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The Green Sheet for March 2 – All Eyes on Owen

All attention at the Capitol will be focused on Lt. Gov. Brad Owen’s office Monday morning, anticipating his ruling on the transportation package that was barreling toward a vote Friday afternoon on the floor of the Senate, but got derailed at the last moment. Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, challenged whether the revenue package would qualify under the Senate’s two-thirds majority rule for “new” taxes the Majority Coalition Caucus adopted on the first day of session.

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, argued that it wouldn’t, because the package relies on revenue from an 11.7-cent increase in the state’s gas tax, bonding and fees. The Republicans opted to delay the vote, allowing Owen the weekend to mull it over.

It could be much ado about nothing, of course, if Owen rules a simple majority is needed to send the transportation package on to the House. If not, it would surely lead to some “buyer’s remorse” for the Republican Senators who put the two-thirds in place in the first place – as an attempt to block Gov. Jay Inslee’s push for taxing carbon emissions and capital gains. Leadership in the Senate has worked hard over the last week to whip the votes needed to get the transportation package on the cusp of passing, but a two-thirds requirement would mean having to get several more Democratic Senators to come on board.

QUOTES AND LINKS:

“A lot of shippers have slowed down their supply chain, and now they are going to have to ramp it back up,” Joey Stivala, an accounts manager for MacMillan-Piper, tells the Seattle Times’ Coral Garnick in explaining how shipping companies are trying to clear the backlog created by the West Coast ports slow down. A looming question over the slow down was how it might impact state tax coffers; the state’s chief economist, Steve Lerch, with the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, said during last month’s revenue forecast that it’s something to watch for in the latter half of 2015.

“We don’t want to stop providing public records requests,” Deb Merle of the Washington State School Directors Association testified on a bill that would allow government agencies to charge a fee based on the size of an electronic file requested under the state’s Public Records Act, according to the Herald’s Jerry Cornfield. “Serial requesters don’t come by very often, but when they do they cost a lot of money that doesn’t get into the classroom.”

The Spokesman-Review’s Jim Camden takes a look at voting trends from last fall’s election: “If you didn’t vote in last fall’s election – and let’s face it, most people didn’t – why not? And what would the state have to do to make you more likely to vote in the future? Based on a survey of Washington voters, those who did as well as those who didn’t, we can say that the answers for not casting a ballot are many and varied. But not particularly surprising.”

And the Associated Press’ Alan Fram looks at how GOP Senators in Congress would handle the U.S. Supreme Court invalidating the federal subsidies that make up “a pillar of President Obama’s health care law”: “In their column, the three senators acknowledge that if their side prevails in court, 6 million Americans could lose subsidies and many would no longer afford coverage. They call the case ‘an opportunity’ to reshape the law and say they ‘have a plan to protect these people and create a bridge away from’ the statute.”

WIRE FEATURES:

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Op-Ed: Biosimilar drugs require more transparent communication between patient and pharmacist

Guest op-ed: Rectifying surgical patient safety

BILLS TO WATCH:

SB 5735 & HB 1314: HB 1314 is Gov. Jay Inslee’s cap-and-trade proposal, being carried by Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, and has been holding in the Appropriations Committee since passing Fitzgibbon’s Environment Committee. Majority Leader Pat Sullivan said it wouldn’t move further in the legislative process until the waning weeks of the legislative session, as “necessary to implement the budget” legislation – if it moves forward at all. House Speaker Frank Chopp, in a rare session with reporters last week, was again noncommittal of his support for the bill.

SB 5735 is the legislation from Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, that would overhaul the state’s renewable energy mandate to target carbon emissions reduction. It passed the Senate Rules Committee last week and is now waiting to be brought up on the floor, which could happen as soon as this week.

HB 1541: Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, D-Seattle and chair of the House Education Committee, is sponsoring this bill on addressing the state’s “opportunity gap” in its public school system, and reduce drop-out rates. It carries a $71 million fiscal note, by the 2019-21 budget cycle, but passed out of the House Appropriations Committee Friday.

SB 5052: Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, bill on regulating the medical marijuana and merging it with the recreational market is up for a hearing in the House Health Care Committee on Thursday; the proposal passed the Senate last month.

SB 5944: Legislation from the Senate budget writer, Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond, that would institute a 10-year review new state programs, passed out of his Ways and Means Committee Friday. It now heads to Senate Rules.

HB 1745: Creates the Voting Rights Act, which would allow challenges to jurisdictions’ system of at-large voting to move to district-based elections. Introduced by Rep. Luis Moscoso, D-Mountlake Terrace, it’s now out of the House Rules Committee and is awaiting a floor vote.

CALENDAR ITEMS:

This week will be heavy on floor action as each chamber looks to move legislation before the house-of-origin cut off March 11. If Owen’s ruling comes Monday, as expected, the Senate would vote on the transportation package at that point.

Chopp said to look for votes on the House floor on increasing the minimum wage, implementing paid-sick leave, and legislation dealing with wage theft.

The committee agendas are light this week to accommodate the floor action, but Rep. Morris’ Technology and Economic Development Committee will be voting on re-instating tax incentives for high-technology research and development. The hearing is scheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday.


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