Sine Die 2008

Senate Democrats moved through the 2008 Legislative Session by keeping commitments, relieving the checkbooks of Washingtonians and providing real help to those who need it the most.

Major 2008 Accomplishments

Budgeting for the Future These are uncertain economic times, so we wrote a disciplined, frugal budget. Even though our state’s economy is currently stronger than most of the country, we erred on the side of caution and put over $835 million in our state’s savings account. We focused on urgent needs, addressing storm relief, affordable housing, help for struggling students, health care and job creation.		Education In 2007, the Legislature and Washington citizens made historic strides in how we take care of our school system. With voter approval of simple majority for school levies and historic investments by the Legislature, our state’s public school system came out the winner. During the 2008 session, we’ve kept our commitments, and enacted targeted programs to help students meet our rigorous academic standards.		Higher Education We need to fill Washington jobs with qualified and educated Washington residents. By creating high standards that prepare our students for the real world, we will help to reduce Washington employers’ dependence on graduates from across the United States to fill job openings here at home.
Health & Long Term Care We continue to work on ways to provide comprehensive, affordable health insurance to all our citizens. After years of work by lawmakers and stakeholders, changes are taking place.		The Environment Senate Democrats believe that protecting our air and water quality, as well as our forests, fish and wildlife is vital to the future of our state’s economy and society.		Human Services & Corrections This year, Senate Democrats took steps to better manage and track sex offenders and help abuse victims obtain support services.
Economic Development & Trade Washington is a trade-dependant state. We know that our agricultural products, manufactured goods and intellectual property are among the best in the world, but we need to continue to make investments to ensure that we hold our excellent place in the global economy.		Labor, Commerce, Research & Development We’re looking out for Washington’s working families and businesses by passing common-sense legislation to cut red tape and ensure that Washington’s economy stays strong. By helping small businesses, we’re improving the economic prospects of both Washington’s workforce and their employers.		Consumer Protection & Housing Consumers deserve protection from unfair and predatory business practices. We balanced business' need for reasonable regulation with the consumer’s right to accurate information about products and services. Far too many citizens are worrying about keeping the roof over their head.
Government Operations & Elections Washington citizens need to have confidence in their government. We continue to ensure that government is working transparently and efficiently.We provided additional legal and financial protections for families, gave crime victims more tools to stay safe and gave additional protections to military spouses.		Transportation Our plans invest the state’s limited transportation funds in projects that will relieve congestion, improve safety on our roads and improve service on our ferries. The 2008 budget preserves the priorities established by previous transportation packages. It makes necessary investments in safety, maintenance and growth of our state transportation system.		Agriculture & Rural Economic Development Agriculture is not only part of Washington’s history, but also its future. We recognize that investments in agriculture infrastructure and rural economic development will help Washington compete in the global economy.
Financial Institutions Consumers must receive timely and accurate information so that they are better able to make intelligent, fact-based decisions.		Judiciary Public safety is best achieved by giving our legal system the flexibility to impose fair sentences, and looking for more cost-effective alternatives for non-violent offenders.		Veterans We must honor the debt we owe our nation’s veterans – not just on Veterans’ Day, but every day. In that spirit, we provide veterans in Washington with benefits and services that recognize their patriotism and service.

EDUCATION

• Helping all students meet high academic standards: High standards are important for today’s competitive world. We know that of those kids who struggle to meet academic requirements and graduate, whether it’s the WASL or coursework requirements, low-income students, English language learners, children of color and those with leaning disabilities are disproportionately affected. We passed significant legislation to help kids who are struggling in our schools. (Senate Bill 6673)
• Ensuring clear standards in math education: Legislation to monitor our state’s math standards to ensure that they’re relevant to what students need for our global economy. Our plan also supports more guidance for teachers and collaborative work between the State Board of Education and the Superintendant of Public Instruction. (Senate Bill 6534)
• A 0.5% additional cost of living increase for our state’s teachers was included in the supplemental budget, to begin to compensate for a previous budget cycle when cost of living raises were suspended.

