The House just voted 94-0 on a bill that would save paper and $43,000. House Bill 1058 isn’t a big bill — it allows the code reviser to save paper by deleting captions, subheadings and tables of contents from code (also known as RCW, or state law) when removing those sections will not affect code.

What’s the point: Saving paper. The fiscal note estimates a savings of $43,000.

It’s one of the ways I’ve noticed that the Legislature is trying to cut down on the tons of paper it takes to make a law. From the initial draft (Rep. Jaime Pedersen noted that the original draft of the domestic partnership bill this year was 3,000 pages) to amendments (which have to be printed out and distributed to members on different colors of paper) to bill reports, bill digests and fiscal notes. Everything is printed and distributed.

Earlier this session, the Senate and House began double-sided printing to save paper. Some lawmakers initially protested, but cost-cutting won over convenience. Of course, everything is also posted online. So some laptop-using lawmakers have taken to scrapping their bill binders for the online version.

Clearly, $43,000 isn’t going to balance the budget. But it’s a small example of the places they’re looking for savings.

Tags: Budget, savings

Tonight at 7 and 10, you can watch Austin Jenkins interview Reps. Deb Wallace and Glenn Anderson about potential cuts to universities. You can — and, if you have even a passing interest in public universities, should — watch it here now:

Their message: Big cuts are on the way, universities will “feel discomfort” and everyone will have to change to survive.

Tags: Budget, universities

Rep. Ross Hunter has proposed a bill that would tax material streamed to your computer.

Currently, streamed media — like movies, music and games — are not taxed.

Hunter explained it to The Seattle Times: “If I rent a movie from Blockbuster, I pay a sales tax. But if I stream that movie from my computer, I don’t pay sales tax,” he said. “We need to get rid of this loophole.”

But not everyone sees it as a loophole: A work group convened by the 2007 Legislature to study tax fairness couldn’t come to a consensus over whether streamed media should be taxed. Some agreed with Hunter, others thought that “streaming” means you never actually have possession of the media because you didn’t download anything to your computer.

Here’s the public hearing:

Tags: streamed media, tax

Tonight on The Impact, host Jennifer Huntley tells me they have a full schedule:

- We’ll hear from top lawmakers on the Ways and Means committee in the house (Chair Kelli Linville and Ranking Minority Member Gary Alexander) about what specific programs they think should be cut given Washington’s $8 billion budget shortfall.

- Also, 46 states are now facing deficits for the current year or next biennium. We’ll look at how other states are handling their shortfalls. What cuts are they looking at? How are they using federal stimulus money? Are taxes on the table?

That and more tonight on The Impact. It airs at 7 p.m., 10 p.m. and anytime online.

Tags: Budget, The Impact

In the House Education Appropriations Committee, they discussed a bill to create a “social emotional learning” account.

How much will it cost? Zero, mostly. They’re not asking for any money for the program — they’re just asking for an account that private groups and, if they wish, the Legislature can one day fund. If there are funds in the account, the bill directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to “promote and encourage” social emotional learning in school.

What’s it all mean? “Social emotional learning,” or SEL, is “a process for helping children and even adults develop the fundamental skills for life effectiveness.” What’s that? It’s a way of teaching that emphasizes lessons about social and emotional behavior across disciplines. (more…)

Tags: education, Social Emotional Learning

It’s true: Former Governor Gary Locke will head to Washington, D.C. for the Commerce Secretary post.

“I’m sure it’s not lost on anyone that we’ve tried this a couple of times. But I’m a big believer in keeping at something until you get it right,” President Barack Obama said, alluding to the two previous nominees that didn’t quite work out.

Tags: Locke

I’m listening to the Transportation Project Funding press conference, where lawmakers are discussing plans for using federal stimulus money for $300 million in transportation projects around the state.

Rep. Judy Clibborn said they chose not to fund any projects on local lists. (Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said this morning that he was disappointed that none of Seattle’s projects made the list.)

“Make sure you look at the local list so that you know the full picture,” she said.

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said the bill would act fast: “By June, there will be people working,” she said. “There won’t be many places in this state that won’t have construction projects.” In fact, she said to the audience of reporters, she was sure they’d be soon writing about the traffic in their cities and towns.

Sen. Chris Marr: “As you probably noted, I don’t have a project in here in my district,” he said. But he feels strongly about the package because they chose the transportation projects with the highest impact. “If I was writing this list as a PR exercise to get votes on the floor, it might look a little different.”

“There are a few things that we will be able to point to and say, the stimulus did this,” Clibborn said. She cited the I-90 corridor. “It is a way to say that we are committed to preserving what we have.”

Clibborn, addressing the lack of funding for Seattle projects, said no promises had been made. “There is no apology on my part for an agreement that I didn’t make… We have no local projects on (our list),” she said. “I have not been able to understand why the mayor has stood before the cameras” and said the money was taken out without his knowing, she said.

Tags: Jobs, transportation

The new state unemployment figures are in and the news is bad: Washington lost 7,000 jobs in January, increasing the unemployment rate to 7.8 percent, up from 7.1 percent in December.

The state now has 56,000 fewer jobs than a year ago, according to the state Employment Security Department. The department says more than 303,000 people in Washington were looking for jobs in January. That number is not seasonally adjusted, so it includes agricultural labor.

Manufacturing, information services, construction, motor vehicles, parts dealers, trucking, durable goods wholesalers, computer design and food services are all down.

It’s not all bad news: “Industries with the most job growth included merchant wholesalers of nondurable goods, with 1,000 new jobs, general merchandise retail stores, which added 1,100 jobs, real estate and rental leasing, up 800 jobs, and arts, entertainment and recreation, with 1,100 new jobs.”

ESD recommends those who are unemployed should check the WorkSource Web site to see if they’re eligible for training benefits and more.

Tags: unemployment

Former Gov. Gary Locke may be headed to Washington, D.C. to be President Barack Obama’s Commerce Secretary.

We’ll update as information becomes available. It’s not confirmed yet, so keep that in mind.

Tags: Obama administration

The state Department of Fish & Wildlife has notified about 100 employees their jobs may be eliminated soon.

Here’s a bit from their press release:
“The cuts will affect field staff- including hatchery personnel, enforcement officers, biologists and outdoor educators-as well as business operations such as financial management and computer support. The job cuts are spread statewide, throughout department programs and all levels of the agency.”

The cuts affect about 170 positions, but some of those are unfilled, they said.

The department expects to lose about 10 percent of their $348 million biennial budget. They tried other methods for making cuts first but they weren’t enough: Staffing consists 80 percent of the department’s operating expenses.

The layoffs will begin in April and stretch through to June, when the fiscal year ends. According to the release, the workers who will be affected first are being notified first.

Tags: Budget, Fish & Wildlife, layoffs