Washington Legislature adjourns; punts on big issues

When lawmakers say the biggest accomplishment of a legislative session is that it ended on time, it makes it seem like they probably didn’t get a lot done.

They did pass some important legislation, but the main issues facing this state were left untouched.

The state does have a new supplemental operating budget. It includes some modest spending increases, $155 million, and no new taxes, but there is no new transportation package. For the first time in 18 years, the Legislature failed to pass a construction budget.

Republican Senator Michael Baumgartner calls it a success. “A balanced, bipartisan, no new taxes budget with significant cooperation from both sides of the aisle – I think that’s really something to celebrate,” he said.

The Legislature dedicated $58 million for K-12 education. That’s far fewer dollars than the governor wanted and likely won’t impress the state Supreme Court that demanded more money go into the schools.

Transportation

The House and Senate could not find a way to compromise on a new transportation plan to fund road and bridge projects. A huge jump in the gas tax was a non-starter, and lawmakers never seemed too interested in pushing the transportation issue.

“We’re supposed to make the choices and make the investments for our future,” Democrat Senator Karen Keiser said. “By not making these choices and investments, we are shirking our job.”

Governor Inslee said the lack of new transportation dollars will have real consequences. “There will be losses in services in ferries, highly likely,” he said. “There will be loss of services in tens of thousands of hours of bus service. We’ll have a 52 percent reduction in the maintenance budget, and by necessity of that 71 bridges will become structurally deficient.”

The governor said he’d call for a special session to address transportation, if he thought it would do any good. He just doesn’t see it paying off.

Education

While the Legislature did put some new money into K-12 education, Washington still could lose $40 million in federal education dollars from the No Child Left Behind Act.

Lawmakers refused to make teacher evaluations include the statewide test scores of their students. The federal government requires those scores to be factored in. Washington has been getting a waiver to bypass that requirement. The Department of Education made it quite clear to Governor Inslee that federal money would disappear if student scores weren’t added to teacher evaluations.

Medical Marijuana

Lawmakers also couldn’t come up with a way to marry the medical and recreational marijuana systems. That means there will continue to be two marijuana systems: One regulated, one unregulated. It’s positive news for patients who would have seen their collective gardens disappear and a reduction in the number of plants they could grow.

The Legislature also couldn’t agree on who would get the tax revenue.

Veteran’s Tuition

The Legislature passed the veteran’s tuition bill late on Thursday. It was universally supported but had been held up by an argument over who would get credit for introducing it. That credit will go to the Senate. It allows out-of-state veterans to get in-state tuition.

To sum it all up, it was a mixed bag in Olympia, and not all that unexpected considering the makeup of the Legislature.

“This is divided government, and we probably should not be shocked that when you have divided government that you may not have as many bills passed,” Inslee said.

The Legislature did pass the Dream Act, regulated the use of drones, banned minors from using tanning beds, and raised the number of credits required for a high school diploma.

And we have an official state oyster, you can’t forget that.