This morning, the Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections committee is expected to pass a bill that would legalize gay marriage in Washington state. We’ll be live with coverage starting at 10 a.m. on TVW, and we’ll have more on the blog and tonight’s edition of Legislative Review.

Also live on TVW today: At 2 p.m., the House Government Appropriations & Oversight committee is hearing several bills related to the Discover Pass, including one that would allow the pass to be used for more than one car. The pass costs $30 per year, and is required to access nearly 7 million acres managed by the state.

And at 3:30 p.m., the Senate Ways & Means committee is holding a public hearing on the “Toxic Toys” bill, which would require manufacturers of children’s products to replace certain chemicals with safer alternatives.

Tags: Discover Pass, Environment, gay marriage, toxic toys

The 2012 Legislative session kicked off on Monday, and we covered lots of ground here on the blog and on Legislative Review, our 10-minute wrap-up of the day’s events that airs nightly at 6:30 p.m. on TVW. Here’s a quick look back at what happened this week.

Monday: Opening ceremonies got underway with speeches from Reps. Frank Chopp and Richard DeBolt. TVW aired a two-hour opening day special of “The Impact” with interviews from the Governor and dozens of lawmakers, who touched on everything from the budget to gay marriage and medical marijuana.

Watch Monday’s Legislative Review here.

Tuesday:  Gov. Chris Gregoire gave her final state of the state address, calling for a $3.6 billion transportation package that would include a $1.50 fee per barrel on oil produced in Washington. Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, delivered the Republican response. That was followed by a news conference where several Republicans said they were concerned that the Governor’s proposed oil fee would cause prices to rise at the gas pump.

Watch Tuesday’s Legislative Review here.

Wednesday: After three years of delivering gloomy economic forecasts, the state’s chief economist Arun Raha announced he was resigning to take a new job in Cleveland — but not without cracking a few of his signature “Arun-ism” jokes first. We kept an eye on two environmental bills — one would ban plastic grocery bags in Washington state, and the other would ban petroleum-based plastic bottles. And, the Senate took a look at a proposal that would consolidate the healthcare benefits of K-12 public school employees under one insurance plan.

Watch Wednesday’s Legislative Review here.

Thursday: A bipartisan group of lawmakers held a press conference to announce their plans for education reform, including a bill that would authorize charter schools in Washington state. Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, held a press conference to promote his version of a bill that would ban plastic bags. The employment department and chief economist Arun Raha gave an update on how the state’s economy is doing.

Watch Thursday’s Leglative Review here.

Friday: The Sandusky scandal prompted the Senate to hear a bill that would hold certain higher education employees responsible for reporting suspected child abuse. Also, the Senate honored Sen. Scott White, who died in October of a heart attack. Friday’s edition of Legislative Review airs at 6:30 p.m. on TVW.

Tags: Arun Raha, Environment, gay marriage, Gov. Gregoire, Legislative Review, Schools

Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon held a press conference today to promote his bill that would ban plastic bags.

Similar to SB 5780, this bill, which is scheduled to have a hearing in February, would prohibit plastic grocery bags, but Fitzgibbon’s bill provides for a five-cent charge per paper bag distributed by stores.

Fitzgibbon and a representative from Environment Washington talked about the environmental problems plastic bags can pose, and said a statewide ban of the bags would be easier for businesses to implement.

Melinda Merrill, a spokeswoman for Fred Meyer, said that while the grocery industry doesn’t take a stand on whether plastic bags are good or bad, she supports a state-wide solution in lieu of varying standards from city to city.

Merrill added that the five cent fee was important to her because it could help stores cover the cost of paper bags.

Tags: Environment, fitzgibbon, plastic bag ban, recycling

Today, the Senate Environment Committee heard a bill that would ban petroleum-based plastic bottles from Washington, which means that virtually all plastic bottles in Washington would need to be replaced by compostable counterparts.

Breaking the law could lead to a $10,000 fine.

Sen. Maralyn Chase, the sponsor of the bill, said that plastics aren’t biodegradable and stay in the environment forever.

Tim Dougherty, Executive Director of the Northwest Bottled Water Association, said that legislators need to take a closer look into compostable alternatives before an all-out ban on plastic beverage containers.

“We know that we have a great product that can be reused for many, many other products and we have a great program out there now to recycle … We know that if we discontinue this use we have many manufacturers here that are going to be really suffering by laying off people,” he said.

