State lawmakers reached a compromise this week on what has been dubbed the “levy cliff,” by approving Senate Bill 5023 to put off for a year a scheduled reduction in property taxes for school levies. Lawmakers approved a temporary increase in the local property tax levy base to 28 percent in 2010 and promised the tax rate would return to the normal 24 percent in 2018.  Now that promise won’t happen.

House Democrats passed their own measure (HB 1059) in January to delay this promised local  property tax reduction, saying that it is necessary to provide financial stability to school districts while the legislature develops a court-mandated basic education funding plan. The bill did not advance in the Senate.

Although they have known about the upcoming return to normal levy rates, school district officials around the state continue to say they want to include the extra $500 million the higher levy rate generates in their budget plans. They have lobbied lawmakers to delay the reduction for another year.

Republicans say delaying the promised property tax cut would take the pressure off the legislature to come up with a solution to the larger issue of adequate state funding for basic education to meet the state Supreme Court’s requirements.

In swift parliamentary moves, the Senate relieved its education committee of SB 5023 and amended it on the floor, before passing it by a 48-1 vote. The bill would allow school districts to continue higher property taxes until January 2019. It also includes important reforms, such as a prohibition on spending levy funds on teacher salaries and providing for transparency and accountability in how levy monies are spent.  Teacher salaries are to be funded with state money.

The House passed SB 5023 on Thursday by a vote of 87-10, and the bill is now headed to Governor Inslee, who says he will sign it.

With this past Wednesday’s deadline to pass bills out of their house of origin behind them, lawmakers have now significantly reduced the volume of legislation before them in the remaining 44 days of this session. Out of more than 2,000 measures introduced, only about 650 have survived, and that number will be further reduced in the coming weeks as more cutoff deadlines are reached.

One of the measures to make it past the latest deadline is SB 5533, to prohibit contributions to candidates for governor by unions that collectively bargain with the state. The bill passed by a 25-24 vote, with all 24 Republicans and one Democrat who is part of the Majority Coalition Caucus voting for it. Under the bill, labor unions would no longer be allowed  to give money to candidates for governor, with whom they would eventually negotiate state worker contracts. If passed by the House—and signed by the governor, this would create a law to end the conflict of interest of public employee unions negotiating with a governor they had helped out politically.

Look to www.washingtonvotes.org for a breakdown of all the votes taken on bills in the legislature, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. #waleg