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Increasing access to degrees: We provided increased educational access to students in high-demand and high-need areas by expanding a pilot program allowing selected community and technical colleges to grant four-year bachelor degrees. We laid the groundwork to make transferring from a two-year institution to a four-year school easier by creating a task force that will work to identify transferrable credits and create a transfer student bill of rights. (Senate Bill 5104, House Bill 2783)
• Meeting the needs of our workforce: We created partnerships between private and public groups to assess industry skill gaps and begin to close them. We also laid the groundwork for programs that will reduce high unemployment rates among young adults. (Senate Bills 5254, 6261, 6295)

HEALTH CARE

• The cost of insurance premiums: The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner will be responsible for overseeing health insurance premiums. This key consumer protection bill is in response to double digit increases in health care premiums. OIC will now be able to determine if premium increases are fair and justified.(Senate Bill 5261)
• Health care reform work group. A work group is established to study five specific approaches to health care reform including a proposal to provide comprehensive coverage to all residents not covered by federal programs. Representatives from the business community, health care providers, consumer groups and health care ethics and appointed members of the Legislature’s health care committees will be make up the work group, and hold public meetings around the state. The work group will report back to the Legislature in 2009 with a recommendation on which option will achieve the goal of universal, affordable health care for all Washingtonians by 2012. (Senate Bill 6333)

ENVIRONMENT

• Greenhouse gas emissions and green collar jobs: The Legislature adopted a measure to establish emission limits — not just goals by directing the Department of Ecology to design and submit to the Legislature for approval in 2009, a program and market based incentives to limit and reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Under the law, the Department of Transportation will provide recommendations to the Legislature by 2009 for ways to reduce per capita vehicle miles traveled. The bill also sets a target of creating 25,000 green collar jobs by 2020. (House Bill 2815)
• Protecting our coastal shores: During the 2007 legislative session, there was a major effort to re-energize the clean up of Puget Sound. This session has added to those efforts as well as to the emphasis of cleaning up the Pacific coast. A work group will develop recommendations for improving the management and coordination of marine protected areas along the state’s Pacific coastline as well as in Puget Sound. There will also be state assistance to coastal counties forming marine resource committees that will manage our coastal resources. (Senate Bills 6231 and 6227)
• Taking care of Toxic Toys: Manufacturers recalled millions of toys containing lead paint during the summer of 2007. It has been found that elevated levels of lead, cadmium or phthalates cause developmental disabilities, reproductive problems, learning disabilities, hormone problems and sometimes cancer in children. This session we passed a bill restricting the manufacture or knowing sale of children’s products containing more than the stated amounts of lead, cadmium, or phthalates. (House Bill 2647)

HUMAN SERVICES & CORRECTIONS

• Sex offenders address verification. $5 million in funding for local law enforcement to conduct regular, in-person verification of sex offenders’ physical addresses.
• Sex offender policy board. A sex offender policy board will be established to study current research and best practices relating to risk assessment, treatment and supervision of sex offenders, prevention of sex offenses, sex offender management, performance of sex offender prevention and response systems.
• Child victims of sexual assault. $600,000 will be invested in medical, therapeutic and other services for child victims of sexual assault through the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy.
• Law enforcement academies. $853,000 will be made available for five additional academies to train 150 more law enforcement officers.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TRADE

• Small manufacturer innovation: Smaller manufacturers generate more than half of all innovations in the economy and account for more than half of the net job creation annually, but most small and midsize manufacturers do not have the resources to easily access modernization technical assistance and the skills training needed to make them globally competitive. Senate Democrats have created the Washington Manufacturing Innovation and Modernization Extension Service program so that small manufacturers, industry associations, or cluster associations may receive vouchers of up to $200,000 per year to cover the costs of manufacturing extension services that can help them modernize their operations (Senate Bill 6510).
• Rural economic development: Rural counties are provided with funding to help them overcome the special challenges they face in economic development programs, but the designation of a “rural county” has been based on population density – a measure that didn’t accurately reflect the nature of some counties. Senate Democrats passed a bill to add a county’s square mileage as a defining factor in qualifying it for rural economic development funding (Senate Bill 6195).

