By now, most of you know that the Governor has called for a special session of the legislature to be held for one day, this Thursday November 29.  The legislature was already scheduled to be in the state capital this week for their regularly scheduled late November committee assembly.  With the one day special session,… Read More

Most of the local political blogs seem convinced the Governor will call the state legislature into special session sooner rather than later to act to reimpose some sort of local property tax limitation in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to toss out Initiative 747.  The Associated Press said today that Democratic leaders were… Read More

For the first time in several years, the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council has reduced the state revenue forecast.  At their quarterly meeting in Olympia yesterday, the Council voted to reduce state general fund revenue collections available for the current biennium by $132 million.  Dr. Chang Mook Sohn, the state’s chief revenue forecaster, said… Read More

This morning, after five months of study, analysis and a lot of public outreach, two reports were released regarding the future of a new UW campus in North Puget Sound. The first report, was prepared by the University and is the preliminary academic plan for the new campus.  In a nutshell, the plan calls for the… Read More

Late Friday afternoon and in response to the Supreme Court decision which declared Initiative 747 unconstitutional, Governor Gregoire announced that she would seek to reimpose the 1% property tax limitation during the upcoming 2008 legislative session.  Here’s a link to a statement from her office announcing the decision. Representative Jon Lovick (D-Mill Creek) who serves… Read More

As many of you have already read, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Tim Eyman’s 2001 Initiative 747 was unconstitutional on a close 5-4 decision.  That initiative limited increases in property tax collections to 1 percent per year unless voters approved higher amounts.  The Supreme Court upheld a June 2006 King County Superior Court… Read More

Been a very busy week for me as the deadline for the UW North Sound academic plan recommendations approaches.  Hope to get a couple of items posted here on the blog before the Veterans Day Weekend kicks in.  Here are some items you may or may not have caught in the news the past few… Read More

Governor Christine Gregoire was honored this month by Governing Magazine as one of the nation’s top public officials.  The Governor actually appears on the cover of the November issue which singles out nine prominent leaders around the nation for their transformational impact on their respective public organizations.  Gregoire was the only governor to make the… Read More

Harold Clarke, the head of the state Department of Corrections (DOC) announced his resignation today effective November 23.  He is leaving to become head of the Massachusetts prison system said a DOC spokesman. Clarke was hired by Governor Gregoire in January 2005 after having served as head of the correction system in Nebraska.  He has… Read More

The Seattle Weekly reports that Sharon Nelson, chief of staff to King County Councilmember Dow Constantine will get the nod from local Democrats to succeed Joe McDermott as a House member in the 34th legislative district (West Seattle, Vashon Island).  McDermott was recently appointed to the State Senate to complete the term of Erik Poulsen… Read More