Dougherty added that his association favored reduction and recycling efforts over this bill.

Jim Connelly, the owner of a bottled water company in Eastern Washington, said this bill would “effectively put me out of business,” he said, which is why he’d also prefer greater recycling efforts.

Bruce Tornquist, of the Northwest Bottled Water Association, expressed concern that compostable bottles could create a problem with current recycling programs in Washington state and beyond, which cannot recycle bottles that are intended for compost.

I’ll continue to follow this bill and see if it gets any further.

Tags: Environment, recycling, water

The line outside Hearing Room B is long. Overflow has been sent to another room. Some are wearing green scarves while others don TransAlta buttons reading “give us time to transition.” The crowd has come to Olympia today because of a bill that could shut down coal-fire plants that burn over one million tons of coal per year: In other words, TransAlta.

“The reality is that the coal plan in Centralia will transition…coal burning is clearly a technology of the past,” said Rep. Marko Liias, the sponsor of the proposal.  ”This bill is not about a particular company. It is not about attacking people in that community.” He said that burning coal is not only bad for the environment but it is also harmful for people. Liias looks forward to working with companies like TransAlta to develop wind energy, he said.

The bill also asks owners of the companies to pay a $1 per megawatt hour fee.

Outside, a group TransAlta supporters were quietly debating with a man dressed in a large foil costume. Near them, someone wearing a giant polar bear costume walked around the sun dial while a man stood to the side and held a replica of a wind turbine with a sign that asked for renewable energy and renewable jobs.

Watch it live on TVW.org

Tags: coal power, Environment

The bill to limit the amount of greenhouse gases produced by Washington’s industries is being debated in the Senate now.

“Why? Why would we send a message to our employers that a new, huge tax is looming?” said Sen. Janea Holmquist. “There is no rational company that would even consider moving to Washington knowing that we’re considering this.”

“This” is a cap-and-trade — or cap-and-tax — program that caps the amount of emissions that an industry is allowed, then allows trading or selling credits for more pollution.

A number of amendments were floated by opponents that would have thwarted the cap-and-trade measure. As it is, the bill creates a voluntary emissions reduction program and states the Legislature’s intent to make it mandatory in the future.

“This bill has seen many forms and died many deaths, but we’ve come back with something that I think we can say” addresses the problem, said Sen. Chris Marr.

Watch LIVE on TVW or at tvw.org. I’ll update as debate continues.

UPDATE: The Senate passed the bill. Now they’ve moved onto the home buyer’s warranty bill.

Tags: Cap and Trade, Environment, greenhouse

Van Jones, who is testifying in the Senate Environment, Water and Energy Committee now, said he was happy to be in Washington, a state that’s leading the way on “green” issues.

Jones is the founder and president of Green for All, a national organization that works to put low-income people to work on green jobs.

“Literally everything that is good for the environment is a job,” he said. “Solar panels don’t install themselves.”

Jones says that in a green economy, “the math is different. You don’t just count what you spend, you count what you save.”

“You are in a unique situation very rare in American history. This is one of those moments, like the civil war, like the New Deal, like the 60s — civil rights and women’s rights — literally in that era, when our grandkids are going to study what you did,” he said.

“This assembly will be studied. Now, the question is, are we going to do something truly transformative? Are we going to turn this breakdown into a breakthrough?”

He said the way to do that is to use green jobs as a springboard into a new economy.

Tags: economy, Environment, Van Jones

Here’s Governor Chris Gregoire’s full press conference from earlier today. That quote comes near the end.

Tags: Environment, Governor, Green jobs

Earlier this month, the Department of Ecology told the Senate Water, Energy and Telecommunications Committee that improving the environment would dovetail with efforts to improve the economy. But The Associated Press reports today that the Governor may not see things the same way in light of the $5.7 billion projected budget deficit for 2009-2011.

The Climate Change Task Force, which Gov. Chris Gregoire assembled last year, unveiled their plan for climate change legislation on Monday.

Their findings recommend a Cap and Trade system, which would cap Carbon emissions and require certain industries to buy or trade emissions credits.

But:

Concerned about the bad economy and pressure on businesses, Gregoire is leaning toward giving away most of the pollution credits, rather than auctioning them off as environmentalists had hoped.

(more…)

Tags: Cap and Trade, Emissions, Environment, Governor