End-of-session legislative summary

The 2011 legislative session was dominated by a $5.3 billion budget shortfall and resulting budget negotiations that promise to continue into a special session starting Tuesday. Beyond the budget, though, state lawmakers took up issues ranging from coal power to medical marijuana to foreclosure policy, with some big ideas making it into state law and others dying along the way. Here’s an end-of-session summary of what’s happened for the last 104 days in Olympia.

BILLS THAT PASSED

Environment:

House Bill 1489 prohibits the sale or use of lawn fertilizer that contains phosphorus except to start new lawns or repair damaged ones. The measure, which is meant to limit water pollution and algae blooms, includes exceptions for gardens and agriculture.

Senate Bill 5769 will end coal power in Washington by 2025. Early in the session the proposal faced strong opposition from TransAlta, the state’s only coal-fired power plant, but after negotiations with environmental groups, both sides reached a deal. It still needs a signature from Gov. Chris Gregoire, but the bill mirrors an executive order she approved in 2009, and she’s said she plans to sign it.

House Bill 1294 creates the Puget Sound Corps, a branch of the Washington Conservation Corps meant to attract more federal grant money that can be used to hire young people and veterans.

House Bill 1186 establishes more stringent oil spill response rules for tanker companies. It requires the Ecology Department to update the equipment that oil-transporting companies must have in the area and to improve the state’s system for coordinating volunteers and private boat owners to respond to spills.

Foreclosures:

House Bill 1362 creates a foreclosure mediation program that will allow lenders, borrowers and a third-party mediator to get together and try to reach a loan modification agreement. It will also charge banks a fee to fund more housing counselors, and it lengthens the amount of time borrowers can get before they lose their homes.

Elections:

Senate Bill 5124 requires all counties to vote by mail. The new rule aims at Pierce County, the only one in the state to have held on to in-person voting.

House Bill 1000 is designed to make voting easier for military personnel and other Washington residents overseas. Awaiting approval from the governor, it will allow state residents living abroad to get their ballots via fax or email and return them electronically as well.

Business:

Senate Bill 5135 and House Bill 1091 reduce taxes for some businesses, increase benefits for workers by $25 per week and extend a benefits system for workers that kicks in when there’s high unemployment.

House Bill 1150 gives businesses more time to correct a violation of a state rule before they’re punished. It gives business owners seven calendar days, up from two business days, to change their practices.

Motor vehicles:

Senate Bill 5326 creates tougher penalties for drivers who hurt or kill a biker, pedestrian or other “vulnerable user” of a public road while driving negligently. People who hit vulnerable users could get fines up to $5,000 and have their licenses revoked for 90 days, unless they opt for a court hearing, a smaller fine, a traffic safety course and 100 hours of community service. Awaiting the governor’s signature.

Senate Bill 5242 is designed to combat motorcycle profiling by law enforcement officers by requiring training on the subject. Motorcycle profiling is defined as using “the fact a person rides a motorcycle or wears motorcycle-related paraphernalia as a factor in deciding to stop and question, take enforcement action, arrest, or search a person or vehicle.”

Senate Bill 5540 allows schools to put traffic cameras on school buses to take pictures of the cars that pass them illegally. Drivers who have their license plates photographed by the cameras could get tickets in the mail for up to $394. Awaiting the governor’s signature.

Alcohol:

House Bill 1172 sets up a pilot project to allow beer and wine tasting in 10 farmers markets around the state, a move supporters say will boost sales for little-known, local producers.

The state would have tougher penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs under two bills awaiting the governor’s approval. House Bill 1789 will expand the number of offenders who have to install an ignition interlock device to prevent their vehicles from starting if they detect a certain amount of alcohol. Senate Bill 5000 requires police to impound for 12 hours vehicles belonging to people who are arrested on suspicion of driving drunk.

Service animals:

House Bill 1728 prohibits restaurants from discriminating against people who use service animals; places that sell food will have to make reasonable accommodations for people to bring service dogs and miniature horses in with them. Awaiting the governor’s signature.

