Friday night was incredible! As the Legislature in Washington State was winding down its last few days of session, it looked like Republicans and Democrats were stalemated. The Democrats in majority in the House and Senate had finally released their budgets, but passing a responsible budget seemed out of reach. The special session late last year failed to fix the

[This story originally attributed the email below to a Democratic legislator. Since publication, we learned the true source of the text and printed a correction in addition to making the appropriate changes to this article.] In the midst of Friday night’s dramatic action on the State Senate floor, at least one liberal blogger in Seattle was openly calling for the

Today’s historic actions on the Senate floor would not be occurring if lawmakers had been living under the recommendations we’ve made to improve legislative transparency. They include: Require 72-hour public notification before any bill could receive a public hearing; Prohibit title only bills (no public hearing or vote should occur on a “ghost bill”); and Prohibit votes on final passage

Between 2004 and 2010, financial payouts in civil lawsuits cost the State of Washington $399 million, including $76 million last year. Some recent news reports and opinion pieces in various newspapers around the state have suggested that Attorney General Rob McKenna is responsible for these runaway legal costs, implying the AG had not done enough to manage risk. It’s my

All you need to know about today’s Senate Democrat budget was the statement by Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown acknowledging that the underlining structural problem in the budget is not addressed by their budget proposal. This means that if adopted, lawmakers and citizens will have the privilege of going through the budget deficit song and dance yet again for the

The prospects of avoiding a 2012 Special Session to balance the budget will likely hinge on the Senate’s appetite for budget gimmicks or the House’s willingness to back down from its proposal to kick $405 million of K-12 school payments down the road into the next budget. Unlike their Republican counterpart’s budget proposal, House Democrats today released a plan that

Budget writers for the House Republicans released the first legislative budget proposal of the 2012 Session today (Day 40). Though a copy of the actual budget bill is not available yet here are some of the details according to a GOP release: “Our $1.6 billion budget solution includes: $63 million in fund transfers $160 million in unspent agency funds (known

For the first time since lawmakers adjourned the “budget balancing” special session last December without actually balancing the budget, there is a glimmer of hope that they’ll be able to get the job done during the remaining 21 days of the 2012 Regular Session. This new found optimism is due to the news this week that the state caseload forecast

While not on the order of the love note Washington State Democrats delivered Monday to liberal activists, Republicans in Olympia today are taking credit for a gift of deceptive importance to the objective of righting the state’s fiscal ship. House Bill 2607—a proposal spearheaded by House Republicans that would require the Office of Financial Management to publish a six-year budget

Judging only by the slate of legislation allowed to reach the statehouse floor in Olympia, a casual observer might assume that Washington State is in its best times, basking in a heyday of economic prosperity and fiscal bliss in which precious legislative time can be spent guilt-free to pursue purely social objectives. Democrat-sponsored legislation to make Washington the seventh U.S.

Does the Legislature really want to hear from citizens on changes to the landmark public records act voters adopted in 1972? Based on the treatment of SB 6576 (Allowing school districts to charge for the reasonable costs of responding to public records requests) one is left to wonder. Not only was SB 6576 directly referred to the Senate Ways and

Neither ice nor snow could slow down efforts to improve agency efficiency today as the House State Government Committee adopted by a vote of 11-0 an amended version of HB 2173: Maximizing the use of lean strategies in state government. Here is a memo describing the changes from the original bill: “Description of the original bill An intent is stated

A trio of Democrats in the Washington State Legislature have introduced a bill that appears to be designed to strip Costco of the legal right to sell liquor under voter-approved Initiative 1183 when the new state law privatizing liquor sales and distribution is fully implemented in early summer of this year. On Thursday, State Reps. Sam Hunt (D-22), Sherry Appleton

After watching the Legislature play the “Grinch that Stole the Balanced Budget” earlier this week it was encouraging to open an early Christmas present offered by the Governor today. At a press conference this morning in Olympia Governor Gregoire unveiled several reform initiatives. Among them: An Executive Order requiring all executive agencies to use LEAN management principles; Pursing a Request

It’s true that it takes time to make thoughtful decisions on reducing a $32 billion state budget. It’s also true that lawmakers have known since this summer that the Governor would be calling a special session to balance the budget. Yet despite knowing what is required, the sense of urgency on display in Olympia right now is wanting, to say

Olympia can breathe a sigh of relief, our friends at the Washington Federation of State Employees have this $2 billion budget deficit thing all figured out. A friend forwarded an email where they outlined a plan that they and a few other groups had come up with. In order to stand with the 99% and stick it to that evil,

On the news that Gov. Christine Gregoire is finally calling the State Legislature back into session to tackle budget woes in the form of a $1.5 billion deficit, Republican candidate for governor Rob McKenna issued a statement, praising the incumbent Governor for taking action and suggesting that a quick and bipartisan process is what Washington needs: “No one can be

There is universal expectation that after next Thursday’s state revenue forecast lawmakers will need to make substantial reductions to the 2011-13 budget adopted earlier this year. The Speaker of the House and the Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee have already stated their desire to consider tax increases next year. According to Publicola: “On KUOW’s ‘The Conversation’ yesterday,