250,000
• Anacortes Depot — $380,000
• Bothell North Creek Forest Land Acquisition — $200,000
• Boys and Girls Federal Way — $50,000
• Bucoda Odd Fellows Community Center — $150,000
• Central WA State Fair Association — $35,000
• City of Kirkland Athletic Fields — $150,000
• Colville Tribal Museum — $250,000
• Daybreak Youth Services Pre-Construction Activities — $100,000
• Dekalb Pier Project — $700,000
• Gig Harbor Maritime Pier — $390,000
• Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Lady Washington Rehabilitation — $169,000
• Legion Park Visitors Center and Trailhead Project — $110,000
• Match FEMA funds for Sprague Response Center — $300,000
• North Mason Senior Center — $1,360,000
• Port of Bremerton — $1,100,000
• Puyallup Transit-Oriented Development — $1,500,000
• Redmond Central Connector — $850,000
• Roslyn Renaissance — $300,000
• Seattle Children’s Hospital Emergency Department — $1,000,000
• Skagit Valley Hospital $750,000
• South Tacoma Community Center Playground — $380,000
• Spokane Food Bank Distribution Center Capacity and Renovation — $1,250,000
• Spokane Valley Partners Boiler Replacement — $100,000
• Sultan Boys and Girls Club — $500,000
• Tacoma Hilltop Health Center — $1,500,000
• The Arc of Tri-Cities Facility — $350,000
• Traumatic Brain Injury Center — $900,000
• Vancouver Waterfront Park Pre-Construction Activities — $500,000
• Veteran’s Memorial — $210,000
• West Hill Skyway Redevelopment — $750,000
• YWCA Yakima — $203,000
• Low Income Housing Institute/Housing for Homeless Young Adults — $1,800,000
• Roslyn Northwest Improvement Building — $1,035,000
• Port Gamble Bay (Open up 90 acres of geoduck tracks) — $2,000,000
• Port Gamble Bay (Source control, habitat preservation, and cleanup sustainability) — $7,000,000
• Cashmere Mill Site — $1,500,000
• Lakewood 2012 Drywell Replacement Project — $330,000
• Ferndale Southwest Storm Water Management Facility — $871,000
• Tacoma Cheney Stadium Stormwater LID Retrofit — $1,000,000
• Bellingham Central Business District Raingarden Retrofits — $450,000
• Walla Walla 13th Avenue Stormwater LID Project — $290,000
• Spokane County Regional Decant Facility — $684,000
• Milton 5th Avenue Storm Water Treatment Facility — $112,000
• Pierce County Clarks/Rody Creek Stormwater Retrofits — $829,000
• Mount Vernon Downtown Plaza — $351,000
• Vancouver Water Quality Retrofits for Existing Drywells — $562,000
• Camas Vactor Waste Facility Retrofit — $150,000
• Tumwater Valley Regional Stormwater Facility — $469,000
• West Richland Bombing Range Outfall Elimination Project — $479,000
• Kitsap County Parks: Replace and Installation of Pervious Parking Lots — $735,000
• Woodinville Lake Leota Stormwater Quality Retrofit Project — $866,000
• Richland Leslie Groves Park Regional Infiltration Facility — $199,000
• Spokane County Country Homes Boulevard Restoration Project — $1,000,000
• Redmond NE 84th Street Stormwater Retrofit — $1,000,000
• Pierce County Groundwater Pollutant Reduction Project — $578,000
• Kitsap County Illahee Stormwater/LID Retrofit Project — $625,000
• Bellingham Stormwater Retrofit/Bloedel Donovan Park — $384,000
• Puyallup Porus Alley Initiative Program — $665,000
• Lacey Vactor Waste Decant Facility — $342,000
• Fife 70th Avenue East Phase 2 — $786,000
• Kent James Street Stormwater Outfall Retrofit $75,000
• Renton Sunset Terrace Regional Stormwater Facility — $983,000
• Sumner Site A.2 Outfall Treatment Retrofit $1,000,000
• Asotin Second Street Stormwater Project — $172,000
• University Place Bridgeport Way Low-Impact Development Project — $758,000
• Sumner Site J Outfall Treatment Retrofit — $538,000
• Richland Canyon Terrace Stormwater Treatment Project — $211,000
• Olympia SPSCC Stormwater Retrofit for Water Quality — $312,000
• Renton Harrington Avenue NE Green Connection — $913,000
• Longview Municipal Pervious Concrete — $86,000
• Kirkland Northeast King County Co-op Recycling Decant Center — $2,250,000
• Burlington Gages Slough Stormwater LID Improvements — $204,000
• Clark County Columbia River High School Stormwater Retrofit — $267,000
• Bainbridge Island Lynwood Center Outfall Improvement Project — $188,000
• Puyallup Clarks Creek Targeted Outfall Retrofit Project — $551,000
• Pierce County Tacoma Narrows Airport Pavement Removal — $326,000
• Pierce County Spanaway Lake Park Stormwater Retrofit — $690,000
• Administrative Costs — $792,000
• Burien Miller Creek Stormwater Management Facility — $1,000,000
• Tacoma Asotin Court LID Retrofit — $710,000
• Seattle Public Utilities Midvale Stormwater Facility — $1,000,000
• Mukilteo Smuggler’s Gulch Drainage Basin LID and Stormwater Retrofit — $1,000,000
• Kirkland Park Lane Pedestrian Corridor — $739,000
• Port Angeles 4th Street Stormwater Project $1,000,000
• Snohomish County Department of Parks & Recreation Kayak Park Stormwater Treatment — $1,000,000
• Renton Rainier Avenue Stormwater Retrofit — $644,000
• Vancouver Peterson Channel Industrial LID Improvements — $287,000
• Wenatchee Snowmelt Facility — $975,000
• Port Orchard Cedar Heights Junior High Sidewalks — $135,000
• Centralia Downtown Rain Garden Revitalization Project — $487,000
• Snohomish County Paine Field Drainage Subbasin SC-5 — $967,000
• Seattle Public Utilities West Seattle Decant Facility — $289,000
• Skagit County LID Demonstration Project — $291,000
• Snohomish LID Improvements Project — $104,000
• Douglas County 23rd Street (Baker to SR 28) — $165,000
• Renton NE 10th St and Anacortes Ave NE Detention Pond Retrofit — $206,000
• Redmond Public Works Kelsey Creek Erosion Reduction Facility — $1,000,000
• Whatcom County Upper Silver Beach Creek Restoration — $988,000
• Port of Vancouver Terminal 4 Stormwater Pond Retrofit — $1,000,000

