Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Featured Stories

Olympian

House passes transportation budget (Clibborn)

AP

Inslee announces bill to address drunken driving   (Goodman)

Schmudget

House Budget Invests in Closing the Opportunity Gap

PRINT

AP

State DOL issued most undercover licenses to CIA

Wash. House approves tax changes to raise money (Ormsby)

Wash. House OKs transportation budget (Clibborn)

Wash. lawmakers may block CIA from fake licenses (Clibborn)

Wash. addiction treatment numbers likely to swell

State lawmakers unveil plan for tougher drunken driving law (Goodman)

Wash. patrol says crime lab manager falsified work

Aberdeen Daily World

Judges, commissioners to head back to the table

Bellingham Herald

UPDATE: WSP alleges cases mishandled at state crime lab

Columbian

The Big Divide, Day 3: The Road Ahead (Columbia River Crossing)

Rivers' medical marijuana rules are debated

Editorial: In Our View: Victory for Local Theaters (Moeller)

Everett Herald

Final push made for $8.4 billion roads plan (Clibborn, Sells, Eide)

Davis: Budgets show mandate has been heard

Editorial: Giving DUI laws real teeth (Goodman)

Kingston Community News

State Senate, House budgets include millions for Kitsap Forest & Bay Project

Kitsap Sun

Bill creating rules on confidential licenses passes state House

Former state Senate leader Walgren introduces book Sunday

BLOG: Former state Rep. Tom Huff dies.

Mercer Island Reporter

Legislature receives revised transportation investment package (Clibborn, Eide)

News Tribune (subscription required)

New taxes in transportation budget (Clibborn, Eide)

As session nears end, gun control focus turns to 2014

Op-ed: Education the common ground in competing state budgets

Olympian (subscription required)

Medical marijuana facing stricter regulations

Under the Dome: Today is Wednesday, April 17

Editorial: Lawmakers need to target useless tax breaks

Op-ed (Fairhurst): Courts have antiquated statewide computer systems

Op-ed (Wyman): Online tool can help state refine elections

Letter: Moms Demand Action coming to Olympia

Letter: Home care aides do life-affirming work

Letter: Obama and Inslee need to be held accountable

Blog: Bill to ban toxic flame-retardants going down to wire; Senate Democrats seek to revive House version (Nelson, Hargrove, Haigh, Hurst)

Blog: Democrats move to 9th order; maneuver fails as Majority Coalition leader Tom resists call to conscience (Murray, Hargrove, Chopp)

Blog: New version of bill to let state order improvements at failing schools appears headed to Inslee (who likes it)

Blog: UPDATE – Memorial service planned Saturday for former House budget writer Tom Huff

Blog: Tax package includes $1.27 billion for 167, 509 & I-5 HOT lanes; assumes new Pierce Transit taxing authority (Clibborn, Eide)

Blog: Department of Revenue employees win national award for mobile apps that help businesses do taxes

Blog: Could this be the day Senate Democrats’ take their stab at a procedural coup? (Murray, Fraser, Frockt, Hargrove, Hobbs)

Port Orchard Independent

House Democrats reject Angel’s toll-setting authority amendment

Seattle Times (subscription required)

Inslee, lawmakers plan ‘aggressive’ DUI crackdown (Appleton, Goodman, Kline)

House plans to vote on transportation tax package next week (Clibborn, Pedersen)

Lawmakers may let local voters decide on measures for transit, highways (Clibborn)

Senate Democrats try, and fail, to out manuver GOP on controversial bills (Hargrove)

House Democrats propose slimmed-down $8.4 billion transportation tax package

Opinion: Protect kids from toxic chemicals in children’s products  

Seattle Weekly

Bipartisan DUI Crackdown Hits Legislature; Civil Rights Groups Wary (Goodman)

Spokesman Review

WA Lege Day 93: Transportation budget in House

House passes $8.4 billion Transportation Budget (Clibborn, Riccelli, blog post)

House transportation budget passes (Clibborn, Riccelli, print edition)

Phone books may some day be rare (blog post)

Washington rules phone books not necessary (print edition)

Tri-City Herald

Governor directs flags to fly at half-staff after tragedy in Boston

Editorial: Our Voice: Root out state pension scammers and make them reimburse system

West Seattle Herald

King County announces agreement with feds to fund long-term runoff pollution projects, including some in West Seattle

McDermott introduces tax parity plan for county employees in same sex relationships

