Big strides vs. baby steps: Parties put their spin on session

It's over. The Legislature adjourned its 60-day session Thursday night, with Democrats and Republicans trading barbs about how much the majority Democrats spent in supplemental budgets — and in the previous three years.

"The big gloom and doom will be here next year when we get here," Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla said after the Senate approved the $306 million supplemental budget on a party-line vote.

"We were disciplined. We were prudent. We were frugal," countered Senate Ways and Means Committee chairwoman Margarita Prentice, D-Renton.

Prentice painted the picture of a still-healthy state economy, citing a 4.5 percent jobless rate, and insisted that $836 million in reserves is plenty, despite staff predictions that a $2.4 billion shortfall awaits lawmakers in January if the economy does not accelerate.

Only Democratic Sen. Tim Sheldon of Mason County crossed party lines; in the House, only Republican Rep. Tom Campbell of Roy crossed over.

The House let a measure die that would have raised training standards for home care workers. The Service Employees International Union 775 NW had threatened a citizen initiative if a stronger version of the measure was not passed, but top Democrats — Gov. Chris Gregoire, House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown — were unable to muster enough support.

Ending the session at 7:39 p.m., the Senate let die a resolution to Congress that called for a halt to the Air Force contract for refueling tankers that went to Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. instead of The Boeing Co. The House had passed it nearly unanimously a week before.

Flood control

But the operations and capital budgets, which include financing for flood-control projects along the Chehalis River, were the centerpieces of a session that lacked landmark pieces of legislation.

An exception was a major expansion of rights for same-sex couples on the state's year-old domestic partnership registry.

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.

Rep. Bill Eickmeyer, D-Belfair, also is stepping down. He called the final budget a crapshoot, but one worth supporting.

"No matter what the level of the budget we pass here today, the economy will determine whether it was a good decision or a bad decision," he said.

Other bills

Here are a few other highlights:

• A major expansion of the rights given to registered couples on the state's domestic partnership registry designed mainly for same-sex couples.

• The cluster of bills that created a framework for reducing greenhouse gases, promoted training for "green" industry jobs, and potentially reduce vehicle use in future years.

• Tolling authority for the state Route 520 replacement bridge and financing for the project. Environmentalists say the tolling policy sets the stage for incentives that could reduce vehicle travel in favor of mass transit.

• Anti-gang legislation that was watered down, but increases penalties and provides anti-gang grants.

• Bills dealing with homeowner security — including controls on mortgage brokers, education and assistance for homeowners facing foreclosure, and small property-tax eligibility changes that help disabled military veterans.

• An expanded list of sex offenses requiring the offenders' DNA samples to be put on file.

• Health care reforms that included new authority for the insurance commissioner to reject high premium increases, and a small subsidy of premiums for some employees of small companies.

Other bills important to Democrats included an earned income tax credit that would match 5 percent of what qualifying low-income workers receive on their federal income-tax returns.

But the payments won't happen for another year or two, depending on cash available to the state.

Republicans said that policy without certainty is part of a major Democratic "punting" of tough decisions on the budget and other issues until after the November elections.

"It's a forward-looking budget: A budget only looking forward to the November election," Republican Sen. Mark Schoesler of Ritzville complained on the Senate floor.