LABOR, COMMERCE, RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

• Working Families Tax Credit: We’re dedicated to helping the families in Washington that need it most. This year, we put in place a program to refund some of the state sales tax to low-wage working people who qualify for the federal earned-income tax credit. This will lighten our unfair tax burden on low-wage working people and, depending on family size, could put up to $470 back in their pockets. Up to 350,000 working Washington residents would qualify for the rebate.
• Apprenticeships: Getting back on your feet after losing a job is one of the toughest things a family can face. We’re closing the loophole that took away unemployed workers’ benefits while they enrolled in an apprenticeship program when starting a new job. We also included $5 million in our Operating Budget to help develop apprenticeship programs with Aerospace and Building Trades workers, helping more people obtain family-wage jobs in Washington. (Senate Bill 6751)
• Benefits on appeal: Construction workers who are appealing decisions are settling for less while they suffer without their benefits. We’re going to change this and make sure workers are treated fairly by mandating that they’re given clear information about their rights and the process of their appeal. (House Bill 3139)

CONSUMER PROTECTION AND HOUSING

• Maintaining affordable housing. We increased the Housing Finance Commission’s capacity to issue bonds, creating more affordable housing options with no fiscal impact to our state’s coffers. By prohibiting local governments from imposing requirements on affordable housing developments that are more burdensome than those imposed on other housing developments, the Legislature prevented local governments from zoning out affordable housing. (House Bill 2279, Senate Bill 6332)
• Addressing foreclosures. The Legislature funded mortgage counseling for 2,500 new homebuyers and those facing foreclosure, and tightened regulations to prevent foreclosure-rescue scams that leave many aggrieved homeowners homeless and without any equity. We also provided immediate relief to families facing foreclosures by providing emergency mortgage payments. (Senate Bills 6272, 6711 House Bill 2791)
• Washington Families Fund. We funded an emergency appropriation to the Washington Families Fund to provide stable housing for an additional 1,000 families without homes.

GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS & ELECTIONS

• Domestic Violence victims: The state’s Address Confidentiality Program helps crime victims stay safe and still be able to access governmental services. This session, we strengthened protections for survivors of domestic violence and stalking who are participants in the state’s address confidentiality program and created additional protections for when the perpetrator is law enforcement employee. (House Bill 1421)
• Financial security for all Washington families: Our state’s lesbian and gay families deserve financial and legal protections that married couples enjoy. This work isn’t about more rights, it’s about equal rights. The Legislature passed a measure expanding the protections and responsibilities that registered domestic partners are entitled to, including 160 new protections or responsibilities. From community property and probate protections, to joint responsibility for debts and protection from having to sell the family home to pay for health care costs. (House Bill 3104)
• Global Warming: While we know climate change is global issue, this year we’re helping aid local governments plan for and address global warming here in Washington. (Senate Bill 6580)

TRANSPORTATION

• Highway 2: Safety was a top transportation priority during the 2008 Supplemental Transportation Budget by investing $14 million in safety improvements on Highway 2, including $4 million for rumble strips, $5 million for adding a passing lane in the westbound direction west of Sultan, and $5 million for improvements between Monroe and Gold Bar. The Washington State Patrol has also been directed to assign an additional six troopers to patrol Highway 2 to immediately reduce accidents caused by aggressive driving and DUIs.
• Highway 520: The Legislature dedicated $2 billion to begin work on replacing the SR 520 floating bridge and to improve Highway 520 between I-5 and I-405 (HB 2878). A comprehensive financing plan will include tolling (Senate Bill 3096).
• Alaskan Way Viaduct: $915 million was allocated to continue the “early action” items on the Alaskan Way Viaduct, including identification of mitigation projects that will provide transit enhancement during construction.

VETERANS

• High school diplomas: We gave school districts the authority to issue high school diplomas to all honorably discharged veterans who left high school before graduation to serve during the Vietnam era. (House Bill 1283)
• Veterans/property tax relief: We allowed that federal veterans’ benefits awarded for service-connected disability may be deducted from the disposable income total when computing the retired person property tax reduction. (Senate Bill 5256)
• Military employees’ pay dates: We required that state active duty payments shall be no later than 7 days after the duty is completed for National Guard and Washington State Guard. (House Bill 2580)

