1. The state House passed Sen. Jeanne Kohl Welles' (D-36, Ballard) "Proven Programs" bill yesterday, 67-31. The bill, which already passed the Senate, undoes a 1996 state law that required the state to apply for abstinence-only funding. Thus the term "Proven Programs," which means "information verified by research in compliance with scientific methods that is published in peer-review journals ... and recognized as accurate and objective by expert professional organizations."

"Abstinence-Only" education did not meet those standards.

2. I talked to Peter Steinbrueck last night. He bitched about Mayor Nickels "unimaginative" land use policy which he said gave way to "butt ugly" density like car courts that turn the public off to increasing density. Steinbrueck, who supports density, complained that all the good design for "walkable, livable, compact communities" seems to happen when designers are able to get exemptions from land use rules. Steinbrueck asked: "Why not write those exemptions into the guidelines?" Steinbrueck spoke to these issues in front of the City Council's planning commitee on Wednesday. Watch it here (go to the 73:40 mark.)

Re: the $25,000 question (or $300,000 question) about a possible Steinbrueck run for Mayor, he said he would make a decision by the end of the month. He said he wasn't plagued by "indecision," but he had to resolve some other issues and opportunities before he could actually make a decision.

3. Morning Fizz was wrong about state Rep. Scott White (D-46, N. Seattle). Yesterday, we characterized the freshman Seattle legislator as "typically quiet" when we reported that he'd taken the "slightly subversive" move of challenging Speaker of the House Frank Chopp (D-43, Wallingford, Capitol Hill) by sending a letter to colleagues that undermined Chopp's 520 plan (a tunnel option that ups the price tag by $2 billion). 

Well, now this letter has come to our attention. Rep. White is apparently the only House legislator who's put his demand that the House vote on the now-controversial workers' privacy act in writing, to the Speaker.  



4. The League of Education Voters, The State PTA, the Gates Foundation, and a coalition called Stand for Education are lobbying the state Senate hard on education reform—trying to get them to upgrade their education reform bill so it matches the more aggressive House version. However, as a reform lobbyist noted to me yesterday, they haven't noticed their Washington Education Association counterparts (the teachers union) in Olympia lately. The fear: The WEA has the inside scoop. The Senate has already made up its mind to stick with the weaker bill.

5. King County might actually get some money for transit. A bill authorizing the County to increase property taxes and collect about $25 million a year for bus service is queued up for a vote in the House. It already passed the Senate.