2011 Legislative Session

Day 81 - The session may get a lot more interesting after today. Rep. Charles Ross (Republican, 14th District) and I introduced three bills today to address the monopoly tribal casions have in Washington. HB 2044 would allow privately owned house banked card rooms to offer video lottery terminals within their establishments. The revenue from these machines would be dedicated to K-12 education, safety net programs for the most vulnerable in our society and public safety (law enforcement). I was interviewed by KOMO radio host Ken Schram this afternoon who seems to support the idea. There will be a lot of news artciles about this bill over the next few days.

Rep. Ross and I also introduced legislation to close tribal tax perferences on the fuel, cigarette and property taxes. Closing these tax preferences would generate approximately $110 million per biennium. The final bill provides the people's representatives (the legislature) with direct oversight over interstate, international, federal, and tribal agreements.

#HB #2044 #2045 #2046 #State #Rep #David #Taylor #Rep #Ross #video #lottery #terminals
http://chum.ly/n/7d6e5d

2011 Legislative Session

Day 80 - There's still very little happening in Olympia. We found out today that we will not be working on Saturday, which means I get to come home for the weekend. We've been able to pick up a few head of cattle over the past few weeks, leased out a few calves and trippers for a few weeks and traded for a new bull. We even picked up a new pasture foe the year. At least there's something going on at home. Some of the mares should be getting close to foaling in the next month or so, too.

 #Cattle #horses #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
http://chum.ly/n/7d1446

2011 Legislative Session

Days 78 and 79 - The grind has officially come to a standstill. There's a whole lot of nothing happening right now. It sounds like everyone is waiting for the General Budget to be made public later this week. I've got an interesting State Government and Tribal Affairs hearing Thursday morning ... Not sure how the bills scheduled for hearing are necessary to implement the budget, but we'll see. There are only 28 days left in the regular session and for the first time I can remember, there isn't a clear path to getting out of here.

Rep. Ross and I are still working on some issues and looking for opportunities to get our message out to the public. The Democrat Majority's budget should be very interesting and should, once again, provide a clear picture between their priorities and ours.

 #budget #SGTA #Committee #regular #session #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
http://chum.ly/n/7c9b2b

2001 Legislative Session

Days 75, 76 and 77 - As an update to Day 75 (Friday), Rep. Charles Ross and I met with the Governor to pitch a few ideas we have to address funding for K-12 education, public safety and programs for kids and the elderly. After hearing the Governor explain why she can't pursue any of our ideas, we asked her a series of questions. Instead of answering our questions, she simply restated why she can't pursue our ideas. Needless to say, I wasn't satisfied with the Governor's non-responses and spent all day Saturday (Day 76) doing further research into the issues. Amazingly enough what I've found so far provides further support for our ideas. My guess is the Governor hasn't dealt with someone who does their own research and won't blindly accept whatever she says. Hehehe ... Oh crap, Taylor's back!

As I've previously posted, this Session has been really strange. I've never seen this many committee meetings canceled, especially appropriations committees. I think things are lining up to make the last 4 weeks very interesting. I expect to see a lot of bills pulled directly from committees to the floor for debate, circumventing the normal public process. The Senate has already introduced several "Title Only" bills to protect the Democrat Majority's ability to keep their pet issues alive. It should be very interesting.

 #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor #Governor #WA #Title #Only
http://chum.ly/n/7bc318

2011 Legislative Session

Day 75 Update - Thanks to the Democrat majority first time voters still don't have to show proof of citizenship to vote in Washington State ... My amendment to require proof of citizenship failed. Also thanks to the Democrat majority, the citizens of Pierce County will now be required to vote by mail. Congratulations, the Democrat majority in the Legislature knows better than the locally elected County Council. So much for local control, so much for the best government being the government closest to the people.

