Here’s today’s list of new laws, courtesy of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office. See her statement on the bills after the jump.

• Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill No. 1317, relating to disclosure of public records containing information used to locate or identify employees of criminal justice agencies.

• Substitute House Bill No. 1679, relating to access to catastrophic disability medical insurance under plan 2 of the law enforcement officers’ and firefighters’ retirement system.

• Substitute House Bill No. 2196, relating to including service credit transferred from the law enforcement officers’ and firefighters’ retirement system plan 1 in the determination of eligibility for military service credit.

• Substitute House Bill No. 2226, relating to issuing firearms certificates to retired law enforcement officers.

• Substitute House Bill No. 2466, relating to the regulation of ignition interlock devices.

• Engrossed House Bill No. 2519, relating to duty-related death benefits for public safety employees.

• Substitute House Bill No. 2534, relating to establishing a program to verify the address of registered sex offenders and kidnapping offenders.

• House Bill No. 2625, relating to bail for felony offenses.

• Substitute House Bill No. 2717, relating to restricting outings from state facilities.

• Second Substitute House Bill No. 2742, relating to accountability for persons driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs.

• Second Engrossed Senate Bill No. 6221, relating to the clarifying and expanding participation in the Washington state local government investment pool.

• Substitute Senate Bill No. 6293, relating to rendering criminal assistance in the first degree.

• Substitute Senate Bill No. 6361, relating to a person’s identifying information submitted in the course of using the electronic statewide unified sex offender notification and registration program for the purpose of receiving notification regarding registered sex offenders.

• Substitute Senate Bill No. 6414, relating to improving the administration and efficiency of sex and kidnapping offender registration.

• Substitute Senate Bill No. 6548, relating to offenders on parole or probation.

• Engrossed Senate Bill No. 6610, relating to improving procedures relating to the commitment of persons found not guilty by reason of insanity.

• Substitute Senate Bill No. 6673, relating to bail practices and procedures.

• Substitute Senate Bill No. 6712, relating to extending expiring tax incentives for certain clean alternative fuel vehicles, producers of certain biofuels, and federal aviation regulation part 145 certificated repair stations.

• Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill No. 6737, relating to providing an exemption from property tax for aircraft used to provide air ambulance services.

(more…)

Tags: new laws

Washington has company — 17 states, including Oregon — have joined in the lawsuit over whether signatures on initiative and referendum petitions are a public record. Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office sent out a note today.

“The initiative process cannot operate in secret,” Kate Brown, Oregon’s Secretary of State, said. She said Oregon was joining the lawsuit because people have a right to know whether initiative signers are registered voters.

Tags: petition signatures, public record, R71

This just in from the governor’s office. See Jessica’s post below — and watch The Impact tonight at 7 or 10 p.m. on TVW — for more information.

Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday, April 1, will be joined by health industry policy experts and advocates to announce plans to implement health care reform in Washington.

Event Date: Thursday, April 1

11:30 a.m. Gov. Gregoire to announce plan to implement health care reform in Washington state

Swedish Medical Center, foyer outside Glaser Auditorium

747 Broadway, Seattle

Of course, TVW will be there. While we won’t have the press conference live, we will post it as soon as the crew is back — and I’ll post the video here.

Tags: healthcare

A week after the president signed national health care reform into law, a lot of people are still asking, “what does it mean for me?”  On The Impact this week, we attempt to explain that.  First of all, if you have employer-based coverage or Medicare, nothing really changes unless you want it to.  But, if you’re not covered and haven’t been able to afford insurance, here are three graphics showing the various potential options starting in 2014. I used a family of four as the example in this piece:

For the studio interview, I talked with Steve Hill, the administrator for the state’s Health Care Authority, which oversees the Basic Health Plan.  He says the governor will be making a major announcement tomorrow about the implementation of the national health care reform overhaul, including a new cabinet-level position to coordinate the effort.

Also on the program, we take a closer look at what’s dividing House and Senate in the tax debate.  You’ll hear from the construction industry on the potential impact of a sales tax increase, as well as an accounting firm on the effect of a tax increase on service businesses.  We have a press panel to give us insight into tax negotiations heading into the final stretch of the special session.

You can watch The Impact Wednesday nights at 7 & 10 on TVW.

Tags: health care reform, taxes, The Impact

I blogged about this yesterday, but there was a lot of good material that is best conveyed through the video. If you’re remotely interested in the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Rob McKenna and a dozen others over healthcare, you should watch.

Tags: constitutional, federal healthcare reform, lawsuit

Watch the debate over whether healthcare reform is constitutional here. Or update your browser here, because I’ll be blogging along with the action!

Hugh Spitzer, the moderator, is starting things off. He said the panel will not focus on policy issues — but will discuss whether the provisions are constitutional. The impetus of the discussion is, of course, the federal lawsuit filed by a dozen attorneys general, including Washington’s AG Rob McKenna.

Next up, Sallie Sanford. She’s giving a brief summary of the huge bill, which she mentioned was just amended today. “Beginning in 2014, most Americans will be required to have health insurance,” she said. That can be Medicare, employer-provided or private purchase. There are exceptions: Religious, financial hardship and if the only policy is more than 8 percent of the person’s income.

