Ross Hunter

Month: March 2009

  • Updates to Basic Ed Financing

    The Senate released their budget yesterday. The House releases its today. I’ll opine later on the differences. Both are mostly no-new-revenue budgets. The Senate packages up closing some tax loopholes. The House comes out later this morning so I can’t comment on it now. Both bodies have passed a version of the Basic Education Finance…

  • Pages – A great experience for young people

    Pages – A great experience for young people

    I’ve had a number of excellent young people serve the Legislature this year as a page. If you’re between the ages of 14 and 16 you can serve as a page for a week. It’s a valuable experience for the young person and they do invaluable work while they’re here.

  • Tolling 520

    One of the issues that must be resolved this year is a plan to generate enough money to pay for the SR 520 bridge replacement project. There is no way to do this without tolling the 520 bridge. I am unhappy about this, but it is a reality we must deal with. It’s a complex…

  • Differences between the House and Senate versions of Ed Finance Reform

    The House and Seante passed VERY different versions of the reform legislation. Below is a staff summary of the differences in language that’s reasonably easy to understand, though still somewhat “inside baseball.” The Spokesman-Review in Spokane captures it in language that makes more sense to the casual reader when they say What’s emerged in the…

  • Town Hall Meeting – Sat March 14

    Rep. Eddy, Sen. Tom and I will host our second town hall meeting of 2009 tomorrow, Sat March 14th from 10:00 Am to Noon. Our focus will be Education, though we will take questions on other issues. Chinook Middle School 2001 98th Ave NE Bellevue, WA Click here for a map and directions

  • House Approves Ed Finance Bill

    Last night the House approved the current incarnation of our ed finance reform bill – HB 2261. I’m including links to some summaries of the bill, including the AP story from the Seattle PI site (out of nostalgia). It’s depressing that Curt Woodward was the only reporter physically present on the floor when we passed…

  • WSDOT Awards SR 520 Widening Contract in Redmond!

    Here’s a press release from WSDOT on the 520 project in Redmond. This is a great thing, as is the inclusion of the 36th street bridge over 520 in Redmond, adding another crossing and exit off the freeway, further reducing traffic congestion in Redmond. REDMOND — Relief is in sight for commuters stuck in daily…

  • Important Bills

    The Legislature is a cyclical activity. We go through a phase where everyone creates proposed new laws and files them. This is call “dropping” bills, because you drop the signed pieces of paper into a basket called the “hopper.” The bills are heard in committee, and the ones that are not patently ridiculous are passed…