Roundup of bills in the 2008 legislative session

By Joseph Turner and Niki Sullivan | The News Tribune • Published March 15, 2008

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The Legislature passed 335 bills during the 60-day session that ended Thursday.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has until April 5 to sign, veto or partially veto the bills. She already has signed several, including laws to expand rights of domestic partners, to deal with climate change and to give a tax break to Russell Investments if the company builds its new headquarters in downtown Tacoma or another of the states community empowerment zones.

"We did a whole lot this session, and I'm proud of that," House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, told reporters Friday in a post-session news conference.

Gregoire has scheduled a bill-signing ceremony for Monday afternoon, and more ceremonies will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

Here are some highlights:

Education

•Teacher pay raise: Public school employees and some community college workers get a 4.4 percent raise in the 2008-09 school year. That's an increase of 0.5 percent above the voter-approved law guaranteeing cost-of-living raises. In the budget.

•UW Tacoma: The Tacoma campus gets $3 million to buy land and clean up contaminated soil on properties they've already purchased. In the budget.

•Kindergarten: All-day kindergarten will be offered at 20 percent of the poorest public schools by the end of the 2008-09 school year, doubling the 10 percent that got it this year. In the budget.

•UW Everett: House Bill 2548 would authorize the University of Washington to open a branch campus in Everett. Died in a House committee. The debate between locations in Everett and Lake Stevens will continue.

•College for inmates: Senate Bill 6790 would provide some state-paid college classes for Washington prison inmates. Passed by the Senate; died in the House.

•WASL, part 1: HB 3166 would allow end-of-course assessments in place of the math portion of the WASL test, beginning in 2014. Awaiting the governor's signature.

•WASL, part 2: Lawmakers earmarked $15 million to cover increased costs of administering the WASL, but save money by making it shorter and reducing the number of open-ended questions. In the budget.