Welcome Seattle PostGlobe

They're baaaack.

Some of them, at least. A group of now-former Seattle P-I columnists and reporters have launched a new news site, Seattle PostGlobe.

With all the chatter about the struggling media industry and our own observations about what it all means, we're happy to see these folks forging ahead. Congratulations to the PostGlobe "staff" (who happen to be doing this on a volunteer basis for now) and best of luck. You're on our press lists!

P.S. We'd be remiss to not point out their blog featuring a short story about Rep. Hunter's House Bill 1498 which strengthens gun-safety legislation for people with mental illness.

House adjorned at 1:15 this morning; due back in at 10:00

After more than three hours of debate that stretched into the wee hours of this morning, the House passed important legislation that sets guidelines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our state (SB 5735). About 20 amendments were offered and the discussion was very heated at times. But ultimately the bill was approved and sent back to the Senate for their consideration of House amendments.

There will be more excitement on the floor today as we debate measures to extend additional rights and responsibilities to registered domestic partners in our state and elect the President of the United States by popular vote.

Stay tuned!

Another victory for Spokane's Fred Watley...

Gov. Gregoire yesterday signed Rep. John Driscoll's bill to ensure that when an employer changes insurance companies, their employees aren’t subjected to organ transplant waiting periods.

This isn't a hypothetical situation. The employee in question was Fred Watley of Spokane, and when the time came for his liver transplant, his new insurance company said no.

“Most people would assume that their coverage isn’t drastically changed when their employer switches insurance companies,” said Driscoll, D-Spokane. “Unfortunately Fred found one area that really is affected, but with his help we’re going to make sure it never happens again.”

Fred, with the help of his wife LiAnne, helped their insurance company realize that the waiting period shouldn't apply to them. Victorious, they weren't going to settle with just saving his life. When he got on his feet again, they set out to prevent others from running into the same life-threatening problem.

More about their story can be found here: Spokane family testifies for organ transplant coverage fix

House floor at ease this morning for committee

There is no floor action planned in the House this morning so that the Ways and Means committee can hear a long list of bills that are considered necessary to impement the budget (what you commonly hear people on the hill refer to as "NTIB"). These are bills that change laws or statutes specifically called out in the next biennial operating budget.

Speaking of the budget, we hope to see a negotiated final version later this week as we roll on to Sine Die on April 26.

Floor action will resume this afternoon at 1:30 pm, and we imagine it will probably be a very late night.

Good times!

Just another manic Monday

With only two weeks until sine die, manic will likely become a descriptor you can add to every day henceforth.
Floor action is scheduled to start at 10 this morning. There is certainly no shortage of bills up for a vote, but no word yet on how late we might go today. We'll keep you posted.

How does the UI bill story end?

The debate on the unemployment insurance bill started last night and just ended today at 4 p.m. The final verdict? Lawmakers in the state House voted to provide employers a tax break worth hundreds of millions, while offering a modest increase and better protections for unemployed workers.

Washington is the first and only state in the nation to reduce unemployment insurance rates for employers. Many other states are facing bankrupt UI trust funds brought on by skyrocketing unemployment, forcing them into tax increases for employers to sustain their benefit levels.

The bill was prompted by a non-conformity issue with federal law, which could have led to higher tax rates for businesses. This bill as passed by the House:

• Uses the ample funds in the UI trust fund to mitigate the cost of federal conformity - a $452 million price tag – so employers are not forced to pay that cost.
  

• Provides a permanent tax break for businesses in the form of lower tax rates. Over the next six years, businesses will see their tax rate decrease, saving them an estimated $224 million.

• Includes a modest increase to the weekly benefit amount given to unemployed workers in Washington, and authorizes greater discretion to the commissioner of the state Employment Security Department to grant benefits in situations when a worker voluntarily quits.

You can read the full story here.

Now on the floor - the transportation budget.

The UI saga, to be continued today

As predicted, yesterday was a long day. Anyone watching the action on TVW saw lots of starts and stops as lawmakers went to the floor, ran a couple bills then returned to caucus.
Lawmakers adjourned at 12:30 this morning after starting, (and then rather abruptly ending) debate on the contentious unemployment insurance bill. (The Seattle Times has a short write-up of the bill, though it has morphed a bit as it's moved through the House and continues to change even now as amendments are added and removed then added back... oh, democracy.)
It's expected that the UI debate will continue today. It's also possible that we'll take up the House Transportation Budget on the floor, another lively debate to look forward to.

Lawmakers are scheduled to be back on the floor at 10 and it's uncertain just how late we'll go today.