Article by Erik Smith. Published on Thursday, February 01, 2012 EST.

Three and a Half Weeks Into ‘Budget Session,’ Senate Passes First Major Bill – On Gay Marriage

A flier that made the rounds of the Senate Wednesday night appeared to capture the mood of the Rs as a month-long gay-marriage effort finally ended in a 28-21 vote. Right, Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, speaks on what Democrats were calling an historic night. 

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Feb. 2.—It was the darndest thing. In the minutes after the state Senate voted 28-21 Wednesday to legalize gay marriage, as Democrats were whooping and hugging one another on their side of the chamber and telling reporters what an historic night it was, if you dashed over to the Republican side to get a GOP reaction, what you found was –

            Nothing.

            They’d all gone home.

            Let’s just say there are plenty of folks at the statehouse who aren’t in a celebratory mood. It’s not that Republicans opposed the measure, though of course most of them did. It’s that they say the issue has been a top-flight distraction from what was supposed to be the central issue of the session, the state’s whopping budget shortfall – somewhere on the order of $1.5 billion.

            Three and a half weeks into this year’s legislative session, the gay-marriage bill, SB 6239, is the first major bill to pass the Senate. Only a handful of hearings have been held in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the panel that oversees the budget, and none of them have zeroed in on the big cuts that will be needed to bring spending back into line. Now Republicans are saying everything they warned about when the gay-marriage push began last month has come to pass. By focusing on a divisive social issue, they say majority Democrats have squandered the headstart they made on the session when lawmakers came to work a month early, on Nov. 28, and worked for 17 days.

            Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, had a grim look on his face as he met with reporters for a media availability Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the vote took place. “I am going to make one statement about the bill, and that is all I am going to talk about it,” he said. “I am happy to have this bill out of our way so that we can get to work and take care of business.”

            A flier that made the rounds on the Republican side of the aisle Wednesday night seemed to capture the mood. In big block letters at the top of the page, it asked, “Deficit?”

            And down below, a portrait of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman, with his trademark shrug: “What, me worry?”

            A Showstopping Debate

            The debate itself took an hour and a half, but the buildup had lasted the full 24 days since the Legislature convened Jan. 9. For lawmakers, it has been all gay marriage, all the time. The first few weeks of the session were spent counting votes, and a week ago, when Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, announced her support, it became clear that the measure would win approval in the Senate, where passage was most in doubt. But still every lawmaker spent days answering calls, letters and emails from back home, justifying his or her vote either way. In his speech on the Senate floor Wednesday night, state Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, said he had received three text messages from constituents just in the time he had been waiting to speak.

            Crowds filled the galleries of the Senate and seemingly everyone with a pass to get through the door was standing in the wings. The press table in the corner of the chamber was filled with more print reporters than have been seen at the Capitol since approximately 1990. Nervous TV reporters jostled for camera position – this time, for once, their statehouse stories would be picked up by the networks.

            And the speeches, when they finally came, were as eloquent as the Senate offers, both for and against, many tearful and heartfelt, obviously demonstrating weeks of reflection and rehearsal.

You can read about them here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

            Four Republicans voted yes with the Democrats, all of them from the swing districts of the King County suburbs – Andy Hill, Joe Fain, Steve Litzow and Cheryl Pflug.

            Three Democrats voted no with the Republicans – Jim Hargove, Paull Shinn, and Tim Sheldon.

            And when it was all over, Gov. Christine Gregoire, who had been watching from the wings, said, “I think this is an example of the best in the Washington state Senate. They did the right thing. They did it with respect. They did it with civility. I couldn’t be more proud of everyone in the Washington state Senate.”

            Now it all repeats in the state House. And then comes the inevitable referendum campaign to overturn the measure, placing it on the November ballot. “Obviously we celebrate tonight and get to work tomorrow,” said state Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, who is gay and has served a dual role this year, as the leading proponent of the measure in the Senate and the chairman of the budget committee. “There is a saying from an Irish patriot, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and in this case, if this community wants to maintain this liberty, we have a hard, hard referendum campaign ahead of us. Because I have no doubt the signatures will be gathered.”

            Remember the Budget?

            There is that niggling little problem, though, about the budget. Republicans are saying they hope the Legislature finds time for it.

            This year they aren’t complaining about all the backroom deals being made by the majority Democrats. They’re complaining that they haven’t even started. Hewitt said he was heartened, however, by the fact that the Senate met for a floor session Tuesday and managed to pass three gubernatorial appointments. “Three goobers,” he said. “I was just excited yesterday. That really helped the budget.”

            And the way things are going right now, Republicans say it looks as though the session will finish with a loud crash at the end. Democrats haven’t spent much time talking about major reforms to state government, but they will need Republican votes to pass a much-touted billion-dollar bond proposal. The revenue bonds will require a 60 percent vote of both houses. “I’ve made it very clear that if it does go it will be one of the last bills of the session,” Hewitt said. “If it takes 30 votes, it is part of the leverage we need.”

            It’s one way to get the other team’s attention, said state Rep. Charles Ross, R-Naches, the House Republican floor leader. “There has been a big absence of work on the most important issue before the people of the state of Washington,” he said.  


There wasn’t an empty seat in the Senate galleries.


Everyone with a floor pass found an excuse to watch from the wings.


The Senate press table hadn’t been this crowded since approximately 1990.


Gov. Christine Gregoire, right, awaits the start of debate with state Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma.


Republican leaders wonder if the Legislature will find time to deal with the budget. 

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