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

• Financial literacy. The Governor’s Homeowner Security Task Force found that most new homebuyers do not easily understand the mortgage process or its financial implications. In response, we set aside $1.5 million to provide financial literacy education and counseling for homebuyers and for homeowners at risk of foreclosure. Homeowner security is also promoted by providing information and resources to help homeowners facing foreclosure understand their options. (Senate Bill 6272)
• Financial fraud: In an increased effort to combat financial crime, we created a statewide "fraud alert network" to allow financial institutions, merchants and law enforcement to share information to prevent, detect, deter, and assist in prosecution of offenders. Merchants and financial institutions that participate in the fraud alert network are granted legal immunity from liability. (House Bill 1273)

JUDICIARY

• Criminal street gangs: In our continued effort to combat gang-related crime, we authorized the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) to create grant programs to assist with local special enforcement emphasis and graffiti/tagging abatement programs, and to develop a statewide database to track and access criminal street gang activity. We also increased sentencing for gang-related crimes. (House Bill 2712)
• Domestic violence service of process: To establish greater uniformity in the service of process and protect future victims of domestic violence, we passed the “Rebecca Jane Griego Act,” named after a University of Washington employee who was murdered after a number of failed attempts to personally serve process on her abuser. Courts can only require a maximum of two attempts to personally serve a domestic violence protection order on an abuser before permitting service by publication or mail. (Senate Bill 6357)

AGRICULTURE & RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• Healthy kids/local farms: We passed a measure to allow schools and institutions greater flexibility in purchasing fresh food from local farmers, ensuring healthier meals for our students. This will encourage kids to choose healthy lunch items and snacks and it can help local producers at the same time. (Senate Bill 6483)
• Anaerobic digesters: We created a six-year property tax exemption for anaerobic digesters, which takes manure from dairy farms and turns it in to power that can be used or sold to power companies. (Senate Bill 6806)
• Conservation markets: We requested a State Conservation Commission feasibility study regarding the use of conservation markets that award various types of environmental mitigation credits for projects that enhance habitat or other environmental values. (Senate Bill 6805)

SAVING FOR THE FUTURE

Total reserves: $834.8 million – more than twice the $400 million average total state reserves since the 1980s.

Two ways we saved:
Unrestricted ending fund balance: $389.1 million
Rainy Day Fund: +$445.7 million

Progressive tax policy that helps low-wage working people

We set up a program that, when implemented, will provide a sales tax refund to up to 350,000 low-wage working Washingtonians who qualify for the federal earned income tax credit. This will help reduce the disproportionate tax burden that low-wage working people bear because of our state’s regressive tax structure.

Education:

Additional assistance for struggling students:

• Help for students who aren’t on track to graduate. We create a targeted outreach program creating extended learning opportunities for struggling students ($17.7 million).
• Locally grown food for healthier kids. We fund a fresh food snack program for schools with large numbers of low-income students ($1.5 million).

Targeted dollars for all students:

• Expanded funding for school libraries. We provide additional resource for library services for every student in the state ($4 million).
• Smaller staff-to-student ratio. We lower the ratio of classified staff for non-teachers such as IT professionals, bus drivers, cooks, school secretaries, etc. ($3 million).
• Levy equalization. We increase the per pupil allocation percentage for levy equalization funds ($1.9 million).

More resources for kids with special needs:

• More Medicaid services. We increase payments for Medicaid-eligible services for students with special education needs ($21.2 million).

Greater opportunities for college and career education:

• Pathways for high-wage, high-demand careers. We provide grants and other funding to districts and skills centers to ensure the quality, accessibility and rigor of career and technical education programs to help as many as 2,000 kids. ($3 million).
• Apprenticeship support. We create:
  • 130 apprenticeships in aerospace and new technology ($3 million),
  • 50 apprenticeships in health care ($1.5 million).

Salaries:

• Fair and adequate teacher compensation. We provide an additional half-percent pay raise for K-12 employees to “catch-up” on COLAs missed during the suspension of I-732 in 2003-2005 ($17.8 million).

Job creation:

• Trade Corps. We fund the Washington Trade Corps Fellowship Program at the University of Washington Center for International Business Education and Research ($135,000).
• Entrepreneurial stars enhancement. We expand funding of STAR researchers and their research teams ($265,000).
• Tax exemptions. We provide targeted tax exemptions for tax fairness and to stimulate economic growth, including applying the aerospace tax exemptions established in 2003 to the entirety of the aerospace industry ($6.1 million).

