Washington Votes Forum

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...

Tuesday, February 9 is the cutoff for bills to move from fiscal committees in the House. The fiscal cutoff for Senate bills was last Friday. Here is a good report highlighting many of the bills that did not pass the cutoff in the Senate . Of course the caveat to all of this is that the Legislature can...

Today's Bill of the Day is HB 2872 , which would require the Legislature to take a 72-hour timeout before voting on the state's operating, capital and transportation budgets. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Alexander , is being heard by the House Ways & Means Committee today at 3:30 PM. Here...

Today the House passed EHB 2561 which would allow the state to seek bonds on more than $800 million for the purpose of providing energy efficiency in public buildings. EHB 2561, which was introduced by Rep. Dunshee , proposes to use the more than $800 million to create 38,000 jobs and to pay for itself...

This morning the Senate Health & Long-term Care Committee took the first step in banning bishpenol A (BPA), by passing SB 6248 . BPA is found in containers such as baby bottles and sport drink bottles. An article on the Washington News Wire points out that such action maybe ahead of the science ...

SB 6553 and HB 2915 are today's Bill of the Day. SB 6553 and HB 2915 would postpone when high school students must meet the high school mathematics and science standards as a graduation requirement. Is it is a good idea to reduce graduation standards in math and science?

Today's pick for Bill of the Day goes to SB 6466 , which would allow advertising on public school buses. Is it a good idea to allow this? Share your thoughts.

Rep. Bill Hinkle (R- Cle Elum) introduced HB 2656 today which would change the meeting schedule for the state legislature. As written, the bill would limit the legislature to meeting on a biennial schedule, as opposed to the current annual schedule that is currently used. Is this a good idea?

According to news reports from TVW's Capitol Record , the emails system serving the Legislature is currently down. If you are trying to get through to your elected officials your best bet may be to pick up the phone and call . The Record is reporting that, "The system died about an hour after...

How would you grade your local government's storm response? This past week the Mayor of Seattle gave his City a "B" for the way the Seattle responded to the first major winter storm of the year. Do you agree? What, if anything, could your local government have done better?