The Washington State Legislature at last agreed on a compromise supplemental budget at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

Bleary-eyed Washington state lawmakers finally reached agreement on a long-delayed supplemental budget at 6:17 a.m. — more than six hours into a second special legislative session.

“It doesn’t cut education, it’s balanced and it’s a quarter to 5,” Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina) said of the budget before it passed in that house by a 64-34 margin.

The Senate followed suit by a 44-2 vote 90 minutes later, purposely waiting until the House had narrowly approved a reform measure dealing with extending healthcare benefits to non-teachers working in the state’s K-12 school system.

“This budget has been a struggle,” said Sen. Ed Murray (D-Seattle). “But that’s because Washington families are struggling. We think this budget protects them as best we can.”

Up to that point, the lawmakers had been unable to reach agreement on closing a $1.6 billion revenue gap through a two-and-a-half-week special session in December, the regular 60-day legislative session that convened in January, a 30-day special session that ended at midnight Tuesday and a few hours more.

Gov. Christine Gregoire, assured a budget deal was at hand, called for a second session to begin immediately when the midnight deadline came and went without an accord.

“I don’t think there’s a thing in that budget that will be a surprise to a soul at this point,” she said in announcing the one-day extra session. “They just need to get it done. Get it done and go home.”

Although Democrats hold a majority in both houses of the Legislature and Gregoire, too, is a Democrat, Republicans in the Senate were able to assert control in the final week of the regular session and pass a budget more to their liking by recruiting three moderate Democrats to support their more fiscally conservative version.

The bipartisan coalition in the Senate thereafter steadfastly refused to pass — or even negotiate — a budget until both houses approved a comprehensive list of economic reforms.

As the clocked on Tuesday ticked down to midnight — and beyond — those reforms were addressed one by one.

The reform bills encompassed a wide range of subjects, from requiring future Legislatures to pass budgets that line up with four-year revenue projections rather than the current two years to making it more difficult for state employees to take early retirement.

“I support this budget because, for a change, it reflects some of our ideas and values, too,” said Rep. Gary Alexander (R-Olympia).

Senate Republicans weren't able to eliminate the early retirement option entirely for state employees, but they made it more difficult to do.

New Washington state government employees will still have the option of retiring early, but they’ll pay more for the privilege and benefit less under a compromise struck between Senate Democrats and a coalition of Republicans and moderate Democrats.

The deal eliminates one of the major hurdles standing in the way of passing a supplemental budget — a chore lawmakers have struggled with through one special session in December, the regular 90-day legislative session and just about all of the current special session.

The pension reform provision had long been a sticking point for coalition members who insisted it be passed before the Legislature took up the subject of a supplemental budget. But with lawmakers scrambling to adjourn the current 30-day special session by its deadline at midnight tonight, a compromise was worked out.

Under the revised bill, state workers who retire before the age of 62 are already penalized with lower pension benefits.

Under the new bill, those penalties will increase to as high as a 50 percent reduction for workers retiring at the age of 55.
The changes only apply to workers hired starting in May 2013.

The plan isprojected to save the state an estimated $1.3 billion over 25 years.

Washington state lawmakers have reportedly agreed on a capital budget bill that would spend $1.1 million on a long list of projects around the state even as the Legislature struggles to pay for its current spending plans.

