Here’s some of what’s scheduled to happen next week. Go here for the full schedule. Also: Schedules are subject to change and already have.

- On Monday: At 10 a.m. in the Senate Labor Committee, a bill to address the workers’ comp system.
At 3:30 (and on TVW), a bill to require surrogacy contracts and clarify that domestic partners fit under the Uniform Parentage Act, and executive session on the furlough bill.

- On Tuesday: At 8 a.m., a bill to abolish DSHS in one committee and abolish the printer in another. At 10 a.m. in Senate Judiciary and on TVW, a bill to create a bail task force. Also at 10 a.m., a bill to allow small school districts without high schools to join together to form innovative high school academies. At 1:30 p.m. in the Senate Human Services Committee (and on TVW), a bill to ask the federal government to immediately fix the Interstate Compact system. And another bill to allow local governments to raise sales tax for criminal justice.

Also: Vote-by-mail and public funding for Supreme Court campaigns will get a vote in the House government committee at 1:30 (the hearings will be broadcast later on TVW). There’s also a companion bill for Supreme Court campaign public funding in the Senate Government Operations Committee at the same time — though it won’t be broadcast on TVW. You can always watch the webcast, though.

- On Wednesday: The Senate Health and Long-Term Committee will be live on TVW with a bill that prevents the state from shutting down facilities and moving developmentally disabled clients until community services at their new residdences are deemed sufficient. Also, The Impact airs at 7 and 10 p.m.

- On Thursday: At 3:30, a bill in the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee to create a special commission that would decide how to reform government. Read much more about that here.

And Inside Olympia airs at 7 and 10 p.m. And I’ll post the Q&A.

- On Friday: At 2:30 p.m., a warm-up.

Tags: week 4 preview

Here goes the early edition:

- On Monday: The House passed a bill to ban BPA in baby bottles, sippy cups and sports bottles, Gov. Chris Gregoire said she’ll wait until Feb. 12 to talk taxes — and urged the federal government to reform healthcare, the House human services committee considered banning mental patient field trips, and House Ways & Means considered a 72-hour budget wait bill and a bill to provide support for police officers severely disabled in the line of duty.

- On Tuesday: Congressman Jay Inslee said he likes the looks of the Governor’s mansion, the Senate Judiciary Committee considered banning assault rifles, House Health Care considered a bill to track cold medicine sales in real time to prevent smurfing — cold medicine companies would pay for the system, and Sen. Chris Marr said that transportation projects are coming in under estimate, meaning there may be more money for Tier 2 projects.

- On Wednesday: A bill to require crisis pregnancy centers to only dispense pregnancy test and scientific fact had a hearing, the House unanimously passed a bill to ban state worker bonuses, the House also passed a bill to allow child care workers to unionize, Senate budget writers talked to Jessica Gao on The Impact, House Transportation considered limiting fines assessed by traffic cameras, and Sen. Rodney Tom talked with me about the crisis pregnancy bill, the budget and think Peace!

- On Thursday: A few bills to regulate the initiative process were up for a hearing in the House, Senators Kastama and Holmquist told me about their jobs plan — and what they think of the other’s plan, and the House stuck around for an evening floor session.

- On Friday: The Senate voted to ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups — but not sports bottles, the House heard that about half of those renewing licenses have opted-out of the $5 parks fee, and the House considered a bill to create “climate change accountability.”

- Come back later this afternoon for a Week 4 preview.

Tags: BPA, Budget, crisis pregnancy centers, taxes, week 3, week in review

The Senate is debating a bill to ban BPA (bisphenol-A) in baby bottles, sports water bottles and food containers meant for children and toddlers. This version of the bill, unlike one passed by the House, does not include sports water bottles.

Sen. Karen Keiser: “Just this month, the national toxics program and the Food and Drug Administration issued a statement … that they have some concern” that BPA effects reproductive and developmental effects. She said “some concern” is level three of five on the FDA scale. “Rather than worry, let’s take the worry away,” Keiser said. BPA is used to harden plastic.

