This Washington
Best of Olympia, Week 3
What happened in Olympia this week. And what I think about it:
1. Best Political Maneuver of the Week: Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-12, Wenatchee)
Rep. Armstrong, the ranking Republican on the house transportation committee, appeared to give transit liberals a big boost by being the lead co-sponsor (and the only Republican) to sign on, along with the most liberal Democrats in the house, to Rep. Marko Liias' (D-21, Edmonds) emergency transit funding bill—which would authorize King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties to tack a $30 congestion fee on cars to help fund bus service.
Bam. With all the microphones then pointed at Armstrong, he announced a meaningful footnote: He was actually into authorizing counties to put it up for a local vote.
Liias acknowledges that Armstrong noted the public vote aspect in their earlier discussions, but says he hadn't realized it was a "drop dead" issue for Armstrong. While some enviro advocates feel they were burned by Armstrong, Liias says, "I didn't feel I was stabbed in the back. I appreciate that he's a close partner on this bill and we're going to work together to get this funding this session."
We have a call in to Rep. Armstrong.
2. Curve Ball of the week: Banks say "Sue Us."
Lefty advocates for poor and low-income people were left scratching their heads after one of this week's biggest hearings: Wednesday morning's judiciary committee hearing on Rep. Tina Orwall's (D-33, Des Moines) foreclosure bill .
Rep. Orwall's bill would force banks to enter mediation to work out a deal with borrowers before deciding to foreclose on lapsed mortgages. The bill is an effort to strengthen state law requiring banks to at least send appropriate notice of foreclosures—something a state study determined banks were not doing.
At the hearing, dominated by testimony from people who'd lost their homes or were in danger of losing their homes, the banks testified that they would rather have the new legislation enforce the appropriate notice requirement with the threat of an AG lawsuit instead of with mediation.
The mediation wouldn't be binding, but a courtroom verdict would. Hmmmm.
3. Buzz of the Week: Watch for a Roads/Transit/Stormwater Omnibus Bill
Transit and environmental advocates shopping for transit funding and a fee on oil companies to pay for stormwater cleanup are being sucked into the vortex of senate transportation chair Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen's (D-10, Camano Island) master plan.
Green legislators and environmental advocates seem to think Haugen will make sure neither of the bills pass in their own right so that she can put the progressive measures in a giant roads funding referendum with a guarantee that lefties won't oppose it at the ballot.
Highlights from this week's Cola coverage:
We put a human face (and not a smiley one) on health care cuts; 500 Christian activists show up in full force to protest pregnancy center bill; in the second-best protest showing of the week, 400 community college kids show up to protest tuition increases; Republicans propose locking Eyman's 1053 into the state constitution; Rep. Reuven Carlyle (Cola's choice for best legislator last week for his proposal to sunset 500 tax loopholes) kinda steps in it this week by proposing a loophole of his own; and Republican Sen. Joseph Zarelli (R-18, Ridgefield) filed a couple of bills that lit up our Morning Fizz comments thread.
Coming up next week:
Labor (with their legislative allies Reps. Timm Ormbsy and Mike Sells and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles) will continue to lock horns with Gov. Chris Gregoire over including a $15 a week child benefit in the unemployment tax break deal for business.
Also, we're still waiting on the senate ways and means committee to propose their own version of the supplemental budget. The house version, released last week, saved Speaker Rep. Frank Chopp's sacrosanct Disability Lifeline while cutting the Basic Health Plan. Will senate ways and means chair Sen. Ed Murray—no Chopp fan—propose the opposite?
1. Best Political Maneuver of the Week: Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-12, Wenatchee)
Rep. Armstrong, the ranking Republican on the house transportation committee, appeared to give transit liberals a big boost by being the lead co-sponsor (and the only Republican) to sign on, along with the most liberal Democrats in the house, to Rep. Marko Liias' (D-21, Edmonds) emergency transit funding bill—which would authorize King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties to tack a $30 congestion fee on cars to help fund bus service.
Bam. With all the microphones then pointed at Armstrong, he announced a meaningful footnote: He was actually into authorizing counties to put it up for a local vote.
Liias acknowledges that Armstrong noted the public vote aspect in their earlier discussions, but says he hadn't realized it was a "drop dead" issue for Armstrong. While some enviro advocates feel they were burned by Armstrong, Liias says, "I didn't feel I was stabbed in the back. I appreciate that he's a close partner on this bill and we're going to work together to get this funding this session."
We have a call in to Rep. Armstrong.
2. Curve Ball of the week: Banks say "Sue Us."
Lefty advocates for poor and low-income people were left scratching their heads after one of this week's biggest hearings: Wednesday morning's judiciary committee hearing on Rep. Tina Orwall's (D-33, Des Moines) foreclosure bill .
Rep. Orwall's bill would force banks to enter mediation to work out a deal with borrowers before deciding to foreclose on lapsed mortgages. The bill is an effort to strengthen state law requiring banks to at least send appropriate notice of foreclosures—something a state study determined banks were not doing.
At the hearing, dominated by testimony from people who'd lost their homes or were in danger of losing their homes, the banks testified that they would rather have the new legislation enforce the appropriate notice requirement with the threat of an AG lawsuit instead of with mediation.
The mediation wouldn't be binding, but a courtroom verdict would. Hmmmm.
3. Buzz of the Week: Watch for a Roads/Transit/Stormwater Omnibus Bill
Transit and environmental advocates shopping for transit funding and a fee on oil companies to pay for stormwater cleanup are being sucked into the vortex of senate transportation chair Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen's (D-10, Camano Island) master plan.
Green legislators and environmental advocates seem to think Haugen will make sure neither of the bills pass in their own right so that she can put the progressive measures in a giant roads funding referendum with a guarantee that lefties won't oppose it at the ballot.
Highlights from this week's Cola coverage:
We put a human face (and not a smiley one) on health care cuts; 500 Christian activists show up in full force to protest pregnancy center bill; in the second-best protest showing of the week, 400 community college kids show up to protest tuition increases; Republicans propose locking Eyman's 1053 into the state constitution; Rep. Reuven Carlyle (Cola's choice for best legislator last week for his proposal to sunset 500 tax loopholes) kinda steps in it this week by proposing a loophole of his own; and Republican Sen. Joseph Zarelli (R-18, Ridgefield) filed a couple of bills that lit up our Morning Fizz comments thread.
Coming up next week:
Labor (with their legislative allies Reps. Timm Ormbsy and Mike Sells and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles) will continue to lock horns with Gov. Chris Gregoire over including a $15 a week child benefit in the unemployment tax break deal for business.
Also, we're still waiting on the senate ways and means committee to propose their own version of the supplemental budget. The house version, released last week, saved Speaker Rep. Frank Chopp's sacrosanct Disability Lifeline while cutting the Basic Health Plan. Will senate ways and means chair Sen. Ed Murray—no Chopp fan—propose the opposite?
