Good
morning from the E-Wire! We are down in Olympia now as the House and
Senate prepare for caucuses and opening session.
Breaking news for our
Eastern Washington Members – Representative Haler’s Groundbreaking Legislation
to attempt to fill the access to health care gap in Southeast Washington has
received a hearing in House Higher Education. The bill, HB 2109, will be
heard on Friday the 17th at 8AM in House Hearing Room A. Here
is the link to the bill: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2014&bill=2109
This afternoon, the House will
be engaging in the first round of legislative hearings in Education, Early
Learning, and Appropriations. The E-Wire will be there, taking notes and
sending you an update later today. This morning, the following Education
and Whole child related bills were introduced. The bill list included all
pre-filed bills, but E-Wire readers have already seen that list so, here are
the rest…
HB 2201 – Representative Reuven
Carlyle – Creating a series of procedures to better ascertain the extent of the
costs and efficacy of tax loopholes in Washington State and developing
reporting requirements and ending outdated reporting requirements. This
is a fairly large piece of legislation from one of E-Wire’s favorite fiscal
policy wonks, Representative Carlyle. The bill is designed to improve tax
loophole data collections, create a Department of Revenue workgroup for
recommendations to improve DOR annual surveys and reports, and authorizes
public disclosure of certain firm-specific tax information.
HB 2202 - Representative Reuven
Carlyle – Establishing an open data portal so improve sharing of open public
records with the public electronically. Some exceptions apply in order to
protect privacy, patent, confidentiality agreements, etc.
HB 2205 By Representative Takko
– Modifying mental status evaluation provisions to provide for orders requiring
mental status evaluation or treatment may (instead of must) be based on a
presentence report. This bill is the companion bill to SB 5967 by Padden
and Kline.
HB 2207 By Representatives Haigh
and Orcutt - Eliminating the reduction in state basic education funding that
occurs in counties with federal forest lands. – This bill has the exact same
effect as Senator Ericksen’s bill prefiled last week EXCEPT – the Senate bill
has a broader title whereas this bill is very specific to rural schools offset.
There will be more soon, but
before we hit the digital press, a musical arrangement appropriate to the start
of the legislative session. You’ve probably heard this one on the radio,
but any song with the lines “How can I ever be an optimist about this” and “if
you closed your eyes does it almost feel like you’ve been here before” probably
warrants a listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F90Cw4l-8NY
Now that the music has
stopped - welcome to E-Wire!
First off, Senator Litzow
responds to McCleary funding this session
And if you have forgotten
Before we hit the bill cycle -
Crosscut asks - Who will pay for Bertha's problems
Newspapers Initiate Coverage of
the Session
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2014/jan/12/5-things-to-watch-in-washington-legislature/#axzz2qIs7Y33S
While I am typing this
Rodney Tom feels pressure in
Majority Coalition Caucus
Community College track offering
options for reducing college debt
WSU Offers Degree online to
address needs
Danny Westneat offers his
thoughts on Eastside Catholic - spoiler - the Students are winning
What other states are learning
about dropout re-engagement
The push to add arts and design
to STEM
The Race and Gender Gap with
Technology Starts in High School
Kent Schools introduce I-Grad
Cleveland, Ohio’s Fiscal
Challenges with poverty and special needs requirements
College Drop out numbers high in
US
Expanded Pre-K battlegrounds set
Challenges with student mental
health diagnosis and treatment
Garfield HS Student Hazing
Co-teaching with computers (we
are seeing a lot of chatter about this – check it out)
Cuomo suggests merit pay for
teachers
Highline schools are searching
for capital needs answers
Great New York Times article on
Income Inequality (you will be hearing that a lot this election cycle)
And while we are on it,
Conservative Activist Ron Unz is pushing for a $12 minimum wage to go to the
ballot in California
Schools support Epi Pen
utilization, but questions remain
Central Washington HS Students
off to Carnegie Hall – have a listen!
Some legislators will be
focusing on education
Schools and Environmental
stewardship at loggerheads (pun mine, sorry)
The E-Wire saw this one coming –
but it won’t likely move much at the moment
Clark County school shooter case
still in review
Since everyone is leaving
Snohomish County Politics, you probably need a table to graph the comings and
goings (thanks, Herald!)
Summer Learning Loss challenged
by legislation introduced by Senator Billig
Olympian challenges Moderate
Republicans to take a stand this session
TNT introduces Capital Update
Free App (behind a paywall - FYI: their spelling, not ours)
Spokesman Review offers their
spin too
Democrats offer Minimum Wage
Hike
That is all for now – look for a
later wire to see how day 1 went in Olympia.
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