2011 Legislative Session

[Resent id=8727905 2011-04-21 19:30:49 from davidtaylor] Day 102 - Here we go again, back on the House Floor waiting to see what if anying we'll do today. Yesterday we ran one bill ... that's one as in single, uno, 1. It's been pretty frustrating that past few days, but the end is near ... at least the end of Regular Session. According to the Chief Clerks Office, a full 30 day Special Session could cost the taxpayers as much as $426,000. In a year where every dollar matters, the Democrat Majority couldn't get their crap together and end the circus on time.

Looks like we'll be running a few bills this morning and finally get some work done. None of the bills are real big issues, but at least we're doing something. It still sounds like we'll finish the Regular Session Friday evening (sometime between 3:00 and 9:00 PM) and move into a rolling Special Session on Momday. Based on everything we're hearing, the House Democrats and Senate are lightyears apart, which could mean a long Special Session. Apparently the House and Senate will have an agreed list of bills necessary to implement the budget (NTIB), but getting to that agreed list may take awhile.

In case you missed it, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found Boeing was retaliating against it's largest union when it decided to put a second 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina. Apparently, Boeing can remedy the complaint by building a new plant in Washington. Seriously?!?! This is incredible. Does the government want Boeing to relocate all it's operations to another Country? That's exactly where this ruling could lead. Wow!

We're making a Procedural Motion right now to move to the 8th Order of Business to consider Workers Compensation Reform. The motion failed, but we did get one Democrat vote with us and four other Democrats refused to vote. Things are getting very interesting ... I'd love to be a fly on the wall of the Democrat Caucus. Special Session could be all sorts of fun.

#Boeing #NLRB #Special #Session #NTIB #workers #compensation #reform #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 101 - I started the day with a State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee work session to discuss interim planning. We made several suggestions for interim work projects, including tribal gaming, private gaming as revenue, tribal law, liquor laws, and agency rule-making. We've been back on the House Floor since 10:00 AM, with time caucusing on some of the bills the Democrat Majority may want to run today. Most everything remains up in the air as far as what bills will run and when ... typical end of session with Democrats in charge.

Special Session - We will difinately be going to Special Session this year, with approximately 86 "trailer" bills in the hopper. Trailer bills are bills needed to implement the budget, but not all 86 bills are necessarily needed. It all depends on decisions made during the negotiation process. We heard this morning that the Regular Session will end Friday, with Special Session beginning on Monday. The good news is it looks like it will be a "rolling" session, which means only the ranking budget negotiators will need to be in Olympia.

Other news - Rep Ross and my bill to allow private card rooms to install video lottery terminals was back in the news this morning. It's been a couple of weeks since we dropped the bills and had any press coverage, but at least some believe allowing the private gaming businesses the opportunity to compete with tribal casinos as a good thing.

Twisting minds - Yesterday I had an opportunity to connect some dots for one of our Freshman Legislators. Rep Overstreet made a comment to me about working/researching an issue through our lunch break. After a couple of other comments, I decided to show him an example of government conspiring to take private property. I started with the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (ICBEMP) and showed him the boundary. Then moved to the 1999 ESA listing for salmon and steelhead and the map of the affected areas. Finally, I showed him the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative boundary. Surpise, all the eastern boundaries of these supposed separate projects are geographically the same. Folks, connect the dots and see what you find .... scary stuff.

Possible Training - I've began discussions with some of our Grassroots Organizations back home about putting together a property rghts training later this year. Coordination is the key to local control and we have an opportunity to take control back from the government ... we just need to educate the public on how to do it. Stay tuned, more to come on this.

Lastly - I encourage everyone to go to www.youtube.com and search for Aaron Lewis "Country Boy". It is a great video and a great song ... "don't tred on me is what it says and I'll take that to my grave". Another verse ... "I've said it before, but I'll say it again cause I never needed government to hold my hand". Love it!

#Aaron #Lewis #Country #Boy #ESA #ICBEMP #Y2Y #coordination #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 100 - it was another interesting in Olympia. Senator Honeyford and I were on the Mid-Columbia Today radio show this morning discussing some of the current Legislative issues. The House convened at 10:00 AM at which point we caucused, broke for lunch, caucused some more, and then adjourned for the day. Yup, not a single vote in the House today. The latest rumor is we could end the Regular Session tomorrow night and then move to a rolling session next week. The toughest part of this session has been not knowing what or when something was going to actually happen. Maybe we'll run the Capital Budget and Bond bill tomorrow, but then again maybe not.

#Honeyford #Capital #Budget #Mid-Columbia #Today #regular #session #special #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Days 97 through 99 - Back in Olympia today after spending the weekend home seeing the family and working cattle. The Hinder concert on Friday was a lot of fun. I had a great time with great friends. Headed home Saturday and worked cattle all afternoon, while Molly went to Granger to watch the nieces and nephews. Worked cattle again on Sunday and took the beef cattle to a pasture in Selah. Got to spend the evening with Molly and Tiffany and then drove back to Olympia this morning.

