5TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS

LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY: Updated March 16, 2010

King County Democrats Legislative Action Committee Update

End of Session Nears as Budgets are debated and voted on.

The Washington State Legislature is nearing the end of its current session.  Only 4 days remain until the end of the regular session at midnight on Thursday, March 11, 2010. The big question remaining is whether Legislators will be able to reconcile the House and Senate budgets with sufficient revenue from new sources while repealing questionable tax exemptions. In addition hard choices will have to be made in terms of which programs and services to cut.

Last year some $3 billion was cut from the budget and the shortfall this year is some $2.8 billion additional. If the House and Senate are not able to reach agreement on the budget, a special session will be called to extend the session.  This is not a good idea politically in an election year when the state is cutting so many services. Urge Legislators to complete their business on time.

Contact your Legislators with your ideas on raising revenue, cutting under performing tax exemptions and where you think savings might be in current programs and any cuts you might accept. There are hard choices to be made. Go to www.leg.wa.gov and e-mail your Legislators with your views. You can't complain about what they do if they don't hear from you. They are hearing plenty it seems from those that oppose any revenue increases.

WA Governor approves suspension of anti-tax law 

Feb 24, 2010 - Seattle Times

"A measure to temporarily suspend the tax-limiting constraints placed on lawmakers by a voter-approved initiative was signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday.

Gregoire signed the bill just days after the Legislature approved the measure. The measure takes effect immediately.

The bill spurred two weeks of heated debate in both the House and Senate. Initiative 960 makes it harder for lawmakers to raise taxes or to close tax exemptions, which is why the Democratic majority needed the suspension. ..."

The bill to suspend I-960 was a key component of passing this year's budget.  Thank you are needed to Governor Gregoire and State Legislators who voted to suspend I-960.

You can check out the vote by going to SB 6130

Wash. Senate passes $890 million tax package  

March 7, 2010 - from the Seattle Times

"After two days of contentious debate, the state Senate on Sunday approved an $890 million tax package that is centered on a temporary three-tenths-of-a-cent sales tax increase.

The main $804 million measure passed on a 25-23 vote, with six Democrats crossing the aisle to vote against it. A bill to add an extra $1-per-pack cigarette tax, bringing the state an extra $86 million, passed on a 29-19 vote. Once the House passes its proposed revenue plan, both chambers will go into final budget negotiations ...". Click on link above for full article.

Senate proposal: Add income tax on wealthy to cut sales tax for everyone , March 19, 2010 from the Seattle Times
 

"Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown wants to send voters an income-tax proposal that would hit the wealthy and give everyone a sales-tax break.

The fall ballot measure would put an income tax of 4.5 percent on income over $200,000 for individuals, $300,000 for heads of households, and $400,000 for married couples. It would not apply to corporations. The pot sweetener: Voters would get to bring the state sales tax down by a penny. A tax on high earners would "bring more fairness and stability to our sales-tax-dependent tax structure," Brown said on her blog Thursday."  Click on link above for full article.

Vote on special Tax exemptions every 2 years  by John Burbank, Economic Opportunity Institute, special to the Everett Herald March 3, 2010

Exemptions to Ax - Sins to Tax  $2.2 billion in new revenue to stimulate Washington's economy and remodel its tax structure; briefing paper by Economic Opportunities Institute; updated Feb 17, 2010

Creating Jobs and Boosting Our Economy - An Action Plan for Washington's 2010 Legislature by Marilyn Watkins, PhD, Economic Opportunity Institute

See also:

Washington State Budget and Policy Center

Rebuilding Our Economic Future

Safe Baby Bottle Bill passes House:

"The Safe Baby Bottle Bill took a major step toward becoming law today (March 3, 2010), as the House voted 96-1 to ban the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) from baby bottles, sippy cups and other food and beverage containers used by children under the age of three.

The ban on baby food and drink containers manufactured with BPA would take effect in July, 2011, and would be followed a year later by a ban on BPA-containing sports bottles, which are often used by pregnant women."  See full article at the link above for more details.

House passes bill to require recycling mercury containing lights

Rep "Hunt marshaled support in the House of Representatives yesterday (Tuesday, March 2, 2010) for legislation establishing a producer-financed product-stewardship program for collecting, recycling, and disposing mercury-containing fluorescent lights. The vote was 71-27. He said he hopes the Senate will go along with House amendments to the bill and send it on to the governor's desk.

Hunt, D-Olympia (22^nd Legislative District), said Senate Bill 5543 requires producers of mercury-containing fluorescent lights to participate in a product-stewardship program and fully implement the program by Jan. 1, 2013. The sale of bulk mercury would be prohibited by June 30, 2012. ..." See full article by clicking on above link.

Still Time to Enact SB 5912-Supreme Court Fair Elections 

Because the bill to publicly finance State Supreme Court races is a budget item, the bill is still alive but it needs support.  It's stuck in the Senate.  Urge your Senators to act now.  Then contact your House members. Go to WashClean for the latest information.