 #SB #5124 #All #Mail #Voting #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District.
http://chum.ly/n/7b3607

2011 Legislative Session

Day 75 - On the House Floor this morning. Looks like we'll be running 6 bills today, including the Transportation Budget. We're also running a bill that will mandate all mail voting across the state and prohibit Counties from going back to poll voting. I've got a series of amendments to try and keep poll voting optional, but doubt it will pass. I've also got an amendment to require proof of citizenship before a County Auditor can issue a mail ballot to a first time voter, pursuant to Article 6, Section 1 of the State Constitution. We'll see how it goes.

 #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District #constitution #WA
http://chum.ly/n/7b2efa

Yea

Moly's here, yea!
http://chum.ly/n/7aff06

2011 Legislative Session

Days 73 and 74 - There still isn't a lot going on in Olympia. Granted I've only been here since 2009 as a Legislator, but I've worked on a lot of Legislative issues for many years and I don't recall a session quite like this before. I heard a staff member say today that she thinks we'll be here until July .... Not good news. It sounds like there will be a lot of games played in the budget for this biennium, but we've only heard about some of the possibilities, not seen them.

Rep. Ross and I went and watched Battle L.A. Last night. It was a good movie for guys that didn't want to think about anything. Lots of guns and crap blowing up! We watched the end of the WSU game too ... not a real pretty ending, but at least they're still plYing, unlike the Husky's. Hehehehe

 #WSU #Cougs #15th #District #State #Rep #David #Taylor #Battle #LA
http://chum.ly/n/7ae572

2011 Legislative Session

Days 71 and 72 - This continues to be highly inscribe Legislative Session. I've had several committee meetings canceled and the Rules Committee won't be meeting until tomorrow to determine what bills will be brought to the Floor for possible action. To say that nothing is moving is an understatement ... Crazy weird!

After several years of looking for a new pair of boots, I finally found some and they should arrive today! Yea ... Double H to the rescue. I have an event tonight with some of our Freshmen and a Committee breakfast in the morning to thank staff for all their hard work.

 #Double #H #boots #15th #District #State #Rep #David #Taylor
http://chum.ly/n/7a2c62

2011 Legislative Session

Day 70 - Nothing at the Capital today. Brock and I went to the batting cages ... He hit baseballs and I hit bucket of golf balls. Tomorrow begins a heck of a grind ... It's another policy cutoff week, which makes fo some late nights. It looks like it will be another couple of weeks before I have another opportunity to go home for the weekend.

The toughest part of a long session, is not getting an opportunity to get pastures harrowed or irrigation water turned on on time. Especially this year, since we could be here a long time.

 #cutoff #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
http://chum.ly/n/797515

2011 Legislative Session

Days 69 and 70 - Another couple of days of "same old, same old". Everything is sort of on hold now that the budget forecast is out and the state is short almost $800 million additionally. The budget writers will be very busy trying to find the balancing point. There are a lot of revenue ideas floating around right now, like legalizing marijuana and taxing it and the "25th" month. Incidentally, the last time the Legislature used the 25th month, it took 16 years to fix ... Not a real good plan.

I'm picking up Brock today for Spring Break ... Looking forward to that. Next week looks like it will be a fairy long grind with a cutoff coming on Friday and a lot of fiscal work to do as well. It's a fairly nice day over here, so maybe we'll be able to find something to do outside. Stay tuned for Monday ...

 #Legalizing #marijuana #tax #spring #break #25th #month #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
http://chum.ly/n/79147a

2011 Legislative Session

Days 67 and 68 - It has been an incredibly busy and hectic couple of days. I've had a lot of meetings, both committee and with constituents, on a variety of issues. The revenue forecast came out today and projected a net decreased of $778 million for the 2009-2011 and 2011-2013 biennia. Not real good news for the taxpayers of Washington.

Yakima County Republican Chairman, Max Golladay, came over yesterday (Wednesday) and spent the afternoon meeting with the Yakima County delegation. Max stayed with me last night and we went to diner to get caught up on everything going on back home. It was really great seeing him ... It really refueled me for the fight. I'm refocused and ready to go.

