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...

What do you think of a Special Session? It's official, the Governor and lawmakers have agreed to the terms that will allow the legislature the extra time they need to finalize the state's budgets. Lawmakers failed to finish their work on time during the 105-day long regular session. The Governor...

As the final days of the 2011 Regular Session slip away, the House and Senate have yet to agree to a budget deal. This means lawmakers will have to come back to Olympia in for an unscheduled Special Session. During a Special Session should lawmakers only focus on the budget, or should all policies be...

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.

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...

Should the state continue to expand the use of tolls on area roads? EHB 1382 , which passed the House by a vote of 52 to 46 , directs the Department of Transportation to develop and operate express toll lanes on Interstate 405. The tolls would be between the city of Bellevue at 6th Street on the South...

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...

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...

On Friday the Governor will sign SB 6143, which raises taxes on beer, candy and gum, as well as increases business taxes for many small businesses accross the state. The bill signing is scheduled for 1:30 PM in the Governor's conference room. Earlier in the week the Governor's office had said...

As the second week of Special Session approaches an end, lawmakers in Olympia appear to have made no real progress in their negotiations on how to raise taxes, feeling the massive budget deficit. Several leaders in the Legislature are now wondering if it would be best to send lawmakers home until a compromise...

The first action of the Special Session, which begins today in Olympia, was a vote by the Senate to modify transparency rules. The rule change by the Senate would allow for immediate floor action on bills after they pass a committee. Here is a good blog post describing today's action: Senate adopts...

Special Session will begin on Monday, March 15, 2010. Legislators failed to finish their work in the provided 60-day session and will use the additional time to pass a budget and increase taxes. What are your thoughts on this?

The Seattle Times is reporting this morning that lawmakers in Olympia have determined that a special session will be needed to finish the supplemental budget and tax packages. Do you think that lawmakers should have more time?

The state income tax bill scheduled for public hearing today at 4:30. SB 6250, which would create a graduated income tax, has been scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee today at 4:30. It is our understanding the an amendment will be offered, but it is not yet available...