We had a Labor and Workforce Development Committee meeting at noon and are now sitting on the House Floor waiting for the Democrat Majority to decide what they want to do for the rest of the day. As of this morning, it sounds like we'll have Sine Die on Friday around noon, followed by Special Session starting on Monday. Of course all of that is subject to change. Fun times had by all.

#Special #Session #cattle #Labor #Workforce #Development #Sine #Die #Hinder #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 96 - We're working through the Concurrence/Dispute Calendar again today. It should be another early day, with the Ways and Means Committee meeting at 3:30 PM. Another day, another stack of tax increases proposed by Democrats in Olympia. The latest, SB 5947, would increase taxes on livestock semen, propane and natural gas to heat chicken structures, and chicken bedding materials. For all of those who enjoy eating chicken, prepare for an increase in prices ... all the more reason to eat beef!

We just found out we ARE NOT WORKING THIS WEEKEND. Looks like I'll get to head home for the weekend after all. The bad news is not working this weekend almost certainly means we'll be headed to Special Session. As of right now, Special Session will begin on the Monday or Tuesday after Easter. I remain hopeful that any Special Session will be a "rolling" session which means only the budget folks will need to be here until agreements are reached; unfortunately, we heard this morning that the Governor wants to keep all of us here. UGH!

Tonight a small group of us are headed to Seattle to go to the Hinder concert ... Should be a great time.

#Hinder #Special #Session #SB #5947 #tax #increase #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 95 - It's official ... the Democrat Majorities in the House and Senate have lost their collective minds. The Democrats are bound and determined to raise taxes on way or another. To quote Senator Kohl-Welles, "I don't think the voters understood what they were voting for with I-1053." Seriously, the voters didn't understand I-1053? And what planet are you on?

We're working through another Concurrence/Dispute Calendar today and may be hearing the Capital Budget tomorrow; unfortunately, it will be yet another Capital Budget that I cannot support. I want to support the various school construction projects, but simply can't vote for a budget that relies on $488 million in new general obligation bonds. The taxpayers of Washington can't afford additional debt. We'll be running an amendment or two in an attempt to remove the need for additional bonds, but if we fail to pass those amendments, I won't be supporting the Capital Budget.

#capital #budget #2011 #tax #increases #I-1053 #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 94 - The Senate unveiled their proposed Operating Budget last night and it's interesting at best. In addition to even greater cuts to K-12 Education, it also relies on $350 million in what most certainly will be ruled tax increases. Reliance on these tax increases may put the entire budget process in jeopardy.

We lost the Cougar Bill to yesterday's cut-off. This is very bad news to the citizens of the 15th District, but the is one more opportunity to get the program extended and we'll be fighting to see it happen. The bill would have extended the pilot program another 5 years and continue to allow counties to opt into the program. Keep in mind that last summer there were three different cougars reported in the Zillah area.

We're going to be running the Concurrence/Dispute Calendar for the next couple of days. The Concurrence/Dispute Calendar are the bills which passed the House, but were amended in the Senate and is the House's opportunity to concur or dispute the amendment. The Ways and Means Committee will be meeting the next three afternoons on bill which are necessarily to implement the budget. We'll also be on the Floor Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Thankfully there are only 11 more days in the Regular Session, but a Special Session may be looming on horizon.

#Senate #budget #concurrence #dispute #cougars #Zillah #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 93 - Another day on the House Floor to run a few bills. Today is another House cut-off, which means we should have a fairly early evening. It sounds like the Democrat Majority only has 4 or 5 bills to run today, which explains why we needed to be here at 10:00 am and have yet to take a single vote.

Other headlines ... It seems the Democrat Majority didn't understand what the Taxpayers said last November ... NO NEW TAXES! Forty-eight Democrats signed onto a bill to end $170 million in tax exemptions or "loop-holes" as they like to call them. Unfortunately, these aren't tax exemptions or loop-holes, they are tax incentives and ending them is a tax increase. Thankfully Initiative 1053 passed last November which means eliminating any tax incentives will require a 2/3 vote. According to various Democrat quotes in the news "there is an interest in a revenue bill". Maybe interest from various unions, but no interest from the general public. With 9 Democrat freshmen signed onto the bill, the future for Washington State is clearly on display if they remain in charge.

In other news ... Although it didn't get much press, the Democrat Majority has introduced several "Title Only" bills. Title only bills are just that, Title Only which means the Democrats can put any amendment on it they want to. Gotta love the transparency with these guys.

And finally ... About the only thing that can be said about the Democrat's budget and their revenue proposals is these are yet another shining example of failed leadership and no prioritized spending.

#tax #increases #2/3 #vote #170 #million #I-1053 #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 92 - On the Floor again today. Right now we're debating the Medical Marijuana bill (SB 5073) and debate is "smoking". Hehe couldn't resist. The arguments being made by the Democrat Majority border on the insane. They are actually telling us that our amendment to prohibit dispensing of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school is not needed and would limit a persons access to "needed drugs". Seriously, that is exactly our point. Update, the amendment failed. News flash ... a Democrat just acknowledged that kids can already get marijuana anytime they want it. No kidding, shocker of a discovery.

