Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill into law today that will give more time to renters and homeowners more time before foreclosure.

For owners who bought between 2003 and 2007, the law — which goes into effect in July — will require banks to spend at least 30 days working with the homeowner before foreclosing on the home.

For renters in homes that are being foreclosed on, the law will require a formal notice and 40 days to move out.

Here’s the bill report for more information.

Tags: foreclosure, home, rent

Tonight on Inside Olympia, host Austin Jenkins interviews Ann Daley, Higher Education Coordinating Board executive director.

Here’s some of what she had to say, courtesy of Mike Bay, TVW’s VP of Programming:

- Community and Technical Colleges, unlike the 4 years, didn’t get their budgeted enrollments cut with this budget; however, the community and technical colleges are seeing enrollment demands rising 10-20% because of the recession.

- One good piece of news: The Legislature fully funded the state need grant, which helps the neediest of students — those from families at 70% or less of the median family income

- Rising tuition and lower investment returns will mean higher prices for GET units – currently at $76 per unit (or about $7,600 per year), Ann didn’t say exactly how much they’ll increase but said “significantly.”

- Ann said higher education “is the state’s rainy day fund:” It gets cut disproportionately during bad times. She said two years ago we were celebrating the best higher ed budget in 20 years, today we’re looking at the worst higher ed budget in 30 years – “something’s wrong with that picture”

- Should colleges look at a new tuition pricing scheme, where people who can pay more do pay more? “That has to be looked at.”

All that and more at 7 and 10 p.m. on Inside Olympia — tonight on TVW or tvw.org.

Update: Watch right now…

Tags: tuition, universities

The health department says Washington has six probably swine flu victims: Three in King County, two in Snohomish and one in Spokane County.

“The department is now sending six samples it could not positively sub-type to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further testing.”

Here’s more from the press release: “Health experts in our state are monitoring the situation and have a well-practiced plan in place,” said Governor Chris Gregoire. “I encourage all Washingtonians to follow the precautionary guidance of health officials and stay informed of the situation through county and state health resources.”

So, if you have muscle aches, trouble breathing or other flu-like symptoms: Stay home from work. And call your doctor. Everyone else: Wash your hands often and well.

Go here for more info.

Tags: swine flu

Here is a handy list of every single bill passed by the Legislature this session, from HB 1000 — extending State Route 397 — to SCR 8408 — adjourning Sine Die.

And here’s a round-up by Rich Roesler of the Spokesman-Review. It covers some big issues, from marijuana to the WASL.

Tags: Legislature, special session

This in from Jennifer Huntley, host of The Impact: The legislative session is now over, so what’s in the budget? And what’s the likelihood for a special session? We’ll talk to the top budget writers in the house and senate (Representative Kelli Linville and Senator Rodney Tom) and other legislative leaders.

Also, Washington’s Department of Health Secretary Mary Selecky says it’s likely Swine flu will show up in Washington state, find out what precautions you should take.

Watch the whole show right here, or at 7 and 10 p.m. on TVW:

Tags: special session, swine flu

This just in from Dave Ammons, communications director for the Secretary of State: “Just one day after Governor Gregoire signed the bill dealing with the state’s Electoral College votes being committed to the national popular vote winner, a critic has filed a referendum to try to force a public vote this fall.”

According to Ammons, David Anderson from Shaw Island is not on the hunt for 120,577 valid voter signatures. He has until July 25.

Coincidentally, I’ve been working feverishly today on the “Legislative Year in Review” show, which includes a segment on this bill. Here’s a refresher:

Tags: voting

Washington Realtors just sent out a press release about a program approved by the state Legislature that would create a loan for first-time homebuyers, so they could get the $8,000 tax credit — available for first-time homebuyers — sooner.

(If you’re a first-time homebuyer in the market, you probably know about the federal tax credit that was part of the stimulus: Buy a house for the first time, get $8,000 taken off your tax bill. Some restrictions and fine print apply.)

The program approved by the Legislature would allow homebuyers to loan that $8,000 from a state-sponsored program so they could put the money toward a down payment or closing costs.

From the press release: “The program authorizes the state treasurer to deposit $25 million in a financial institution, which would then open a line of credit for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (HFC). The HFC would use that credit line to pay for down payment loans to first-time buyers. Buyers repay the advance loan after filing for and receiving the tax credit.”

There is another way to get the $8,000 in your pocket before it’s time to buy, without taking a loan: If you’re buying a home later in the year and have some restraint, you can reduce your federal income tax withholding so that your tax burden is $8,000 less that what it would be otherwise.

Tags: real estate

Today, this feels like a good rerun to watch:

Tags: special session

Tags: special session, swine flu

House Speaker Frank Chopp met with reporters at 1:30. It’s showing live on TVW now.

I’ll add my summary here, in case you can’t watch along with me. Check back.

Update:

Chopp said the Legislature got a lot done: Apple Health for kids, three budgets, General Assistance Unemployable and a lot of legislation “to create jobs for those who can work,” including transportation projects and the capital budget’s many projects.

He said they also put the wheels in motion for the state’s largest public works project ever: The SR 520 bridge.

“We also were pleased that we did a number of other things that make a real difference in the future of a lot of people,” he said, including “Opportunity Pathway” grants for college students and a new student loan program.

“One thing I’ve been working on for about 10 years is we finally fully financed the Neah Bay rescue tug … it’s incredibly important,” he said, to fully finance it. “I’m very proud about that.”

He said levy lid lifts are important and will benefit a lot of schools, so “we do want to come back and finish that and finish the job there,” he said. But “the impact is somewhat muted on that because it can’t take effect for a while,” he said, meaning it could possibly be dealt with when the next session starts in 8 months.

He said “it’s a very short list of bills and it shouldn’t take too long.” He said one bill that they didn’t get to had 51 amendments. “You want to do some time management,” he said.

“We got a lot of Legislation done … I was very pleased that we were able to hit the deadline with the Capital Budget,” he said.

He said when they passed the Operating Budget on Friday night, he thought they were ahead of schedule. He said there were far more “NTIB” bills — those policy bills that are necessary to implement budget cuts (or spending) — this year than in previous years, and that took more time than he thought.

“Oh, I forgot the biggest one: We also redefined basic education,” he said, while ticking of a list of reforms they enacted.

Tags: special session