This Wednesday is the last day to consider bills from the opposite house, but the real focus is state spending. Budget negotiations are shedding light on what’s in and what’s out this session. With the K-12 funding taking priority, legislators have very little wiggle room.

Transportation is slated for debate this week. The House has yet to vote on the Senate’s proposal to raise the gas tax as part of a multibillion-dollar transportation package. House Transportation Chair Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island) said the Senate’s package won’t get a floor vote until there is a negotiated agreement. The main sticking point for Democrats is a bill that would exempt all state highway projects from the state sales tax and redirect sales tax money from non-highway transportation projects away from the state general fund. Clibborn said that the Senate plan is scheduled for a vote out of her committee Tuesday night, and that she expects negotiations with the Republican-controlled Senate to begin the next day.

Speaking of taxes, the House passed two bills Friday to merge the state’s medical and recreational marijuana systems into one entity and  dramatically reduce the taxes on recreational marijuana. The merger bill is an altered version of one by Senator Ann Rivers (R-La Center) which the Senate passed earlier. The revised bill now goes back to the Senate, which is likely to shoot down the proposition, seeing as diverting marijuana taxes away from public health and into education is part of their budget proposal.

One thing that both sides seem to agree on is the need to stall the implementation of Initiative 1351, which reduces teacher-student ratios in public schools and adds about $2 billion in spending. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scratching their heads, wondering where on earth this money will come from. Both Democrats and Republicans want to find a way to weave I-1351 into the 2012 Washington Supreme Court ruling that requires improvements in teacher-student ratios in K-3, and put off Grades 4-12 in 2015-2017. The Senate Majority Coalition plans to send I-1351 back to the voters in November for a do-over, but faces opposition from the House.

Another federal court ruling is placing additional strain on budget considerations. Last week a federal judge ordered the state to speed up evaluations and treatment for mental illness in a separate case involving jail inmates. The House, Senate and Inslee all call for new wards at Western and Eastern state hospitals in the capital budget, but the House goes even further, calling for a new prison exclusively focused on mental health in Thurston County.

QUOTES:

“I’m encouraged that the bill is moving, but it’s in anemic form at this point,” said Representative Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) in response to HB 1390, which is stuck in the Senate. The bill would reform the rules for legal financial obligations, which many see as crippling burden that prevents exit from the criminal justice system.

Senator Andy Billig (D-Spokane), a sponsor of the Senate version of the Early Learning Act, described the bill as an “opportunity for the state to reap the rewards the return on investment we know come from high-quality early learning.”  Under House Bill 1491, childcare and preschool providers who accept state subsidies for low-income families would be required to participate in the state’s Early Achiever program, which is optional.

CALENDAR:

The Senate Transportation package (or some version of it) is expected to pass out of the House Transportation committee on Tuesday. The committee is scheduled for 6 PM.

SB 5735 may see executive session on Wednesday in the House Technology & Economic Development at 8:00 AM on Wednesday. Many see this bill as the only viable carbon reduction proposal left standing.

The House is scheduled for a public hearing on the capital budget on Friday at 8:00 AM.

Don’t miss this: The Libertarian Party has scheduled a Tax Day Protest on the north steps of the Capitol this Wednesday.

Reminder: the session is scheduled to end on April 26th.

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