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Session winners
• K-12 teachers and employees — 4.4 percent pay raises.
• Same-sex couples — gaining 170 legal rights in domestic-partner registry.
• Environment — climate change legislation, Growth Management Act links to global warming, green-collar jobs grants.
• Health care reformers — new rate-setting authority for insurance commissioner, hospital errors disclosure, discipline system reforms for health care professionals, major insurance reforms set up for consideration in 2009-10; small subsidy of small- business employees authorized.
• Gov. Chris Gregoire — passed top legislative priorities, kept $836 million in bank.
• Dino Rossi — Democrats' budget leaves $2.4 billion shortfall in 2009 as gubernatorial campaign issue.
• Government disclosure — searchable budget database passed.
• Consumers — privacy of wireless phone numbers, new restrictions on heavy metals in toys.
• Seniors — a new statewide falls-prevention program, and additional funding for dental care.
• Foster care — new funding for more social worker visits, education screening and sibling contact, plus a pilot program of a new class of foster parents.
• Homeowners — foreclosure reforms including consumer education, broker accountability and help to build low-income housing.
• Builders — avoided home warranty against construction defects and contractor licensing requirements.
• Low-income taxpayers — working family tax credit approved, but no benefits for at least another year.
• Housing — $70 million budgeted for Housing Trust Fund and $10 million for other low-income housing aid.
Session losers
• Property tax relief — only minor adjustments passed, including changes to eligibility for disabled veterans.
• Paid family leave — lawmakers pay for a computer system, but no funding source is identified for benefits next year.
• Sex offenders — DNA bill expands list of crimes requiring biological samples.
• Government disclosure — bill to tape executive sessions died.
• Homeowners — warranty against builder defects died; so did contractor licensing proposals.
• Doctors — bill preventing pharmaceutical companies from collecting their prescribing data for marketing purposes died.
• Seattle SuperSonics — no state money spent to keep the NBA team in the state, despite a last-minute push.
• Health Care Authority — the state agency sees its major computer project canceled to save money, after $7 million already had been spent.
• The House — 10 members of the 98-seat chamber say they will not run for their office again.
The Olympian
Big strides vs. baby steps: Parties put their spin on session
By Brad Shannon And Adam Wilson | The Olympian
Lawmakers did pay attention to emergencies, earmarking $50 million as the state's share of a major Army Corps of Engineers project along the Chehalis River. Because of changes to the financing bill, $2.5 million comes available for a river basin study to improve food control from the Chehalis headwaters to its mouth near Aberdeen.
House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt of Chehalis said that while he was grateful to see funding for the flood- control work, the Legislature's overall activity didn't amount to much progress.
The House and Senate each passed about 290 bills, according to the Legislative Information Center.
"Much ado about nothing," DeBolt said.
But other lawmakers insisted they had made significant strides.
Gregoire touted the session's work for its budget surplus and for bills dealing with "economic and housing security, patient safety, community safety and disaster relief."
"We made substantial progress on the most-important issues for families in our state. And much of our success was achieved with bipartisan success," Gregoire said.
Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, said many actions on health care added up to significant progress. Those included accountability for health care professionals, authority for the insurance commissioner to limit rate increases and setting up a work group to study sweeping reforms in the future.
Sen. Craig Pridemore, D- Vancouver, touted the climate-change bill signed by Gregoire on Thursday.
"We laid out an ambitious set of emissions reduction goals last year with Senate Bill 6001, and we're taking key steps this year to begin meeting those goals," Pridemore said in a statement. "It's a work in progress and will continue to be each and every year, but it's an extremely worthy one."
Saying goodbye
Thursday also meant the end of some legislators' careers, including 10 in the House who do not plan to run for their seats again. Among them was the senior member of the Legislature, 36-year veteran Democratic Rep. Helen Sommers of Seattle.
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