After much debate and several proposed amendments, the House just voted 62-35 to pass a bill to bolster the state’s oil-spill plan.

The oil spill last April in the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the release of 200 million gallons of crude oil into the environment. According to the bill’s text, the catastrophe “is a reminder that the threat of major spills to Washington’s environment, natural resources, economy, quality of life and private property is significant.”

The proposal calls for more contingency planning from tank vessels and increased penalties in the event of a spill. It would also require that the state be notified of any oil spill — or near miss.

Supporters said it would help the state respond quicker and ensure the costs of a major clean-up are covered. Some in opposition said the bill was a good one but that it was too expensive for the state to consider right now. Others said they worried that the oil industry might not be able to meet the bill’s timelines.

Here is TVW’s blog on the bill’s public hearing earlier this month.

The House is debating a bill to limit fertilizer with phosphorus.

Republicans have put up many amendments — including ones to exempt schools, sports fields, senior centers and dog parks. Each has failed.

The bill wouldn’t ban fertilizers that contain phosphorus — and it would still allow many types to be sold. Instead, the bill focuses on turf fertilizer.

“We’ve heard quite a bit already about this bill … and I think what we haven’t talked about is why. Why do we need to manage and limit phosphorus in turf fertilizer,” said Rep. Andy Billig. He said the reason is toxic algal blooms, which are fed by phosphorus. “Phosphorus is necessary for root development,” he said, and the bill allows use in agriculture or building a lawn. But, he said, it’s not necessary when fertilizing your lawn. He said the bill aims to remove fertilizer with phosphorus as the “default.”

“Phosphorus itself is utilized in the soil … it binds,” said Rep. Shelly Short. She said algal blooms are serious, but that there are other contributing factors. “There are many, many things that enter into this and isolating one and pointing to it is not the way to do this,” she said.

Rep. Matt Shea said he’s also opposed: “We banned dishwasher detergent that had phosphorus in it, folks went from the Spokane Valley into Idaho to get dish soap,” he said. “And now we want to ban a nonpoint source” he said — and people in his district will “go to Idaho again.” He said science doesn’t support the notion that limiting phosphorus in fertilizers will affect water quality.

“I’m sure that Fred Meyer and the Washington Retailers Association, by supporting the current version of this bill, are not trying to drive business to Idaho,” said Rep. Jeff Morris. “I ask the members to vote yest to take this reasonable step forward.”

“We’re going to see people that are going to want the fertilizer,” said Rep. Ed Orcutt. He said this bill will create an incentive to “run right across the 205 bridge, go to Home Depot, get their fertilizer actually with phosphorus with it,” he said. “And by the way, there won’t be any sales tax.” He said without phosphorus, fertilizer is “not going to be effective.” He said the fertilizer maker might be supporting the bill because they’ll sell twice as much fertilizer because people will keep pouring it on, trying to green their grass up.

“Bills like this, I think, are what drive people crazy,” said Rep. Charles Ross. “Here’s what I’ve heard: This great bill does a lot of things, but it doesn’t really do a lot of things,” he said.

The bill passed and now heads to the Senate.

Tags: fertilizer

Today is the 10th anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake and several lawmakers on the Senate floor just stood to reminisce on the day when many of them inside the state capital building said they thought the dome was going to collapse on top of them all.

It was one of the largest earthquakes in the state’s recorded history with a 6.8 magnitude. The epicenter was a little over 10 miles from Olympia.

Sen. Mike Hewitt said he was a freshman lawmaker and remembered thinking “gosh, I worked really hard to get elected and now I am going to die in this building.” “All I could think about was the hundreds of tons of marble around us,” he said.

“Rather than jumping under a table, I jumped into a window,” said Sen. Jim Honeyford. He said he was surprised to see that four senators of his size could fit into one doorway.

Sen. Dan Swecker said he thought it would be the biggest news in Washington that year, but then, he said that was the year of 9/11. “It really makes you think,” he said.

“I always told my husband that ‘he rocks my world’ but I told him to quit,” said Sen. Tracey Eide, whose 25^th wedding anniversary was the day of the earthquake. “Unfortunately, I think I have spent every single anniversary down here…and he does still rock my world.”

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells said that it really brought everyone together when they were forced to finish out the session in Senate hearing room 4.

Tags: Nisqually earthquake

The House just passed a bill to allow doctors to purchase eyeglasses from the Department of Corrections — where inmates make them as part of a work program — so that Medicaid patients can purchase them at cost.

In the beginning of this year, Medicaid stopped paying for eyeglasses. That’s meant Medicaid patients have been left to pay the full price, which many can’t afford. This bill would allow doctors to make the cheaper, prison-produced glasses available to their low-income Medicaid patients.

