April 12th - 2013 Regular Legislative Session Day 89

After spending the morning in Caucus discussing a number of bills, we broke for lunch and then considered several bills for passage.

Engrossed Senate Bill 5236 passed 53 to 42 with 3 excused.
Senate Bill 5797 passed 94 to 1 with 3 excused.
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5082 passed 95 to 0 with 3 excused.
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5110 passed 57 to 37 with 4 excused.
Senate Bill 5302 passed 94 to 0 with 4 excused.
Substitute Senate Bill 5316 passed 94 to 0 with 4 excused.
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5324 passed 94 to 0 with 4 excused.
Substitute Senate Bill 5332 passed 54 to 40 with 4 excused.
Substitute Senate Bill 5568 passed 94 to 4 with 4 excused.
Substitute Senate Bill 5615 passed 73 to 21 with 4 excused.
Second Substitute Senate Bill 5624 passed 57 to 38 with 3 excused.
Senate Bill 5692 passed 95 to 0 with 3 excused.
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5723 passed 94 to 2 with 2 excused.
Substitute Senate Bill 5767 passed 96 to 0 with 2 excused.
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5849 passed 84 to 12 with 2 excused.
Engrossed Substitute Senate Concurrent Resolution 8401 passed 84 to 11 with 1 absent and 2 excused.

After debating and passing these bills, we returned to Caucus to discuss all the proposed amendments to the Democrat Operating Budget. There were 27 proposed amendments to the budget, with 10 of the proposed amendments ultimately withdrawn from consideration. The Democrat’s House Operating Budget is predicated on a $1.3 billion tax increase and $2.1 billion in growth, totaling a $3.445 Billion increase over the 2011-13 Biennium. Many of our citizens would enjoy a 1% increase to their personal budgets, yet the State Operating Budget is growing by approximately 11%.

The House Republicans put forth a series of amendments aimed at reducing regulations and increasing economic development, yet each and every one of those amendments were defeated. These amendments included 90-day permitting by state agencies and a rule-writing moratorium. I guess a rule-writing moratorium was acceptable to former Governor Gregoire (yes, she issued an Executive Order requiring as much), but not to the House Democrats.

I am saddened to report the House Democrat Operating Budget, tax increases and all, passed 54 to 43 with 1 excused. Folks the no votes on the budget represent a bipartisan"no” vote, while the"yes” vote was 100% Democrat.

April 10th - 2013 Regular Legislative Session Day 87

We spent the morning getting briefed on the proposed striking amendment to the Senate Operating Budget (ESSB 5034), which amounts to the House Democrat Majority’s proposed budget. We were also briefed on the latest draft of the Capital Budget, most of which remains unclear given the recent Federal District Court dealing with fish passage.

I’m now in the House Appropriations Committee meeting hearing the Democrat’s proposed Operating Budget, embodied in a striking amendment. The Democrat’s proposed budget totals $34,845.7 Billion for Fiscal Year 13-15, which is approximately $3,554.7 Billion more than the Fiscal Year 2011-13 budget or an 11% increase to the state General Fund. The Democrat’s proposed budget was released to the public at 12:30 PM this afternoon and three hours later we’re receiving testimony on it.

We’ve been told the Democrats plan on taking Executive Action to move the bill out of committee tomorrow (Thursday) with the plan being to pass the Operating Budget off the House Floor sometime on Friday. That means from the time the proposed budget was released to the public and subsequently passed on the House Floor, the total amount of time the public was provided to review and comment was less than 60 hours.

2012 Regular Legislative Session Day 47

My day started out nicely ... I had the opportunity to meet Newt Gingrich. He gave a fantastic talk to the House Republican Caucus about creating jobs, lowering gas prices, and reforming the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. He also discussed getting a Republican majority in the House this election, based on the 1994 Republican Revolution. He even gave us a couple of talking points that fit well within out messaging.

Best compare and contrast lines of the day for the Republican proposed budget versus the Democrat Majority proposal ...

House Republican budget unveiling: No revenue, no gimmicks (TVW Blog 2/17/12)
Accounting gimmick is big part of state House budget moves (Seattle Times 2/22/12)

And

Republicans offer budget without sales tax hike (Olympian 2/20/12
Budget from House Dems relies on delayed payments (Daily News 2/22/12)

What a great way to start off my day.

#Newt #Gingrich #Democrat #Budget #gimmicks #tax #payment #Rep #David #Taylor #15th #District
https://chumly.com/n/1102002

2011 First Special Legislative Session

Day 22 Update - Ok, so let's talk about how epically bad today's session was. We started at 1:00 pm and caucused on four bills, three of which were heard today in the Ways and Means Committee and weren't on the calendar to run ... nice opportunity for the public to provide input on those bills. We ended up running two of the bills and went back to caucus only to find out the Democrat Majority adjourned the season while we were still in Caucus! Many of us spent more time in our vehicles traveling to Olympia than we actually spent working on the People's business in Olympia! Really, really nice. If there was ever a shining example of what failed leadership leads to it was demonstrated by the Democrat Majority in Olympia today. Not counting mileage, the two bills actually voted on today cost the taxpayers $4,410 per bill. The hits just keep on coming.

Now we're scheduled to be back in Olympia next Monday through Wednesday for the end of the first Special Session.

#$4 #410 #two #bills #failed #democrat #leadership
https://chum.ly/n/8f1525