Blog / Blogs / Dead, alive and NTIB (necessary to implement the budget)

Dead, alive and NTIB (necessary to implement the budget)

Email
March 14, 2013

With yesterday's 5 p.m. House of Origin cutoff date behind us, here is a status report on several of the bills I've been following:

Open Government

  • HB 1128 (Regarding local agencies' responses to public records requests) - DEAD
  • HB 1197 (Concerning open public meetings) - DEAD
  • HB 1198 (Requiring training of public officials and employees regarding public records and open public meetings) - DEAD (NTIB candidate?)
  • HB 1714 (Changing open public meetings provisions) - DEAD
  • HB 1721 (Establishing a period of public and legislative review of appropriations legislation) - DEAD
  • HB 1733 (Requiring capital and transportation project investments to be searchable by the public for certain detailed information) - ALIVE
  • SB 5640 (Addressing fiscal notes) - DEAD
  • SB 5751 (Requiring an inventory of state fees) - ALIVE

Especially with this being National Sunshine Week, it is disappointing that several of these bills died.

As for HB 1128, however, here is a note from Toby Nixon, President of the Washington Coalition for Open Government (I serve on the WCOG board):

We’re grateful to the friends and board members of WCOG who have been working hard in Olympia to bring this about, including Rep. Gerry Pollet, Larry Shannon of Washington State Association for Justice, Rowland Thompson of Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, Bill Will of Washington Newspaper Publishers Association, and Jason Mercier of Washington Policy Center. And we also thank Speaker Frank Chopp for his commitment to open government, standing up to a barrage of pressure from proponents of HB 1128 and HB 1697, keeping those bills in the Rules committee and not bringing them up for a vote. Thanks to all the newspapers around the state who have published excellent editorials in support of open government. And thanks to all of you who made calls, sent emails, and personally visited your legislators!

Government Reform

  • SB 5014 (Limiting the power of eminent domain) - DEAD
  • SB 5291 (Concerning the signing and receipt of ballots) - DEAD
  • SB 5717 (Addressing competitive contracting) - NTIB
  • SB 5843 (Strengthening the review of the legislature's goals for tax preferences) - ALIVE
  • SB 5851 (Creating a defined contribution retirement plan option for public employees) - NTIB
  • SJR 8205 (Amending the Constitution to require a two-thirds majority vote of the legislature to raise taxes) - ON LIFE SUPPORT OR DEAD
  • SJR 8206 (Amending the Constitution to require emergency clauses only be allowed by amendment to a bill and approved by sixty percent of each house of the legislature) - DEAD

Here is the scene in Olympia this morning courtesy of Monty Python. Despite the comment otherwise from the video, these dead bills aren't "feeling happy," though as long as the Legislature is in session, it is true they may not be dead yet.