The bill passed unanimously, with supporters saying it’s a win-win situation that will help save inmate jobs and help low-income people across the state.

Tags: budget cuts, eyeglasses, Medicaid

The House just voted 70-26 to pass a proposal to partner with the state’s first nonprofit online university. Supporters said that it would open up access to higher education for much of the state’s population that, for their own reasons, doesn’t fit into the “brick and mortar” system. But opponents argue that the quality of education would not be as good and that successful online learning opportunities already exist in Washington.

“We have had many, many discussions…about the number of graduates that we need,” said Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney. “They [the Western Governor’s University] were founded in 1997 by a group of governors, including our Governor Lowry at the time.” She said the bill would hold the online university accountable as an accredited institution of higher learning. “Western Governors University is not a substitute for what we have now, but rather adds another option,” said Gutierrez Kenney. “We must look for further models to provide access to higher education.”

“Sixty-seven percent of the jobs in this state by 2018 will require a bachelor’s degree,” said Rep. Larry Haler. “People who are stuck out in the rural areas in ours state will be able to go out and get a bachelor’s degree.”

“I rise to caution putting this into law…it is very unusual,” said Rep. Chris Reykdal. He said some of the details that raise red flags include the issue of competency-based education and the fact that he does not believe the bill’s fiscal note is a good representation of the actual costs. (more…)

Tags: House of Representatives, online university

There is not much you can’t do on the Internet, including building a fake Facebook page under someone else’s name. But that soon could change.

Washington’s law affords everyone property rights over the things that make up their identity, like their name, voice, signature and likeness. If someone uses your personality for certain purposes without your permission, you can sue. However, there is a huge grey area when it comes to impersonations in cyberspace, as technology in many cases has developed faster than the law. But a bill that passed unanimously out of the House Saturday could make Washington a leader in regulating matters of the online world.

“Washington would be the second state in this country to catch up with this online phenomenon,” said the sponsor of HB 1652, Rep. David Frockt, on the floor of the House. “This will give our citizens a tool to fight back. It is something we could be proud of.”

California passed a law last year that both criminalizes online impersonation and makes it a civil cause of action. If found guilty, violators could face up to a year in prison and a find of up to $1,000.

Frockt told the members of the House that a Tacoma woman’s home was ransacked after someone had posted a bulletin on Craigslist inviting people to come and take whatever they wanted because she was moving and the house would soon be demolished. He also said that in another state, a man used Craigslist to impersonate his ex-girlfriend and asked people to sexually assault her in her home. The proposal would give victims of electronic impersonation the right to take civil action against the people who use cyberspace to harm them.

“We worked extremely hard with representatives of the industry…to craft a bill with strong exceptions to make sure they will not be slapped with liability,” said Frockt.

At the public hearing for the measure earlier this month, Lew McMurran of the Washington Technology Industry and Scott Hazlegrove from Yahoo! testified in support of the proposal. Representatives of the technology industry said it was the best-written bill of its kind that has been introduced around the country. (more…)

Tags: House of Representatives, online harassment, online impersonation

Did you catch last night’s edition of Inside Olympia? Austin Jenkins talked healthcare costs Democrats and Republicans from the House and Senate. A couple of interesting statistics: Sen. Karen Keiser said 80 percent of healthcare costs are driven by 20 percent of patients. And she said the state pays for half of all births in Washington, and far too many of those babies are delivered via C-section, which are more expensive and, Keiser says, not always necessary.

Tags: healthcare

Here’s the latest edition of Legislative Review:

The weather here at the Capital can’t seem to make its mind up today. When I started this post it was sunny outside, now it is overcast and a little over an hour ago it felt like we were in a snow globe.

The House Transportation committee just saw a presentation the history of Washington State ferries by Karen Schmidt. The conclusion: “The problems you are facing now are not new ones,” said Schmidt  ”They are ones that have been plaguing the ferry system for a long time.”

Here is a summary of the presentation:

The ferries date back to the 1940s, when they were privately owned by Black Ball Ferries and received federal subsidies. But change came in the 1950s and 60s when the state first refused to replace federal subsidies and then eventually took over the ferry system and raised fares. During that time, it was operated by the Toll Bridge Authority, which Schmidt said masked the ferry system’s financial problems.

The presentation tagged 1970-80 as “turbulent times,” where double-digit fare increases became an annual occurrence and ferry workers went on strike.  At that time, the gas tax included a small subsidy for ferries, said Schmidt.

In 1981, the legislature removed collective bargaining rights for salaries and replaced it with set salaries that were in line with other state employees, according the presentation. However, bargaining for working conditions and benefits was retained. After the bill became law, a three-day waterfront strike of all West Coast ports took place. (more…)

Tags: ferries