Out of about 4 hours on the House Floor today, we've passed a total of 9 bills. If today is any indication of what's in store for the last two weeks of session, it's going to be a long 2 weeks.

#SB #5073 #medical #marijuana #schools #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 91 - A little R and R today. It's been a long week and I am thankful for a day to rest. Finally got out of bed a noon, although I watched a movie before getting up. Laundry, store and maybe hit a few golf balls, but otherwise nothing planned. Robert did find our bull yesterday evening ... about 2 miles down the road. Thankfully nothing bad happened while he was on his walk-about.

The Operating Budget passed off the floor yesterday 53-43 with only one Democrat voting against it. Another budget that spends more money then the last budget ... $34 billion dollars. After two years of declining revenue, the Democrat majority is betting the bank that revenue will increase. Olympia is the only place I've ever seen where a "cut" is an amount less than you wanted to spend, but more then last budet. It is also the only place that doesn't believe we're in a recession ... amazing.

I heard from Molly this morning. Tiffany is playing in the Northwest Regional volleyball tournament in Spokane this weekend. It sounds like the girls are playing well and are 1 and 1 so far. Good luck girls, we're all proud of you.

#operating #budget #53-43 #$34 #billion #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 90 - Another day on the House Floor. My day started with a preverbal bang ... Got a call at 9:45 from Robert who said one of our bulls went for "a walk about". The age old question of "where does 1,500 pounds of animated hamburger go" ... anywhere it wants. So far it's still strolling around, but we'll find it.

We've run a few bills this morning, including SB 5171 which addresses making sure our military men and women's vote will count in an election. We also passed SB 5500 which is a nice little small business bill. Sometime after lunch we'll debate final passage of the House Operating Budget, which will be an interesting debate.

#SB #5500 #5171 #budget #WA #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 89 - We're on the House Floor again today and we'll be hearing several amendments to the proposed budget, under second reading. Tomorrow we'll be here to debate final passage of the proposed budget under third reading. We didn't give the Democrats a "bump" on the 24-hour rule, so final passage tomorrow will be 24-hours after we finish today. With any luck we'll be out of here fairly early this evening because tomorrow will be a LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGG day.

Listening to the various Democrat amendments to the Democrat budget will be all sorts of fun.

#Operating #budget #15th #District #Rep #David #Taylor
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 88 - We're back on the House Floor this morning to run more bills. The Ways and Means Committee passed the proposed budget out last night on a party line vote. The Republican Caucus presented an alternative budget proposal in committee that failed to get passed. Our proposal was a balanced, sustainable approach that focused on funding K-12 Education, public safety and programs which help the most vulnerable people (elderly, kids and the disabled). The Democrat budget is not sustainable and severely cuts K-12 Education. It looks like we'll debate and vote on the proposed budget on Saturday, which means another weekend in Olympia. It turns out going home last weekend will be the last weekend I'm home until session ends.

On a completely different topic, I received word last night that 7 wolves were seen at Rimrock Lake. I'm still trying to get additional information on the sighting, but I am not surprised. I also received an email today from a lady who indicated she has substantive evidence of wolves on Tiger Mountain.

#wolves #budget #Republican #proposal #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 87 - We're back on the House Floor this morning after an interesting State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee meeting. We finished on the Floor last night around 10:15 PM and were able to put down several bad bills from consideration. I have a Labor and Workforce Development Committee meeting at noon today and then back on the Floor to consider additional bills. It sounds like we'll have an early day and the House Republican Caucus proposed budget will be announced and released to the public later today. Stay tuned ...

#Republican #budget #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 86 - We've been on the House Floor all day running bills. We'll be working this evening as well, but I don't know how late we'll go. So far the bills haven't been real stinky, but now that it's after 6:00 PM we may start to hear the ugly ones. It could be a long week with several late evening sessions, but who knows. It still sounds like we'll debate the Operating Budget on Friday and have final passage sometime on Saturday. Let the fun begin ...

#Budget #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 85 - I didn't post for a couple of days because I ended up going home over the weekend. While I didn't get to rest and relax at all, we did get a lot done. We've got some cattle out to pasture now, with another couple of loads to go. The horses look great and ran across the pasture to come see me for some attention. All in all things looks good. We went to Ellensburg on Sunday to watch Tiffany play volleyball. Team Yakima Black kicked some butt and won the tournament. The girls all played really well and I couldn't be prouder of Tiffany's play. She got a few kills and blocks, now we just need to teach her how to jump.

Back in Olympia now and we should be running a few bills this afternoon. The Democrats have published their proposed budget ... nothing really pretty there. Somehow they still think the state will have $32 billion in revenue for the 2011-13 budget, never mind revenue is about $5 billion behind their last budget projection.

#2011-13 #budget #Team #Yakima #Black #$32 #billion #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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2011 Legislative Session

Day 82 - We actually ran a few bills today! Rep Ross and I have been doing a lot of interviews over our card room proposal and, thus far, the public's response has been pretty good. Hopefully our bill we bring some equality and fairness back into the state.

#Card #rooms #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
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