Death and Taxes

As the old quote from Benjamin Franklin goes, there are no certainties in this world except death and taxes. Our stories on dead bills and tax reform generated the most hits on this blog over the last 30 days, followed closely by a lighthearted story about Rep. Tina Orwall breaking the House roll call machine.

As the 2012 regular legislative session comes to an end, House Democrats would like to say a quick “thank you” to our readers. And a very special thank you to those who share our posts and tweets across your social networks. We hope this blog serves a valuable resource for residents across Washington to get real-time information on important issues from their elected representatives.

After the session dust settles, the HDC staff will be working behind the scenes making some tweaks to our blog. We have some ideas in mind, but we’d also like to hear from you. If you have any suggestions or things you’d like to see on our blog, you can tweet your thoughts to us at @WAHouseDems or submit your comments to hdc.media@leg.wa.gov.

Thank you again, and stay tuned to The Advance for the latest on the ongoing budget negotiations and other legislative news.

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

Rest in peace, good little bills

In case you missed it, a little drama unfolded last night on the Senate floor. While it may have made for some interesting television for procedural junkies like us, it also meant that a lot of bills didn’t get a vote ahead of the 5:00 PM opposite house cut-off for policy bills.

Among the causalities on the Senate’s floor calendar:

HB 2503: This measure would have given veterans and members of the National Guard priority registration when they sign up for college classes. The extra time to secure their classes would have given our veterans ample time to get that information back to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

HB 1217: The ‘Safe Streets’ bill would have given cities the option to set speed limits as low as 20 MPH on non-arterials. Cities can currently take this action, but not without a costly study on traffic and engineering.

HB 2717: Legislation to encourage colleges and universities to report efficiency measures they’ve taken. That information is later shared across our state’s higher education system, encouraging other institutions to take similar actions in order to reduce their bottom line.

HB 2372: A consumer protection bill to cap towing fees when your car is impounded on private property. Following widespread reports of price-gouging by predatory towing companies, this bill would have ensured that no Washingtonian is held hostage by recovery fees equal to a month’s rent.

These are just a few of the bills we are mourning over here in the HDC today.