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Wednesday, February 28, 2007

One That Got Through. One That Didn’t

posted by on February 28 at 14:00 PM

Today is deadline day in Olympia—that is, all bills in policy committees (not ways and means, appropriations, or transportation) need to get out of committee today, or else they’re dead. Fiscal bills and transportation bills have until Monday, March 5.

The Democrats have successfully moved a lot of high-profile bills to the floor: Children’s health care, domestic partnerships, accurate sex ed, closing the gun-show loophole, and regulating condo conversions (although progressives are still trying to amend that one to cap the number of conversions). And they failed on some other fronts, like payday-loan interest-rate caps and environmental safeguards for South Seattle.

The crazy Sonics $300 millon subsidy is a fiscal bill and has until the 5th.

Two of my favorites had different fates today.

One bill I was smitten with early in the session, Representative Maralyn Chase’s (D-32, Shoreline, Lake Forest Park) cap-and-trade bill, has been effectively obliterated by Governor Christine “Strategic Plan for Future Action” Gregoire’s hot air about hot air. Perhaps I’m being too harsh—Gregoire has shown a serious attempt to tackle the problem of the day—but I’m disappointed that Chase’s effort to enact a specific solution pronto has been iced for now.

My other favorite bill, SeaTac Representative Dave Upthegrove’s (D-33) student press bill is very much alive, and already lined up for a second reading in the Rules Committee.

Representative Upthegrove’s bill would raise the hurdle that school admistrators must meet to justify censorship of high school and college papers. It would, as states are allowed to do, provide more protection for students than the federal guarantees contained in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1988 Hazelwood standard. Hazelwood holds that the adminstration simply has to find an educational purpose for censoring stories, including demonstrating that the article in question may disrupt the educational environment. Upthegrove’s bill pushes a tougher standard, the Tinker standard (from a 1969 Supreme Court ruling that was upended by Hazelwood) which gave student speech the same First Amendment guarantess that exist in the real world. It’s a sentimental fave of mine, and, as a story in today’s new Stranger shows, germane.

RSS icon Comments

1

Speaking of HB 2062 the Pork for NASCAR bill. if you look of donors that work for “International Speedway” in OpenSecrets.org you will find that the “French family” that runs NASCAR has given buttloads of cash to far right gay-hating politicians including.

Joe Lieberman, Sam Brownback, The Republican National Committee, Rick Santorum (Remember him!), Elizabeth Dole, John McCain, Kathleen Harris, George Bush and the list goes on and on.

Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com | February 28, 2007 2:37 PM
2

And when I was in Olympia with the Young Democrats on the 19th and 20th I pressed our legislators including my meeting with Frank Chopp to support the "Free Press for Students" bill.

Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com | February 28, 2007 2:56 PM
3

I think Jake and Will in Seattle should get together and talk about themselves some more. That'd be interesting. Really.

Posted by Willis | February 28, 2007 4:07 PM
4

Or Willis we could just keep our heads in presidential politics instead of getting involved in legislative issues that go on every year. I'll have to copy the page from Joe Trippi's book explaining his re-occurring fear about how progressives crash and burn in the corn fields of Iowa.

Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com | February 28, 2007 4:41 PM
5

Josh,

I don't know if Stranger convention is different from what I normally see, but for most legislators, it's (party-city they live). That would make Maralyn Chase (D-Edmonds). Not a big deal, and maybe The Stranger does things different (I think most of the district's population is South of the County line). Or maybe she moved, to two cities?

Posted by Carl Ballard | February 28, 2007 7:35 PM
6

Jake,

I'm pretty sure the only reference I've ever made on SLOG about presidential or national politics is that my name happens to link to the Washington for Obama site.

I barely pay attention to national politics, and probably know more about local politics than you do.

That said, and I'm saying this as a dyed-in-the-wool Deaniac, I'm not really going to listen to Trippi when it comes to anything related to Iowa - he's proven that he knows nothing about Iowa politics or how to win there.

Peace,

Posted by Willis | February 28, 2007 9:10 PM
7

STFU, Willis. You just wish you could win more often, but instead you whine about how it's impossible to do things.

Now, the election (3/18) was over last week - can't we all just get along?

Posted by Will in Seattle | March 1, 2007 8:54 AM
8

(golfclap), very mature Will. Well done.

Where have I whined about how it's impossible to do things? Seriously?

And, due to the special election nature of the 3/13 election, it's far from over. Your rebuild won't get 50%. I'm working to make sure of that.

Oh, and I'm all for getting along, but you and Jake have to be the most annoying self-aggrandizing "it's all about meeee" posters on this blog (and that's saying something).

Posted by Willis | March 1, 2007 9:24 AM
9

Well according to my pal Sara who worked at Campaign HQ in Burlington there would have never had been a Dean campaign with out Joe Trippi.
So Willis why don't you care about Olympia?

Posted by Jake of 8bitjoystick.com | March 1, 2007 10:33 AM
10

Where have I ever said I didn't care about Olympia? I've been down there lobbying this year. I know it's important - I just don't think that the NASCAR bill should be the number 1 priority for SLOG coverage. Thas'all folks.

And I am well aware of how important Trippi was in the campaign - I'm just not going to listen to him when it comes to Iowa politics - where he has proven that he knows next to nothing.

Posted by Willis | March 1, 2007 11:04 AM

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