Washington State lawmakers, despite having not yet reached agreement on a supplemental budget needed to fill an anticipated $1.6 billion gap between spending plans and expected revenues, have reportedly agreed in principle on a capital budget that would spend $1.1 billion on a statewide wish list of projects.

The plan, pushed by Sen. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor) and Rep. Hans Dunshee (D-Snohomish), would not be passed until after the operating budget, however, and no operating budget deal has yet been struck.

Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, a Wenatchee Republican, said it makes sense to spend more on projects now, while the economy is struggling and costs are low.

Among the highlights in the latest versions of Senate Bill 5127 (the new bonds bill) and Senate Bill 6074 (the traditional capital budget bill):

• $476 million in funds distributed by the Department of Commerce that go for public works projects covering the gamut: drinking water, storm water and sewer projects; energy efficiency grants; community and economic revitalization projects; and housing projects for people with disabilities, mental illnesses or who are homeless.
• $10 million from the Office of Financial Management for Chehalis River Basin flood relief work.
• $50 million in human services projects that include new or restated appropriations of $3 million for renovating cottages at Rainier School in Buckley, $45.6 million for a Walla Walla nursing facility, and $8.5 million in drinking water projects.
• $233.3 million for natural resources projects that also run the gamut: storm water control and flood mitigation; just over $9 million for state parks shelters, concessions, cabins, yurts and other work; fish hatchery improvements; Puget Sound habitat improvements; and removal of forest pest and fire hazards.
• $321.4 million for higher education including. Big outlays include $208 million for community colleges such as the $39.1 million earmarked for the health careers center at Tacoma Community College; plus $38.9 million for WSU’s Riverpoint biomedical and health sciences project and high-technology equipment; a new allocation for phase 3 of the University of Washington Bothell Campus.
• $27 million for other education projects including $21.6 million for skills centers – with $4.8 million for the Pierce County Skills Center, and $5.9 million for state heritage grants.
• $7 million – Tacoma/Puyallup River bridge replacement
• $5 million – Port of Tacoma/South lead rail
• $5 million – University of Washington – Tacoma, soil remediation and development for future project (total of two appropriations)
• $3.6 million – UW-Tacoma and WSU-Pierce for a clean water initiative
• $998,000 for TransAlta industrial park infrastructure near Centralia
• $4 million for Satsop wastewater improvements
• $487,000 – Centralia downtown rain garden revitalization project
• $1 million – Lake Sammamish State Park concession and facilities and $1 million for culverts projects in state parks
• $2 million – Replace water mains with asbestos in Gig Harbor
• $7.9 million – Olympia/LOTT Clean Water Alliance for a sedimentation-basin project
• $1.4 million – Capitol/Enterprise Services is given funds to continue exterior repairs on the stonework of the Capitol dome, including cleaning. –$3 million – Puget SoundCorps’ aquatic enhancements
• $1.5 million – Quixote Village homeless encampment in Olympia
• $4.5 million – Natural Resources Building roof replacement and exterior foam material repairs (total of two appropriations) in Olympia
• $750,000 – County courthouse repairs, including $150,000 earmarked for the Mason County Courthouse in Shelton
• $778,000 – To expand facilities for Safeplace in Olympia, which provides shelter to battered women and related services
• $75,000 – Town of Wilkeson for historic heritage project

Washington state lawmakers concluded what Gov. Christine Gregoire termed a “rollercoaster day” on Monday with no budget deal and dwindling hopes of reaching one before the current special session is scheduled to conclude at midnight tonight.

“I’m not giving up,” Gregoire said at a hastily arranged late-night press conference. “Even if you were to say, ‘Just one more day,’ everything goes back to square one. Every bill not headed to my desk goes back the original house and we start all over again. That is not healthy.”

Republican and Democratic leaders met with Gregoire for 11 hours in a marathon negotiating session on Monday, during which the governor says she introduced a whole new budget proposal at around 12:30 p.m.

Washington state lawmakers worked late into the night on Monday to reach a budget agreement, but the two sides are still far apart with one day remaining in the current special session.

“I put before them an entire package,” she said. “We’re working through every single aspect of it. If we come to an agreement in the morning, it will be on the entire package, from reform to revenue, from capital to operating — all of it.”

Gregoire said she could not disclose any details of the proposal, but she believes negotiations were productive.

As had been true since the end of the regular legislative session in March, the sticking point is a package of governmental reforms without which Senate Republicans and three moderate Democrats — amounting to a one-vote majority in the body — will not even agree to consider a budget.

Those reforms include changes to health insurance benefits for K-12 employees, ending the early retirment option for new state workers and a four-year balanced budget requirement.

The lawmakers will be back at work this morning, Gregoire said, and she remains hopeful and deal can still be hammered out. But there is a significant amount of work to be done in the final hours  since there must be an agreement on several remaining reform items as well as the budget — all of which must be passed concurrently by both the House and the Senate,

““Nobody will convince me to talk about a special session until I have to,” Gregoire said, “and that’s at 12:01 tomorrow night.”