Park fees:

House Bill 5622 requires drivers who visit state parks and other state lands to pay either $10 per visit or buy a $30 annual “discover pass.” The proposal is designed to make the parks system more self-sustaining, and it could save about $49 million, according to the Senate budget. Awaiting the governor’s signature.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

With the regular session for this year over, lawmakers are launching into a special session Tuesday focused on budgetary issues. Items that need to be worked out for the budget to go into effect include:

Liquor distribution:

The House budget relied on about $300 million in added revenue from leasing out the state’s liquor distribution system to a private sector company. The Senate proposal didn’t rely on leasing out the liquor warehouse, leaving the idea a potential sticking point in the budget negotiations.

Education:

The Senate proposed some controversial cuts to education spending, including a 3 percent pay cut for teachers, and some senators have been pushing a performance-based teacher layoff system, ideas that have met with opposition from members of the House and the governor. Both the House and Senate budgets would cut class-size reduction money and reduce bonuses for National Board Certified teachers.

On the table in both House and Senate versions of the budget are steep tuition increases and big cuts to higher education. Another idea that’s still in play is giving four-year universities tuition-setting authority for four years.

Social services:

Both the House and Senate budgets preserve but reduce funding for social safety net programs such as Basic Health and Disability Lifeline. In both cases, the Senate cuts are deeper than those in the House, and budget negotiators will have to decide how many people will lose coverage under state-subsidized health care programs over the next two years.

Workers’ compensation:

The thorny issue of reforming the state’s workers’ compensation system to keep it from running out of money has been a topic of ongoing debate. Senate Bill 5566, a business-backed measure that would allow the state insurance system for injured workers to pay out lump-sum settlements instead of covering ongoing medical expenses, passed the Senate. But it stalled in the House, and it’s faced strong opposition from labor every step of the way. Gregoire wants to see the issue resolved in the special session.

Transportation:

The House and Senate had already agreed to a two-year transportation budget that spends about $9 billion and has smaller rate hikes and cuts to the ferry system. Legislators are still working on passing the bills to implement that budget, though, including proposals that affect collective bargaining for ferry workers and building a 144-car ferry.

Tax exemptions:

After several big union protests calling for an end to tax breaks, House and Senate Democrats announced a collection of proposals for ending tax exemptions. All of them will probably be a hard sell, though, because a voter-approved initiative requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to raise taxes.

Another option is to send a proposal to the ballot to end tax loopholes because, under I-1053, a vote of the people can be used to raise taxes as well.

One proposal by Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, would allow voters to decide whether tax exemptions should be eligible for the two-thirds majority requirement in I-1053, which would make it easier for lawmakers to roll back some tax breaks.

BILLS THAT DIED (PROBABLY)

Most bills that didn’t pass during the regular session and aren’t directly related to implementing the budget are likely dead. But it’s possible that some legislation could be revived during this week’s special session as part of any budget deal.

Tobacco:

Senate Bill 5039, which would have required insurance companies to cover treatments to help people quit smoking.

House Bill 1246, which would have banned some flavored tobacco products that the bill’s supporters said were designed to appeal to children.

(One tobacco bill that could come back in special session is Senate Bill 5542, a proposal to allow cigar lounges in the state.)

Traffic cameras:

A long list of bills to restrict red-light and speeding enforcement cameras stalled this session. Proposals that ranged from the outright ban of cameras to requirements for the length of yellow lights to mandating voter approval before they’re installed all failed at some point in the process.

Rep. Christopher Hurst, who sponsored two of the traffic-camera bills, said he expected that there would be an initiative in November to reduce or eliminate their use.

Stormwater:

Two bills to fund stormwater pollution cleanup in the state with a 1 percent fee to petroleum products stalled in committee. Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, sponsor of House Bill 1735, said he’d requested that the proposal be incorporated into the budget, which would allow lawmakers to pass it during special session.

Elected officials’ salaries:

Lawmakers came out with several proposals to reduce elected officials’ salaries, but none passed. There’s still a chance they could resurface in the special session, said Sen. Derek Kilmer, sponsor of one constitutional amendment that would require elected officials’ salaries to be reduced whenever state workers get a pay cut.

Driver’s licenses:

Proposals to verify a person’s citizenship before issuing him or her a driver’s license fell through, leaving Washington and New Mexico the only two states to offer licenses without asking for proof of legal residency.

Agency consolidation:

Some big ideas for consolidating the state bureaucracy fizzled, including proposals to create a state Education Department and to consolidate natural resource agencies. A money-saving proposal to consolidate some statewide back-office agencies that manage state printing and personnel, among other things, could be part of a budget deal.