Keiser said for plastics in your home now, here’s what you can do: Throw it away (or recycle it) if it’s scratched and don’t microwave baby bottles. Keiser said the bill was a small step, and a statement.

But Sen. Cheryl Pflug said the report was mischaracterized. She said there are concerns in rodents. “With this, we are going to make the public go out and buy all new sippy cups” even though they aren’t sure that it’s harmful. “There are no studies — zero studies … about the alternative,” she said. “It’s a statement alright, though not one I’m willing to make.”

Sen. Jerome Delvin:  “There’s no science for this … my sister designs plastics. There’s no scientific evidence.” He said the bill would make people feel good, but it won’t do anything. He said the Legislature should get government out of the way and let people make a choice about what they want to buy.

The bill passed 36 to 9.

Here is the bill explainer.

And here’s the video:

Tags: baby bottles, BPA

The House Ecology Committee is hearing on update on the $5 “opt-out” parks fee on license renewals.

According to the report, only a few people have mistakenly paid the fee, then requested their money back (which you can do). And about half of people are opting to pay it (or not opting not to). Here’s a Seattle Times story about it.

Ilene Frisch, finance director for Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, said they’ve eliminated 37 positions, held 7 positions vacant, and are pursuing federal stimulus money. She said their capital budget was cut in half last year.

And here’s our previous coverage of the opt-out fee.

Tags: opt-out, parks

House Bill 2772 would “require state contractors to meet performance standards for cost per ton of dioxide equivalent.” What does that mean?

Rep. Bill Hinkle: “If you remember, when we were discussing some cap and trade issues … last year, my first comment was, We’re about to enter into a public policy issue that set goals” and standards that don’t accomplish what they set out to accomplish, he said. “I guess, in the end, I’m just trying to bring forward something that will actually give some accountability to the efforts that we’re making in the state.”

The bill would require that before any carbon reduction project is undertaken, the state make some calculations: First, how much would the project cost? Second, how many tons of CO2 would the project reduce? Third: What’s the cost per CO2 unit reduction.

“Then you can make decisions about where you want to put money in the future,” said Todd Myers with the Washington Policy Center. He said right now, “it’s very unclear to us whether we’re getting the return on the investment we’re making.”

Myers said his organization has found that some “green” schools haven’t saved school districts any money — in fact, they may be less energy efficient, he said.

To that, Rep. Hans Dunshee told his fellow lawmakers to “get real numbers” from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. He said, unlike the policy center, OSPI doesn’t have a bias.

Watch now on TVW. I’ll update as this hearing goes along.

Tags: climate change

Today:

- The House considered bills to regulate the initiative process, including one to create an initiative sponsor code of ethics.

- Sens. Kastama and Holmquist were the guests on this week’s Q&A. We talked all about jobs — and I promise that if you take the time to read it to the very last word, you will learn something new.

- The House convened for a little late-night session.

Tags: Day 18

This week’s Q&A is all about jobs: The Governor, Senate and House Republicans, House Democrats and Senate Democrats have each introduced their own “jobs packages.” I wanted to find out: What are the philosophies behind (a couple of) them, who would benefit, and where is there common ground. I spoke with Sen. Jim Kastama, a Democrat, and Sen. Janea Holmquist, a Republican.

I always learn something in these interviews, and this week is no exception. Keep reading and you’ll find details on plans that are still in the works, including a BRAC-style government reform commission, a bill to protect Initiative 960 and more.

First, Sen. Kastama. This interview was conducted Wednesday evening in his office.

Q: There are four jobs packages. What are the crucial elements of yours?

