The 2007 session finished up last week, right on time at 105 days. I’m pleased with much of what we were able to accomplish, especially for our schools. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about the outcome of specific bills.

EDUCATION

Hooray! This session we passed HJR 4204, which calls for amending the state constitution to allow 50% of the voters + 1 to pass school levies, rather than the current 60% supermajority. After voting for the simple majority each of my 13 years in the Senate, I was pleased to see us finally pass this bill. Because it's a constitutional amendment, it still has to be passed by the voters and will be on the November ballot.

I'm also excited about the passage of SB 5627, which will help us develop a new funding structure for basic education. I think this will help us create stable funding for our schools.

Pre-K through 12 funding

All told, we put about a billion dollars into enhanced funding for K-12 education—we’re “walking our talk” on the commitment to improving the state’s public schools.

In early learning and K-12 education, we:

• Fully fund I-728 for smaller class sizes ($140 million)
• Fully fund I-732 for better teacher pay ($379 million)
• Make significant investments in special education ($75.2 million)
• Fund full-day kindergarten ($51.2 million)
• Fund professional development for math and science teachers ($39.5 million)
• Expand the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program ($34.2 million)
• Boost funding for district transportation ($25 million)
• Eliminate the K-3 lunch co-pay ($3.3 million)
• Invest a record amount in K-12 construction ($880 million, capital)

WASL

While I believe it is important we hold our students to high standards, I really don’t think passing all portions of the WASL should be a requirement for obtaining a high school diploma. As a former teacher, I know that some kids don’t test well, and students learn in a variety of ways, which the WASL doesn’t necessarily demonstrate.

With this in mind, we’ve expanded the options for students who have trouble passing the WASL. SB 6023 delays the math and science requirement until 2013 to help schools revamp their approach to these subjects. Students who are unable to pass the math portion would still have to take additional math courses and/or complete an alternative assessment. Our bill also includes an appeals panel for kids who haven’t passed portion(s) of the WASL.

SB 6023 is still with the Governor for her consideration, so we don’t yet know what is going to happen with these proposed changes to the WASL. Governor Gregoire has until mid-May to act on the bill.

BUDGET

We were fortunate to have a budget with some breathing room this year, which allowed us to make significant investments in education and health care, and to set aside money for the future (including $165 million in a constitutional Rainy Day Fund, another amendment that will be decided on by the voters in November).

Some of the programs in the 32nd Legislative District receiving capital funding this year include the Shoreline YMCA, Shoreline Community College, Kruckeberg Botanical Garden, and Saint Edward State Park.

The budget was also very good for skills centers and for folks with developmental disabilities, which are two areas of particular interest to me.

ACTION IN THE COMMITTEE I CHAIR

As Chair of the Government Operations & Elections Committee, I was delighted to have the Domestic Partner Registry bill come through my committee. This bill will afford a few basic benefits that married heterosexual couples take for granted, including automatic hospital visitation, inheritance rights, and the right to make burial decisions. Heterosexual folks over age 62 are included because some retirees lose health, pension and Social Security benefits if they remarry, so they often don't. This bill will give those domestic partnerships a small measure of security as well. The registry will be handled by the Secretary of State.

We’ve also made an important election fix that will help every vote count. By passing SB 5408, we’re ensuring that a primary election ballot will be counted when a voter votes only for candidates of one political party in partisan races but doesn’t select a party on the ballot’s check-off box. According to the Secretary of Senate, approximately 9% of voters who cast consolidated ballots during the 2006 Primary Election failed to check a party box, which meant that their ballot was thrown out for the partisan races.

A fun bill we heard in our committee created a Poet Laureate Program through the Washington State Arts Commission. We now join 40 other states with similar programs to promote poetry.

ETC.

The vast majority of folks from our district who contacted me on the issue of public funding for a Sonics arena and/or NASCAR were definitely against spending taxpayer dollars on these facilities. I agree that we shouldn’t subsidize professional sports when we have so many other needs to meet.

Unfortunately, we didn’t pass a bill that would have stopped the spread of card rooms by allowing local siting by cities. I’m not sure this bill will be reintroduced next year, but in general it would have been very good for cities if it had passed.

I’ll check in again during this interim. Have a wonderful spring and summer. As always, feel free to contact me if you have questions about specific bills or issues.

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