Housing:

• Home buyer education. We provide homeownership outreach and education services for an additional 2,500 families who are about to buy a home, or facing possible foreclosure ($1.5 million). We also provide emergency rescue funds for mid-level income families facing foreclosure ($250,000).
• Washington Families Fund. We provide an emergency appropriation to the Washington Families Fund to provide help for an additional 1,000 families without homes over a three-year time period ($8.5 million).
• Veterans’ property tax exemption. We exclude federal 100 percent-disabled veterans benefits from the calculation for disposable income for the senior and disabled property tax exemption and deferral program for an additional 1,150 our of state’s disabled senior veterans.

Health Care:

• Health Care Citizens’ Workgroup. We fund a Washington Citizens’ Workgroup tour across the state to solicit public opinion of a range of health care proposals, and begin the discussion on how to establish health care for all ($1.3 million).
• Smoking Cessation. To help tens of thousands of smokers quit, we extend coverage for smoking cessation to Washingtonians receiving care through the state’s medical program ($1.8 million).
• Dental care. We expand community health center adult dental services for low-income adults without dental care ($2 million).
• Long-term care. We fund the recommendations of the Long Term Care task force, including expanded dental access for seniors, increased support to families with a loved one at risk for institutional placement, and the development of an accidental fall prevention program ($2.9 million).
• Nursing home worker wage increases. We invest in the people who take care of our aging loved ones at nursing home ($3 million).
• Adult family homes. We provide increases for adult family homes ($2.6 million).
• Children with developmental disabilities. We provide more intensive in-home intervention and support services for children with developmental or behavioral disabilities through the Department of Social and Health Services ($921,000).
• Family Planning. We fund family planning clinics to backfill lost federal funding ($4 million operating, $5 million total).
• Substance abuse and mental health treatment. We extend for one more year the pilot programs we established in 2005 in Pierce and Snohomish counties for integrated chemical dependency and mental health crisis response, and begin a new pilot program in Spokane County ($5.1 million).
• Mental health services. We provide more staffing for state mental health hospitals ($2.3 million).
• Regional support networks (RSNs)s. We increase funding for non-Medicaid services at our regional support networks ($6.25 million). To further ensure their continuity and the delivery of community mental health services, we allow for-profit entities to become RSNs and contract with local mental health services providers ($3 million). We also adjust the rate paid to RSNs ($1.4 million) and plan for the Spokane RSN to reduce the use of Eastern State Hospital ($2.25 million).

Storm relief:

• Disaster Recovery Account. Our budget provides the local 12.5 percent match required to access Federal Emergency Management Assistance funds ($10.3 million). We also provide an additional local match for FEMA funds for debris removal ($1.6 million).
• Economic Development Strategic Reserve. We appropriate $2 million from the Strategic Reserve Account to help businesses recover from the storm. We then replenish the account with additional funds for future assistance ($2 million).

Public safety:

• Sex offenders address verification. We fund local law enforcement’s regular, in-person verification of a sex offender’s physical address ($5 million).
• Child victims of sexual assault. We fund medical, therapeutic and other services for child victims of sexual assault through the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy ($600,000).
• Additional law enforcement academies. We provide funding for five additional academies to train an additional 150 law enforcement officers ($853,000).
• Parole Services. We backfill lost federal funds to the Functional Family Parole program, which is a case management model that motivates youth and families to fully participate in services. ($2.8 million).

Environment:

• Lake Roosevelt. We fund the implementation of the agreements the state has entered with the Spokane Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Nation to manage water behind the Grand Coulee dam. ($8.2 million).
• Green jobs. We create opportunity grants for the purpose of training workers for high-wage occupations in high-demand industries related to the green economy ($1.9 million).
• Puget Sound Partnership. We keep our commitment to clean up the Puget Sound by 2020 with an additional investment in the Puget Sound Partnership ($1.4 million, plus $1.5 million in additional federal spending authority).
• Response Tug. The Neah Bay response tug has helped avert the catastrophe of a major oil spill on Washington’s shores. We provide funding to keep the tug in operation all year round. ($3.5 million).