Daily Legislative Update

This evening, the full Senate was scheduled to hold a floor session. The only bill on the Order of Consideration was SB 6130, which suspends Initiative 960’s hurdles to adopting taxes. The bill already passed both the House and Senate; however, because the House made amendments to the bill, it had to be returned to the Senate. They have the option of accepting or rejecting the House amendments, but it is widely assumed that the Senate will concur with the House amendments and quickly forward the bill to Gov. Gregoire for her signature. With tax-raising provisions of I-960 all-but completed, the door is open for budget-writers to unveil their budget plans.

After a week of speculation and rumor-mongering, things are looking a bit clearer on the budget front (on revenue, things still are a bit murky). Earlier today, the Senate released its 2010 Supplemental Transportation Budget proposal (SB 6381). Late last night, we received word that the Senate will release its version of a 2010 Supplemental Operating Budget (SB 6444) tomorrow, Tuesday, morning  It is also assumed that they will release a 2010 Supplemental Capital Construction Budget (SB 6364) at the same time. Senate budget-writers will hold a press conference at 9:00 am. The Senate Operating Budget will receive a public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee tomorrow afternoon.

In a strange break from tradition, the House plans to release all three of its budget proposals back-to-back-to-back the same day as the Senate’s release. House budget-writers will hold a press conference and release a 2010 Supplemental Operating Budget (HB 2824) at 12:15 pm. Transportation budget-writers will hold a press conference and release their 2010 Supplemental Transportation Budget (HB 2838) at 1:00 pm. At 1:30, Rep. Hans Dunshee, Chair of the House Capital Budget Committee will hold a press conference to release a 2010 Supplemental Capital Budget (HB 2836). All three of the House budget proposals will receive public hearings in their respective committees tomorrow evening. We will provide as much detail about the House and Senate budget plans as quickly as possible in Tuesday’s Daily Update. The next issue of our weekly Impact newsletter will also likely be a comprehensive review of the budgets.

Even though much of the legislative focus will now shift to budgets (and revenue to support those budgets), legislative committees still have policy work to accomplish. The Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee held a public hearing on five bills: HB 2731, HB 2687, HB 2867, HB 3068 and SB 6858.

• HB 2731 would direct the development of a basic education program of early learning to be governed by the OSPI and the Department of Early Learning (DEL).
• HB 2687 would establish a  Home Visiting Services Account and authorize the Department of Early Learning to expend funds from the account to provide state matching funds for home visiting programs.
• HB 2867 would declare the legislative intent to establish and fund a continuum of birth-to-three programs and services for children and their parents and caregivers. It would add to the primary duties of the Department of Early Learning the responsibility to develop a comprehensive birth-to-three plan to provide education and support through a continuum of options and would direct the Department to develop a birth-to-three plan, including recommended appropriation levels, and report to the Legislature by December 1, 2010.
• HB 3068 would allow, under certain circumstances, individuals who participated in one of the Recruiting Washington Teachers programs for high school students to participate in the Pipeline for Paraeducators conditional scholarship program.
• SB 6858 is the bill we’ve discussed the past few days intended to provide for more ample, equitable and dependable state funding for public schools. The bill would restructure K-12 financing by reducing all school districts’ local levy authority by 12 percent and increase the state property tax levy by an equivalent amount. The revenue shift would fully fund school districts’ pupil transportation and operating costs, while holding all school districts “harmless.”  For more details on the plan, see Sen. Joe Zarelli’s Budget Tidbits (Budget Brief #6).

We were prepared to offer supportive comments, at least to the concept, of SB 6858; however, before the bill was given time for public hearing, the Committee moved the bill to the Senate Ways & Means Committee without recommendation (essentially, they re-referred the bill). At the end of the hearing, after the bill had already been moved out of the Committee, a few minutes were left to receive public hearing on the bill and we stated our appreciation for bringing the idea forward. While we stopped short of endorsing the bill, we stated that the bill can and should be part of a more in-depth discussion on K-12 funding in the interim. We suggested that the Senate should revive Sen. Hobbs’ SB 6740, which established a framework for addressing a comprehensive K-12 education funding plan (SB 6740 has been bottled up in the Senate Ways & Means Committee and is presumed dead). Whether SB 6858 will receive a public hearing in the Senate Ways & Means Committee is unknown; however, it seems doubtful (of course, we said that about a public hearing in the K-12 Committee, too).

The Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee  also took executive action on five bills (in addition to the action on SB 6858, noted above): HB 2996, HB 3036, HB 1757, HB 1162 and HB 1418.

• HB 2996 would authorize the same record check access rules and procedures be used for approved private schools as are used for school districts, educational school districts, tribal schools, and others.
• HB 3036 would clarify and expand public meeting and notice requirements before a school district may contract for nonvoter-approved debt.
• HB 1757 would create a Small School District Contingency Fund to provide three-year loans to small school districts in financial distress.
• HB 1162 would create a Social Emotional Learning Public-Private Partnership Account to promote and encourage incorporation of Social Emotional Learning into basic education instruction in public schools.
• HB 1418 would create a statewide dropout reengagement system for youth aged 16 to 21 who have dropped out of school or are not expected to graduate by age 21.