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WACOPS Legislator of the Year
For some reason the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs has named me their “legislator of the year.” I’m always happy to be recognized for the work I do, and these guys are an important part of the fabric of our community. I’m receiving the award from Mike Pentony and Steve Lynch, two of Bellevue’s…
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The News Tribune covers Basic Ed plan
Peter Callaghan wrote about our tremendous hearing in the House yesterday. We had 120 people testify, of whom only 13 were opposed. The most amusing juxtaposition was when a panel of 4 superintendents delivered a letter from all 35 school district superintendents in the Puget Sound region endorsing the bill was followed by the director…
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Urban Legends – Emissions based on engine displacement
In 2006 a senator introduced a bill (SB 6900) that would have charged a vehicle registration fee every year based on the size of your engine and not on the use of the vehicle. The bill did not receive a hearing, did not come up for a vote, and never passed. It does not even…
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Basic Ed Finance Task Force does a press conference
The “Big Six” legislators did a press conference about releasing our bills into the wild. It was a bit of a stumbling performance – none of us do these things regularly, but it seemed interesting to the crowd that was in Olympia to attend the hearings. I hear they filled two rooms in the Senate…
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HB 1410 Introduced – Basic Ed Funding
Rep. Pat Sullivan (D-47), Rep. Skip Priest (R-30), Rep. Glenn Anderson (R-5) and I released HB 1410 today. We have 38 co-sponsors at this point. It’s scheduled for a hearing next week. The bill is a huge effort – 110 pages that completely re-write school funding formulas, teacher compensation plans, and almost everything else about…
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More Toxic Chemicals
In 2007 I passed a bill I had worked on for 3 years, banning a toxic flame retardant called PBDE in Washington. This year a group of legislators is working on a different compound – Bisphenol-A. It’s found in polycarbonates and other hard, clear plastics, and like PBDE, it damages the reproductive systems of human…
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Taxable Retail Sales
Cindi Holmstrom, the Director of the Department of Revenue, sent me this chart and the associated comments last week. It’s a sobering indicator of economic conditions. Taxable retail sales provide a strong indication of the economic conditions in the state of Washington. The chart below illustrates the decline in retail sales tax collection over the…
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Basic education funding task force releases final report to the Legislature
Ed system overhaul would include changes to teacher pay, additional class time  For immediate release – January 14, 2009 The task force that spent nearly two years reviewing Washington’s definition of “basic education†and the funding structure to support it has released its final recommendations for an overhaul of the state’s K-12 funding system.…
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Viaduct Proposal – Deep Bored Tunnel
Governor Gregoire announced a proposed solution to the viaduct problem today, and I think she’s got the best of a bad bunch. Click here for her press release. She proposes building a “deep-bored” tunnel under Seattle. I’ve tried to stay out of Seattle’s design decisions because that keeps their members from messing around in Eastside…
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Worth Reading
Michael Lewis (Liar’s Poker…) has a great op-ed in the New York Times this week about the total lack of adult supervision in the other Washington and the culture that makes getting along with Wall Street more important than actually regulating them. It’s awful to think that this kind of behavior is what has caused…