The next couple of days will be rather interesting. We're gearing up for some major legislation over the next couple of weeks. Should be fun.

 #revenue #forecast #Max #Golladay #15th #District #State #Rep #David #Taylor #$778 #million
http://chum.ly/n/789c80

Thoughts

"Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the few not for the many." --James Madison, Federalist No. 62, 1788

 #Madison #Federalist #62 #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
http://chum.ly/n/77c26a

2011 Legislative Session

Days 64 and 65 - Monday was a fairly uneventful day, but I did get to see a friend formally from the 15th District. We had a great conversation and he walked me through a lot of the changes made to Chum.ly. Very cool and useful social network.

I'm sitting in the General Government Appropriations and Oversight Committee right now and we're hearing HB 2008 which would "blend" portions of the Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) with the Forest Practices Act and add significant new fees. It's being dubbed a "major and significant reform". Unfortunately, the bill does very little to reform anything. It establishes dual state agency oversight, duplicates civil penalties, expands the government's role and authority, and is estimated to increase costs on landowners and project proponents by 555%. Most everyone is opposed to the bill, except the Yakama Nation and People for Puget Sound.

I did learn something this morning, the Department of Fish and Wildlife does not recognize federal mining claims in rivers and streams or the riparian water rights associated with them.
http://chum.ly/n/77bb1a

2011 Legislative Session

Day 63 - Yes, I missed several days ... Sorry Bout that. So what started out as a simple head cold, turned into a nasty chest infection. I finally went to the doctor on Friday ... those who know my history with doctors know that was no small task on Molly's part. A portion of a Z-PAC later and I'm feeling little better. I am so very proud of Tiffany, she played great this weekend at her tournament and is learning how to handle adversity very, very well. She's a real trooper, even when things don't go according to plan.

I'm back in Olympia tonight ... Snoqualmie Pass was about as much fun as getting a tooth pulled, but I made it ok. Just finished a good California Chicken Wrap from my favorite hangout and I'm getting ready to hit the pillow. Tonight was especially difficult to leave home ... the dogs seemed to know I was leaving again and kept wanting to be around me. Tougher than that was saying goodbye to Molly. She really keeps me centered and is my best advisor and friend. It sounds like Max G. might come over this week, which would be really great and another friend, John G, is supposed to be in town tomorrow.

 #15th #District #State #Rep #David #Taylor #The #Brick #doctor #v

15th #District #State #Rep #David #Taylor #the #Brick #on #Trosper #volleyball #Max #doctor #Gotts
http://chum.ly/n/772eca

2011 Legislative Session

Day 58 - Now that cutoff has come and gone, things have slowed down to a normal pace again. I had a couple of Committee meetings today, but nothing too controversial. I participated in a meeting with members of our leadership team and Futurewise ...that was interesting. I'm still feeling like garbage, but at least my head cold is pretty much done, except now it moved into my lungs. All in all, the next few days should be easy compared to last week and it looks like I'll get to come home this weekend.

 #Futurewise #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
http://chum.ly/n/74d650

2011 Legislative Session

Day 57 - We're finally at the House of Origin cutoff and it looks like HB 2011 will be the final bill of the night. It is possible they will run another bill before the 5:00 PM cutoff and then return to HB 2011, but it doesn't look like that will happen ... time will tell. HB 2011 will provide Department of Corrections personnel with binding interest arbitration. In a time when the state is facing major budget deficits the Democratic Majority is once again expanding collection bargaining and binding interest arbitration to another group of public employees. This bill may very well be the "stinker" of the year and will significantly increase the Department of Correction's budget. The bill applies to all Department of Corrections personnel, not just Corrections Officers. It should be noted the bill was introduced two days ago, was never heard by a fiscal committee and no fiscal note has been prepared for the bill. HB 2011 is a really bad bill, that could reduce the total number of Correctional Officers working within the system. In the end, the state has a finite amount of revenue to fund basic government services and the Democrats have chosen to pass a bill that benefits a public employee union.

