Washington Votes Forum

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.

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...

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?

Governor Gregoire signed SB 6130 as adopted by the Legislature . There was some question as to whether the Governor would veto the 2-year repeal of the non-binding advisory votes. She said that she delayed the bill signing today to consider the requests to veto that section of the bill. As a result of...

Today, both the Senate and House of Representatives released their 2010 supplemental budget proposals. Each budget relies on both tax cuts and reduced spending. To see the details for each bill check out SB 6444 and HB 2824. As more details regarding these budget proposals become available we will post...