Yakima Herald Republic

Senate immigration bill outline sparks mixed reactions in Yakima

BROADCAST

KING 5 TV (NBC)

Lawmakers reach deal on new DUI laws

KIRO 7 TV (CBS)

Inslee announces bill to address drunken driving

Suspected DUI driver heads wrong way on I-5; nearly hits trooper

KOMO 4 TV (ABC)

Lawmakers consider 10 year booze ban for third DUI (Goodman)

KPLU FM

Lawmakers consider special DUI driver license, alcohol bracelet  (Goodman)

House authorizes fake driver’s license program over objections

MyNorthwest.com (KIRO FM)

New DUI laws call for monitoring, more jail time (Goodman)

Boston's use of surveillance video may reignite debate in Seattle

NW Public Radio

In Idaho, Towns Take Up Gay Rights In Absence Of State Action

Carbon Controversy: Should the Northwest Grow Markets For Forest Biofuels?

Q13 TV (Fox)

Inslee, state lawmakers unveil new bill to toughen DUI laws (Goodman)

WEB

Adelante con Demócratas

Mano dura contra los conductores ebrios (Goodman, Morrell)

The Capitol Record

Proposals emerge in effort to crack down on DUIs

House Democrats push for slightly smaller transportation tax package

Alcohol bills, Senate Democratic press conference on ‘Legislative Review’

Crosscut

Parsing Seattle politico-speak: A participatory field guide

Ed Murray maneuvers to force reproductive parity, DREAM votes (Murray, Cody)

HDC Advance

Getting tough on drunk drivers (Goodman, Morrell)

HorsesAss.org

A Scale of Dummy to Whatever? (Columbia River Crossing)

Publicola

Sen. Tom votes against ninth order motion, RPA and DREAM in peril (Murray, Hargrove)

On other blogs today: Foster kids, tragedy in Boston, and cracking down on DUIs (Carlyle, Goodman)

Jolt: Toxic toys, Bleu Bistro backs off, and tons of paper (Murray)

Jolt: Seattle House delegation adds protect Seattle clause to Transportation budget (Pedersen, Clibborn)

Fizz: $2 per vote or $5 for three votes

Schmudget

Budget Infographic: A Sharp Contrast

An Easy Choice: Invest in Education and Economic Growth For All, Or Continue Preferential Tax Rates For The Few?

SDC Hopper

Senate majority blocks vote on RPA, Dream Act (Murray)

Seattle PI

State Patrol: Lab manager lied about investigations

Slog

House Transportation Funding Package Includes Metro-Saving Local MVET Option

Rally in Olympia on Friday to Fight the Beer Tax

Drone vs. Beef Day (Hatfield, in video)

Washington Ledge

Washington House Authorizes Fake Driver License Program Over Objections

Washington To Consider Special DUI Driver License, Alcohol Bracelet (Goodman)

Quote of the Day

"The victims don't have a second chance. So why are we giving the drunk drivers a second chance to kill? We need tougher laws."

Rep. Roger Goodman, Kitsap Sun

Story of the Day

Senator Ed Murray

Senate majority blocks vote on RPA, Dream Act

Today the Senate majority caucus showed its unwillingness to even allow a vote on two bills with support from a majority of members of the Senate – the Washington Dream Act and the Reproductive Parity Act.

The Reproductive Parity Act, HB 1044, would move our state in the opposite direction of the 21 other states that have banned abortion coverage in their insurance markets, and it would do so by upholding our state’s long tradition of allowing women - not insurance companies - to make their own health care choices.

These bills uphold the fundamental Washington values of fairness and choice. The Washington Dream Act, HB 1817, would allow all deserving Washington students to pursue their full potential in education and in life – and it would do so by opening up state financial aid to young dreamers who are currently penalized simply because their parents are undocumented immigrants.

These bills are supported both by a majority of Washingtonians and by a majority of members of this chamber.

Today, we attempted to use a parliamentary procedure known as the Ninth Order to allow these bills a vote. We believed that too much was at stake for the health and well-being of thousands of Washingtonians for these bills to fail.

Make no mistake – while the actions of the majority today were procedural in nature, they were aimed squarely at two popular bills with bipartisan support.

Their vote is an attack on a woman’s right to choose and on a free, fair and accessible education system for all.

When the majority caucus formed, their leaders spoke about the importance of putting policy over politics. Today, we saw how hollow those words were.