DAILY NEWS
Final stalemate explained, process for prez, money for bosses…
Monday, July 6, 2015
STATE GOVERNMENT
► In the News Tribune — Senate Democrats had reason for acting as they did (by Sen. Sharon Nelson) — Three times this year, our colleagues in the House overwhelmingly passed HB 2214, which will reform our state’s entire high-stakes testing system… If this bill lowered academic expectations, a whopping 92 House Republicans and Democrats wouldn’t have joined forces to pass this bill for a third time just four days ago in a last-ditch effort to fix the system. But just like before, Senate Republicans neglected to even give the bill a hearing, let alone debate its merits… We were clear with Senate Republicans – if you expect us to vote for something that hurts kids (suspending I-1351), you better help us do something to help kids. We asked for HB 2214. But Senate Republicans refused to budge and the suspension of I-1351 failed.
► From AP — After year of Washington legal pot sales, taxes top $70 million — Despite some industry gripes and recent tweaks to the state’s legal pot law, officials and legalization backers say the state’s slow and deliberate effort to regulate marijuana has been a success.
► In today’s Olympian — Long session in Olympia hurts some state lawmakers’ campaigns — Both state Rep. Carol Gregory (D-Federal Way) and state Rep. Mary Dye (R-Pomeroy) are fighting to retain their seats in the November special election. But unlike their opponents, the two sitting lawmakers are prohibited from raising money while the Legislature is still meeting in Olympia.
LOCAL
ALSO at The Stand — Swedish-Providence nurses call for better staffing, care, jobs
► In the News Tribune — Tacoma $15 wage boosters: Right approach could remove issue from ballot — Said Mike Ladd, a janitor and member of 15 Now Tacoma: “We dragged everyone in the political establishment kicking and screaming into this struggle. Now they want to know when we’re going to wave the white flag.”
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
► From Politico — GOP extols worker training, then slashes funding for it — In the great trade debate last month, the air was filled with promises to help American workers keep pace with a changing world. Days after, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved new Republican cuts from funding for adult education and worker training — programs the GOP had embraced just a year ago.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Bill would create plan for easing freight — Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are sponsoring legislation that would create a blueprint for reducing freight bottlenecks and congestion across the country, and increase funding for new grade separations — building bridges and tunnels to separate roads from rail.
NATIONAL
► From Yahoo! News — How government, business and labor can better protect workers from chemical exposure (by Jamie Smith Hopkins) — The country’s safeguards against toxic workplace exposures are dangerously weak, but they don’t have to stay that way.
► From AP — Scott Walker, Wisconsin GOP retreat on open records limits — In a sudden reversal amid a stinging backlash, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and GOP legislative leaders said they agreed Saturday to completely remove a part of the proposed state budget that would severely roll back open records laws.
TODAY’S MUST-READ
ALSO at The Stand — Support overdue update of overtime rule
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.