The Official Blog of Senate Democrats

Early cuts, partial I-960 suspension approved

2/9/2010

The Senate today approved a trio of budget limiting bills and another to temporarily suspend the two-thirds voting requirement for new taxes under Initiative 960.

House Bill 2998 was approved 48-0. It comes after a Department of Personnel report indicated some 900 state employees were awarded cash and non-cash awards last year at a cost of $1.9 million. It now heads to the House. More...

Senate approves flood insurance bill 30-18

2/9/2010

The Senate just approved a bill designed to create a joint underwriting association to act as a temporary insurer of last resort that could help provide flood insurance for businesses in the Green River Valley.

Senate Bill 6240 just passed 30-18 and now heads to the House. A press conference to discuss the bill has been scheduled for 12:15 in Senate Hearing Room 4. More...

Ways & Means votes out I-960 suspension bill

2/8/2010

The Senate Ways and Means Committee has just convened for a lengthy afternoon meeting. On the agenda are 27 bills for hearing and 19 bills are scheduled to be voted on.

We'll update this post as bills of note are voted out. Most notably, Senate Bill 6843 to suspend Initiative 960 for a year is scheduled to be taken up. You can find our coverage of last week's hearing on the bill here. More...

Recapping Week 4, looking ahead to Week 5

2/8/2010

It's Week 5 and as of close of business on Tuesday we'll be half-way through this year's 60-day session. That's the good news. The bad news is the second half is going to be longer than the first half.

Or at least the hours will be as the action begins to shift from committee rooms to the Senate floor. More...

Kilmer challenges college students at rally

2/5/2010

Sen. Derek Kilmer, a Gig Harbor Democrat and chairman of the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee, spoke to as many as 400 students attending a higher education rally this afternoon.

In his remarks he challenged students to press legislators during their visit to adequately fund financial aid programs. You can check out the speech below. More...

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