The House and Senate are set to begin final negotiations on a supplemental budget plan following the passage of budgets out of both chambers this week. While both budgets focus on mental health and wildfires, they remain apart by about $400 million in overall spending. Continue reading Negotiations set to begin as House, Senate pass supplemental budget proposals
Negotiations set to begin as House, Senate pass supplemental budget proposals
The House and Senate are set to begin final negotiations on a supplemental budget plan following the passage of budgets out of both chambers this week. While both budgets focus on mental health and wildfires, they remain apart by about $400 million in overall spending. Continue reading Negotiations set to begin as House, Senate pass supplemental budget proposals
The final report from the governor’s Department of Corrections investigation regarding a sentencing calculation error that resulted in the early release of more than 3,000 prisoners, was released Thursday.
The seven-week investigation included interviewing nearly 60 witnesses and reviewing over 134,000 documents provided by the DOC. 
Senate Republicans released a supplemental budget proposal Wednesday that focuses spending on wildfires and mental health, while also restoring money to charter schools to keep them open in Washington. 
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday introduced the House supplemental capital budget, which provides funding for classrooms, mental health facilities and environmental cleanup projects.
The House capital budget authorizes $87 million in spending for state and local construction projects in Washington through 2017 leaving $1.8 million in bond capacity reserved for a 2017 supplemental capital budget. 
Karri Kennison told a Senate committee Tuesday about the day she learned of her daughter's death. Kennison was playing with her grandson when she got a notification on her phone from a local TV station. It said that there had been a shooting at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane in the cancer center lab 
Republicans from the House and Senate responded to the House supplemental budget proposal on at a press conference Tuesday. They also updated reporters on State Auditor Troy Kelley’s impeachment status, and discussed their additional funding request for the Senate’s investigation into the Department of Corrections. 
The Senate Law and Justice Committee held its initial hearing Monday on its investigation into the Department of Corrections sentencing calculation error that resulted in the early release of nearly 3,000 prisoners. 
Lawmakers from the House passed a bill on Monday regarding law enforcement body cameras.
House Bill 2362 passed on a vote of 61-36. The bill outlines policy under the Public Records Act for those requesting the video and sound recordings. The bill also requires law enforcement to adopt certain policies on the use of the cameras. 
House Democrats released a supplemental budget proposal Monday that raises teacher salaries, attempts to fix staffing shortages at Western State Hospital and uses "rainy day" funds to pay for wildfire costs and homeless programs. 
The McCleary basic education funding plan is the first bill of the session to pass out of both the House and the Senate. Senate Bill 6195 passed out of the House on Thursday on a 66-31 vote and now goes to the governor for his signature. It passed out of the Senate earlier this week. What some […] 