 #HB #2011 #union #binding #arbitration #budget #impacts #cutoff #15th #District #State #Rep #David #Taylor
http://chum.ly/n/7424f2

2011 Legislative Session

Day 56 - Well we finally got a day away from the Capital. We finished up last night on the House Floor around 11:15 PM to complete two grulling days ... Friday was a little over 16 hours (8 AM to 12:15 AM) and Saturday was a little over 13 hours (10:00 AM to 11:15 PM). The worst party of yesterday were the "rolling" meals. "Rolling" means the House continues to debate legislation while members go to the cafeteria to eat. Members cannot leave the Capital Campus during these times, which make for very long days. I was able to get one bill (HB 1875) through the House late Friday night, now it's off to the Senate for consideration.

Today (Sunday) will definitely be a day of rest. I've got a few small things to take care of, but I don't plan on doing a whole lot.

 #HB  #1875  #Rep  #David  #Taylor  #15th  #District
http://chum.ly/n/73c3f7

2011 Legislative Session

Day 55 - Well we're back on the House Floor debating legislation. We ended up finishing Day 54 on Day 55 ... Yup you read that right we finished at about 12:15 AM and were back on the floor this morning at 10:00 AM. There are a lot of us feeling a little rummy this morning, but the coffee is hot and fully caffeinated. We're ready to fight and expect to be here late into the night again today. It was great seeing Molly last night, even if it was only for about 9 hours.

So far today is all about Transportation. We're going to take a couple of runs at targeted bills and have a little fun listening to the Democrats defend their bad ideas. Stay tuned ...

 #Transportation  #Rep  #David  #Taylor  #15th  #District
http://chum.ly/n/739acb

2011 Legislative Session

Day 54 continued - Well we're still on the House Floor. We are kicking the holy heck out of all the Democrat Majority's really bad bills, like extending the stadium tax to fund an art project in Seattle. If we run all the bills the Democrats want to run we'll be here until sometime early Saturday morning, only to come back in Saturday morning for another Floor Session at 10:00 AM. Here's the really crappy part ... Molly decided to surprise me tonight and drove over for the night. Looks like I might get to see her for about 8 hours. Paybacks a bitch ............

 #David  #Taylor  #State  #Representative  #15th  #District
http://chum.ly/n/737b41

2011 Legislative Session

Days 53 and 54 - I'm sorry I missed posting yesterday. We've had a busy couple of days on the House Floor and the Democrat Majority has passed a lot of really bad legislation. I'm sitting in a hearing before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Comittee right now ... They're hearing one of my wolf bills (HB1109) and the Greenie-Weenies are out in force this morning opposing the bill. I would encourage everyone to listen to the hearing on TVW to hear all the BIG concerns people have with Legislative oversight of the Wolf Management and Conservation Plan. It sounds like legislator's aren't smart enough to understand the complexities of wolf management. Please, please don't let the Legislature have any oversight no matter what the cost!

 #Wolf  #management  #WA  #State  #Rep  #David  #Taylor  #15th  #District
http://chum.ly/n/73414f

2011 Legislative Session

Day 52 - I am officially getting sick, which explains my mood yesterday. I really want to thank all the encouraging words everyone sent yesterday ... I can't tell you how much it helps pick me up out of a funk. We've been working since 10:00 AM, except for a 45 minute lunch, and have debated and passed 8 total bills. Time management is not the Democrat majority's strong point.

It sounds like I get to take on Futurewise and a State Agency today .... I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

 #David  #Taylor  #State  #Representative  #15th  #District
http://chum.ly/n/7281c9

2011 Legislative Session

Day 51 - I am in one foul mood today. I'm tired, cranky and ready to have a weekend away from this place. Too bad it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon. We'll be running bills all day long and probably well into the night.

 #15th  #District  #Rep  #David  #Taylor  #Olympia
http://chum.ly/n/7224d3