Kastama: I think the Senate we have made it pretty clear we are continuing on the economic agenda we set last year.
We have to focus on the here and now. Sixty-five percent of the employment growth that we’re going to get coming out of this is in small business. That’s what our proposal is focused on.
First, work force. We’re going to make sure that there’s money in the budget to educate approximately 6,000 people who are unemployed and could be working in these jobs that are highly in demand. We’re going to make sure that happens.
I just had a proposal in higher education to create a dedicated funding source by converting the lottery’s purpose to higher education specifically. In other states where they have done it, it’s allowed them to market the lottery for the purpose it goes to and they sell far more tickets. In Georgia, it increased sales to $800 million and they’ve sent a million students to college with their Hope Scholarship
Our lottery, unfortunately, has flattened out. We bring in $130 million. We really can’t market it for what it goes toward, which is K-12 education because if we say it’s going to education, local school districts worry their bonds and levies won’t pass. So what they tell people is, buy a lottery ticket and you’ll get a swimming pool or a nice house. They’ll buy a lot more if they think it’s going to an altruistic purpose.
So, we’re looking at the workforce and infrastructure. We had a tax increment financing bill – a minor adjustment to the tax increment financing bill that we passed last year. For very little money — $2.6 million — you can bring thousands of jobs to Washington state.
And we want to coordinate the whole green industry in order to do weatherization better, to emphasize job growth.
Transportation: We will keep the $4 billion that we have in transportation going through the biennium. That’s a good budget item that actually does provide good paying jobs.

We also want to invest in entrepreneurship. We want to make sure that Washington state is a good place for companies to thrive and to start, so we’re putting in place many things that will help. One is that small business assistance will be able to expand services.

(more…)

Tags: Holmquist, Jobs, Kastama, Thursday Q&A

Right now, the House State Government Committee is considering bills that would affect the initiative process in Washington.

One, sponsored by Rep. Jim Moeller, would require that initiative signature gatherers to stay 25 feet away from the doors of businesses. Here’s the bill report.

Another, sponsored by Rep. Geoff Simpson, is here. It would create an ethics code for initiative prime sponsors. “Under (Initiative 1033), the more real estate a person owned, the more they stood to gain.” He said one of the largest real estate owners in the state contributed $25,000 to the campaign — “And we don’t know how much he paid Tim Eyman personally.” Simpson said if lawmakers accepted cash from people they were writing legislation for, he’d call the police to begin an investigation. He said the same standards should apply to initiatives.

Now Eyman is testifying on the bill to require 25 feet distance between a signature gatherer and a business entrance. He said it’s the “stupidest thing” he’s ever seen because “the rulings say that if these stores allow any First Amendment activity” — like bell ringers — “they must allow them all.” Eyman said the bill is a copy of a bill to require smokers to keep their distance from building entrances.

Chris Bass, a concerned citizen, said he thinks the bill is chilling because if you follow the logic — that initiative sponsors should live by the same ethics as legislators — then it means eventually they may have to “open their financial kimono” to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.
Update: Tim Eyman and the ACLU are in agreement. Shankar Narayan, the ACLU’s lobbyist, said the 25-foot rule is unconstitutional. Narayan said the apparent annoyance of signature gatherers doesn’t warrant stifling free speech.

Now, on to Simpson’s bill: “Every bill that you’ve introduced is trying to make the process tougher,” Eyman said. “This bill proposes that initiative sponsors solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution,” Eyman said, which “is so laughably unconstitutional that (the bills) don’t even pass the straight face test.”

Tags: initiatives

Here’s the Off the Set interview today with Sen. Rodney Tom. Tom talked about the budget, taxes, the state’s economic viability, his bill to require crisis pregnancy clinics to only dispense facts and why he signs his e-mails: think Peace!

Today:

- The Senate considered a bill to require crisis pregnancy centers to only dispense scientifically accurate facts.

- The House unanimously passed a bill to ban state worker bonuses this biennium.

- They then passed a bill to allow certian child care workers to unionize.

- The House Transportation Committee considered limiting traffic camera tickets.

- Senate budget writers talked to The Impact’s host Jessica Gao about Oregon’s tax vote and what that means for Washington.

- And Sen. Rodney Tom stuck around for an Off the Set interview, which I’ll post tomorrow.

Tags: Day 17