Subsidies will be available, she said, for anyone up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level — that’s about $88,000 for a family of four.

A $695 per person tax will be levied on anyone who is required to get insurance but doesn’t do so. (more…)

Tags: healthcare

Gov. Chris Gregoire was on the road for today’s bill signings. She signed the education reform bill — aimed at getting federal Race to the Top cash for schools — along with a handful of other education and other bills. The bill signing ceremony will be on TVW tonight.

“Today we take major steps to provide our children with the education that will allow them to compete in the global economy,” Gregoire said in a news release. “We are focused on skilled instruction, effective leadership and the funding to provide the education our children deserve.”

Here’s the full list of bills:

• Engrossed Substitute House Bill No. 2560, relating to forming joint underwriting associations.

• Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill No. 2617, relating to eliminating boards and commissions.

• House Bill No. 2621, relating to designating resource programs for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction in K-12 schools.

• Second Substitute House Bill No. 2731, relating to implementing a program of early learning for educationally at-risk children. (more…)

Tags: education, Race to the Top

Tomorrow, UW law school is hosting a panel discussion over whether the healthcare reform legislation is constitutional. The panel will discuss the grounds for the lawsuit that Attorney General Rob McKenna entered into with a dozen other attorneys general. The discussion will be webcast on TVW.org at 4 p.m.

Who will be there:

Hugh Spitzer (Moderator):  Professor Spitzer is a recognized expert in Washington state constitutional law. A practicing attorney with Foster Pepper since 1982 and affiliate professor at the UW School of Law, he has practiced municipal and public finance law for more than 30 years. Spitzer teaches Local Government Law and State Constitutional Law, drafts state legislation, and has an active state constitutional law practice.

Stewart Jay: Professor Jay has taught at the UW School of Law since 1980. Before entering teaching, Professor Jay clerked for two years, first with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren E. Burger. His teaching and research interests include constitutional law and constitutional history.

Kathryn Watts: Professor Watts joined the UW School of Law faculty in 2007 as an assistant professor. She teaches administrative law, constitutional law, and Supreme Court decision making. Professor Watts clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court and also for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

John McKay: Professor McKay served as U.S. Attorney for Western Washington from October 2001 through December 2006. He joined the faculty of Seattle University School of Law in 2007 where he teaches national security and constitutional law. In 1995, the Washington State Bar Association named McKay Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year, and in 2001 he received the Association’s Award of Merit, its highest honor.

Sallie Sanford: Professor Sanford teaches health law at the UW Schools of Law and Public Health and her research interests include health care delivery systems, health administration law, and medical and administrative ethics. Sanford clerked for The Honorable Robert R. Beezer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and served for six years as an Assistant Attorney General.

“Today, we are taking our first steps to implement healthcare reform in our state,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said, kicking off the press conference with U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and legislative leaders. This year, small businesses will be able to get tax credits for providing healthcare, Gregoire said, and small children won’t be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. But, she said, there’s more.

“We are seeking federal support for two very critical and very unique Washington programs,” she said — GAU and Basic Health. She said the federal healthcare package will help keep people on the Basic Health Plan. “We have been working with the federal government since January getting ourselves ready” for this, she said. And this week, the state will seek an agreement with the federal government to secure federal match dollars for Basic Health.

Gregoire said Cantwell helped secure language in the bill to help Basic Health and GAU.

Cantwell: Thanked Gregoire, Senate Majority Lisa Brown and House Speaker Frank Chopp for their work on healthcare in the state. “While its been a thrill to be in the Oval Office to watch the president sign the insurance reform bill, it’s more important for me to be here today to celebrate.”

She said Washington will likely get federal money over the next three years for Basic Health. She said in 2014, the state will be able to expand Basic Health to provide coverage to more people.

“The Basic Health Plan truly is the model for where our country should be going… so I’m really here to say thank you to all of my colleagues in the Washington Legislature … this is a celebration of nearly 20 years of the Basic Health Plan.”

House Speaker Frank Chopp: “Let’s hear it for Maria,” he said, to claps. He thanked Sen. Cantwell and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, then said the success of the Apple Health for Kids program has been another state healthcare win.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown: Said her very first year in the Senate, they passed a state healthcare reform bill anticipating that federal reform was near. She said that didn’t happen — until now. “Healthcare costs are probably the single biggest structural problem in our state budget and that’s why this measure that has passed at the federal level cannot be underestimated,” she said.

“We have struggled in Washington state to keep our commitment to the Basic Health Plan,” she said. Now, 65,000 people or so are on the plan, and more than that are on the waiting list. (more…)

Tags: healthcare

Here’s today’s list:

• Engrossed House Bill No. 2360, relating to consolidation of administrative services for AIDS grants in the department of health.

• Engrossed Substitute House Bill No. 2424, relating to protecting children from sexual exploitation and abuse.

• Substitute House Bill No. 2686, relating to fees for dental services that are not covered services under dental insurance or dental health care service contracts.

• Engrossed Substitute House Bill No. 2752, relating to the safety of runaway youth.

• House Bill No. 2676, relating to energy conservation loans. (more…)