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Brad Shannon maintains this blog. He is political editor at The Olympian and can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.
Minority Republicans know the Senate Democrats have plenty of votes to rework the two-thirds vote requirement for tax increases that was part of Initaitive 960. So they are bringing a light touch to this morning's pending vote.
Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, stuck a five-dollar bill into an empty plastic cup, calling it the "Kool-Ade Fund," an offering to Democrats about the drink up party loyalty and vote for Senate Bill 6843.
"I'm just getting started," Swecker said.
Passage of the measure and a likely vote soon in the House will send it to the governor for signing. It opens the door for Democrats to then approve tax increases as they begin closing a budget gap now measuring $2.2 billion. Sen. Joe Zarelli, the top Republican on budget matters, said he has a few amendments ready for what will be a prolonged floor debate, it appears. "We want this to be a very informed debate," Zarelli said. "This does more than just reform the initiative.''
Zarelli called attention to bill details that, he said, redefine taxes as not needing supermajority votes in the future.
Democratic Sen. Tim Sheldon of Potlatch said he's voting against the bill. He said voters in his 35th district voted in favor of I-960, which passed in 2007. Sheldon said his recent constituent survey showed half of voters in his district favor an all-cuts approach to closing the budget gap.
Zarelli predicted the measure will pass by just 25 votes with Democrats protecting members not in the Seattle area.
Gov. Chris Gregoire said today she doesn’t believe industry warnings that a tax increase on toxic substances such as oil must lead to a boost in gas prices.
More than 30 House lawmakers have signed a letter circulated by Rep. Ross Hunter, asking that Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna not appeal last week’s King County court ruling on school funding.
That’s what Gov. Chris Gregoire said today in a meeting with reporters — collections were up 3.6 percent in December compared to the previous year, and higher than the 2 percent expected.
Gov. Chris Gregoire said today she has corresponded with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and asked for federal help in making it easier for local or community banks to obtain money for loans. But she did not seek help for any specific failing state banks.
Here is the third roll-call vote report for South Sound lawmakers, courtesy of WashingtonVotes.org. It was released today [Friday] and includes lawmakers from the 22nd, 20th, 35th, 2nd and 28th legislative districts (it doesn't have results from today's floor action):
Lewis County Democrats have informally endorsed Denny Heck in the 3rd Congressional District race, the first such vote by a county party in the district representing southwest Washington.
Students and faculty members from about five classrooms at The Evergreen State College plan to walk out of class Friday morning in protest of pending state budget cuts.
It isn’t yet clear who might challenge a King County judge’s ruling today that said Washington fails to fund its constitutional obligation to fund basic education.
The White House says President Obama is appointing Gov. Chris Gregoire and Vermont Gov. James Douglas as co-chairs of his Council of Governors, a group of 11 advisers on security and homeland security issues.