Beaver bill gets testimony from man named Neil Beaver

posted 05:22 PM 02/03
Permanent Link.

The only person to testify on a bill dealing with beaver relocation today was a man named Neil Beaver.

Beaver, a board member of the Lands Council in Spokane, testified that the bill would benefit watersheds in eastern Washington, and would help address beaver shortages.

The Council currently does beaver relocation work, which beaver says has been successful.

“What we’re doing is moving them from places where they cause damage, to places where they’ll be useful,” Beaver said after the hearing.

The bill passed out of the House General Government Appropriations and Oversight committee.

Comments

What's alive, what's dead

posted 11:36 AM 02/03

With nearly all of the policy committees finished with their work ahead of today's cutoff deadline, it's a good time to check in with a few of the proposals that we've written about over the past few weeks and how they fared.

House GOP lays out education budget

posted 05:01 PM 02/02

House Republicans laid out their “fund education first” proposal today, but its clarity and transparency came immediately into question. The plan, as proffered by four lawmakers led by Rep. Bruce Dammeier of Puyallup, would spend $580 million more than Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed for K-12 schools in her November budget.

Postscript on same sex marriage vote

posted 02:33 PM 02/02

The state Senate is moving on to budget matters today. And Washington’s same-sex marriage bill - approved 28-to-21 by the Senate last night – is moving to the House Judiciary Committee for an 8 a.m. hearing on Monday.

Brendan Williams running for Superior Court judge

posted 01:18 AM 02/03

Former state lawmaker and longtime Olympia Democratic activist Brendan Williams announced today he is running for Thurston County Superior Court.

UPDATE 2: Same-sex marriage passes, 28-21

posted 09:29 PM 02/01

UPDATE: The Senate has voted 28-to-21 to approve same-sex marriage, moving Washington closer to becoming the seventh state to extend that right. Democratic Sen. Brian Hatfield of Raymond and Republican Sens. Joe Fain of Auburn and Andy Hill of Bellevue also crossed over today to support the measure.

Senate: 26 votes for gay marriage, and counting

posted 07:21 PM 02/01

The state Senate has begun debating a bill that would make Washington the seventh state to legally recognize same-sex marriages, and conservative Democratic Sen. Brian Hatfield says he is the 26th vote. There may be two more Republicans also willing to vote with majority Democrats in favor of Senate Bill 6239 once the final vote is taken later this evening.

GOP says ‘schools first’ plan puts in $580 million more than governor's plan

posted 03:24 PM 02/01

House Republicans are going ahead without Democrats tomorrow on a stand-alone K-12 budget plan. The Republicans, who are still waiting for a vote on their “Fund Education First” bill proposal, plan a noon news conference [Thursday] to outline their stand-alone budget.

Court about to wrap up Stormans’ ‘Plan B’ case

posted 04:47 PM 01/31

A federal court judge is scheduled to hear closing arguments Wednesday morning in a pivotal Washington case that weighs the religious rights of pharmacists and a pharmacy owner against the legal duty to fill medical orders due.

UPDATE - ‘Fund education first’ bill finally gets hearing

posted 04:44 PM 01/31

House Republicans got a hearing this morning on an idea they’ve advocated for a few years: Making the Legislature lay out a budget for K-12 public schools and pass it before laying out other budgets.