Washington Votes Forum

WashingtonVotes.org will provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of the 2012 Regular Session of the Washington State Legislature that convenes today, January 9th. This free website allows interested citizens, media, activists, government affairs professionals and policymakers to track the issues they care about...

Is Special Session about to end? This morning there are several news reports citing several possible deals to bring this year's legislative action to a close. Here is a blog post by Brad Shannon of The Olympian that provides a good overview on the various sticking points: Lawmakers return; Gregoire...

As the 2011 Legislature continues to slog through the closing days of the first special session, some are asking what's next. Here is an Associated Press article highlighting the possibility of a government shutdown: WA preps for July shutdown as budget talks stall

Update: Be sure to follow @WaVotes or @OlympiaWatch on Twitter for ongoing budget discussion and updates. -- Later today the House will make available the details of its proposed operating budget, HB 1087 . The budget will not be released to the public until after 1:30 PM, only two hours before the scheduled...

Budget time? More rumors abound that first year House Budget Chair, Rep. Ross Hunter , is poised to release an operating budget as early as this coming Monday. Here is a good blog entry from AWB were Rep. Hunter and Senate Budget Chair Ed Murray discuss the ongoing budget discussion.

Today is the day that lawmakers, at least those with the budget pens, have been waiting for. The state will release the latest revenue forecast, which many expect will add to the current budget deficit. Here is an excellent blog post that discusses what options lawmakers have to deal with the growing...

Is Senate Majority Leader, Lisa Brown , looking towards a Special Session and raising taxes? On TVW's Inside Olympia , with Austin Jenkins, Sen. Brown talked about the possibilities of needing a Special Session to solve the state's widening budget gap. Jenkins also asked the Senator if the Legislature...

Are there additional savings available? Today the House and Senate approved HB 1086 , reducing the total state deficit by nearly $368 million. The Governor just vetoed various sections, adding about $6.4 million back to the deficit. The state is still looking at a current fiscal year deficit of more...

Is a timeout to read bills a good idea or will this just slow the legislative process? Introduced today, SB 5419 would require mandatory waiting periods on certain bills before legislative action can be taken. SB 5419, which was introduced by Sen. Becker , would provide a twenty-four hour timeout on...

Today, the House is expected to vote on HB 1086 , the supplemental budget for the 2009-11 biennium. Lawmakers are considering additional cuts that would help close the state's current budget deficit. Several amendments will be debated on the floor prior to final passage. Where would you cut to help...

Should the state be required to have a true balanced and sustainable budget? HB 1426 , introduced by Rep. Wilcox, would limit the legislature's ability to appropriate funds. The bill would not allow appropriations to exceed the projected revenues in a given fiscal period. HB 1471 , introduced by...

Lawmakers in Olympia are considering a constitutional amendment that would require a three-fifths vote in both the House and Senate to increase taxes. Is this a good idea? Since 1993, voters have approved initiatives, three separate times, requiring a two-thirds vote increase taxes only to have lawmakers...

Next Monday, January 10th, will mark the beginning of the 2011 Legislative Session. Already there is a lot of talk about what themes might emerge this year. Here is an interesting Q&A with AP writers and Legislative Leaders, courtesy of TVW's Capitol Record. So what theme do you hope emerges...

Lawmakers in Olympia have agreed to hold a Special Session beginning at 9:00 AM on Saturday, December 11, 2010. The Special Session is being held to help close a current budget shortfall of approximately $1.1 billion. The Olympian provides an excellent summary on the budget cuts expected during the anticipated...

According to the latest revenue forecast for Washington, revenues or tax collections for the state are down. This means the state's budget shortfall has ballooned to $5.7 billion. At this point Governor Gregoire can either make additional across-the-board cuts, which would total nearly 11%, to state...