House, Senate still working late into the night
As I type this post, the State House of Representatives and Senate are still busy working on bills. They've been on the floor all day and will undoubtedly remain on the floor until midnight at the earliest.
The Senate yesterday nodded off on the awful operating budget that the statehouse's Democratic leadership had agreed on, sans revenue package.
Ken Jacobsen was the only progressive senator to vote "no".
The Legislature did accomplish one laudable objective tonight: It approved a bill that will allow King County to more flexibly tackle its own revenue crisis.
Among the bill's provisions (this is from the bill report):
2SSB 5433 also allows some local transit agencies to seek for voter approval for additional revenue to expand service and reduce congestion in the form of a vehicle fee. The fee could not be more than twenty dollars. Agencies would have to specifically describe the improvements that would be funded by the fee.
It's interesting to note that the State Senate deadlocked on 2SSB 5433 because Senator Don Benton was excused (I'm guessing he probably would have voted no), allowing Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen to cast a tiebreaking vote in favor. The final vote was thus twenty five to twenty four.
Democratic senators voting against were Mary Margaret Haugen, Tracey Eide, Rosa Franklin, Steve Hobbs, Derek Kilmer, Claudia Kauffman, and Chris Marr. (As usual, we're not counting Tim Sheldon as real Democrat.) Republican Senator Dan Swecker crossed the aisle to join the other Democrats in voting yes.
The Senate yesterday nodded off on the awful operating budget that the statehouse's Democratic leadership had agreed on, sans revenue package.
Ken Jacobsen was the only progressive senator to vote "no".
The Legislature did accomplish one laudable objective tonight: It approved a bill that will allow King County to more flexibly tackle its own revenue crisis.
Among the bill's provisions (this is from the bill report):
King County is authorized to impose additional property tax at a rate not to exceed 7.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The first 1 cent is dedicated to expanding transit capacity along state route 520. The remainder of money is dedicated to transit oriented expenditures.This provision basically gives the King County Council the authority to raise more money for Metro, which is facing a revenue shortfall at a time when demand for transit is high. It'll go a long way towards staving off cuts.
2SSB 5433 also allows some local transit agencies to seek for voter approval for additional revenue to expand service and reduce congestion in the form of a vehicle fee. The fee could not be more than twenty dollars. Agencies would have to specifically describe the improvements that would be funded by the fee.
It's interesting to note that the State Senate deadlocked on 2SSB 5433 because Senator Don Benton was excused (I'm guessing he probably would have voted no), allowing Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen to cast a tiebreaking vote in favor. The final vote was thus twenty five to twenty four.
Democratic senators voting against were Mary Margaret Haugen, Tracey Eide, Rosa Franklin, Steve Hobbs, Derek Kilmer, Claudia Kauffman, and Chris Marr. (As usual, we're not counting Tim Sheldon as real Democrat.) Republican Senator Dan Swecker crossed the aisle to join the other Democrats in voting yes.
# Posted by Andrew : 10:23 PM
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