Health, environment, education win big in '07 Legislature

OLYMPIA -- Through the prism of Democratic values, the 2007 Legislature provided a cornucopia of progressive new policy and concrete investments to help college students, gay couples, teachers and Puget Sound fish, to name just a few.

But it wasn't until the closing hours that Democrats succeeded in one of their toughest goals: ensuring that parents can take time off to care for their newborn children.

		Meryl Schenker / P-I
	Between the passage of the capital and operating budgets, Speaker of the House Frank Chopp leaves a democratic caucus session where he and his wife were given a three-week trip to Spain by House Democrats and staff in appreciation for all Chopp's hard work during the session.

Lawmakers wrapped up the 2007 legislative session Sunday with last-hour compromises on paid family leave, the state pension system and the mandatory assessment test for high school graduation. Then they passed their $33.4 billion budget Sunday night and adjourned for the year.

The spending plan's emphasis on education, health and environmental investments instead of tax breaks clearly reflect the majority Democrats' priorities. However, the new bill establishing a five-week paid family leave is perhaps the Democrats' most notable legislation this year.

The measure is the culmination of a battle that has raged for years, led by the union interests that are the Democrats' strongest supporters. As Democrats increased their majorities to near record levels, paid family leave became a question of "if not now, when?"

The compromise bill, which passed out of the Senate 26-22 on Sunday, allows workers to take paid leave to care for newborn or adopted children. If Gov. Chris Gregoire signs the bill as expected, it would provide the leave beginning in October 2009.

Where the money to pay the parents $250 a week will come from remains unsettled. Senate Bill 5659 calls for a task force to come up with a recommendation for funding -- which caused heartburn among some former supporters but was accepted as reasonable by the measure's key proponents.

Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, wept openly after the bill passed.

"I am thrilled," she said. "It's been such a long and difficult struggle and last night was such an emotional roller coaster."

Keiser said changes made by the House have angered many of those who had voted for the original bill.

"We really had to work very hard to reassure people that this was a good, strong first step," she said.

Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, reversed his previous yes vote and called the arguments for the compromise bill "hogwash."

He said there are clearly emergency situations when workers need to take time off, "but we're talking about something that is planned nine months in advance here."

		Meryl Schenker / P-I
	House Speaker Pro Tempore John Lovick congratulates Gov. Chris Gregoire after his grandson, Jarrod Combs, 8, of Bothell, helped him bang the gavel to signal the end of the 2007 Legislature. Also clapping are House Speaker Frank Chopp, far left, and speaker's attorney Cathy Maynard, far right.

Benton was also upset that a tax credit for small business had been removed from the bill.

"The meat of this bill, the important part of this bill that would have protected families in emergency situations, is gone," he said.

Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-West Seattle, also voted no.

"The way the House has gutted this critical piece of legislation is a disgrace," he said. "This is another example of a hard vote the Senate took earlier this session only to have the House weaken the bill. Eventually you just have to say, 'Enough is enough.' "

California is the only other state that provides paid family leave -- but as Washington takes it up, several others including Oregon, New York and New Jersey are considering the legislation.

After the Legislature agrees on a way to pay for the plan -- which will likely be through an employee payroll deduction or possibly an extension of the tax on liquor -- supporters want to expand the coverage to include older children, spouses, parents and the workers themselves.

The Legislature also passed an 11th-hour bill to delay math and science requirements in the Washington Assessment of Student Learning high school graduation tests to the class of 2013.

As state law stands, students in the class of 2008 would be the first group required to pass the math, writing and reading sections of the WASL in order to graduate. Passing the science section was to become an additional graduation requirement in 2010.

The House and Senate compromise bill would keep the reading and writing WASL as a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2008. Students who do not pass the math test, but meet other graduation requirements and keep taking math courses, would be able to graduate. The measure allows the ACT, SAT and certain Advanced Placement exams to be used as alternatives if a student does not pass the reading or writing sections.

		Meryl Schenker / P-I
	Rep. Ross Hunter puts his feet up after the close of the 2007 legislative session.

The House passed the measure 56-41, and the Senate 30-18. It now goes to Gregoire.

Gregoire's policy director, Marty Brown, said the governor would accept the delay to 2013, but would have to examine the rest of the measure before deciding whether to sign it all or veto sections, as state law allows.

Democrats also voted out a measure that would repeal a 1998 provision known as gain sharing. It was established to increase the benefits for the state pension system based on the performance of the stock market.

Over the next 25 years, the state would spend a projected $3 billion on the benefit for teachers, school employees and public employees. The repeal provides about $100 million to be used in the new biennial budget.

Lawmakers won enough support for reneging on their past promise with a new cost of living increase and improved early retirement benefits for some plans.

But the teachers' union blasted the move.

Washington Education Association President Charles Hasse said the decision put a major flaw into the state budget.

"While lawmakers have stated that education is their top priority, they have voted to take away nearly $100 million in promised retirement benefits for teachers and other school employees.

"At a time when the state enjoys a $2.2 billion surplus, lawmakers have further debased the provisions of one of the worst, if not the worst, pension plans for public school employees in the nation," he said. "Their action stands in sharp contrast to professed commitment to schools and the men and women who work in them."

As the Legislature wound down Sunday, most Democrats were in a festive mood.

"We are real proud of what we accomplished," said Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, D-Seattle.

Democrats presented Chopp with a three-week vacation to Spain paid for by the caucus members.

As the dust settled on the last negotiation of the session, Sen. Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, celebrated in her office Sunday with wine, chocolates and music from the band Dandy Warhols and its song "Bohemian Like You."

"We feel like we delivered," Brown said.

2007 LEGISLATIVE: MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

Lawmakers adjourned the 2007 session on Sunday. Highlights of the session included:sDomestic partnerships: A bill creating a domestic partnership registry with the state and providing enhanced rights for same-sex couples was passed.

• Environment: Lawmakers passed legislation aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions and provided the down payment for the long-term effort to clean up Puget Sound waters.

• Covering kids: Moved toward providing all children in the state with health insurance.

• WASL: The Legislature passed an 11th-hour bill to delay math and science requirements in the WASL high-school graduation tests to the class of 2013.

• Oklahoma City Sonics?: Rebuffed efforts by the Seattle Sonics to approve up to $300 million in tax extensions to help pay for a new arena for the team in Renton. Team owners say without the tax money for a new home they may leave the area.

• The budget: Lawmakers worked to pass a $33.4 billion, two-year state budget that dips into the state's surplus to spend heavily on education, health care and the environment.

  The spending plan uses a large share of the state's $2.2 billion tax windfall to plow more than $1 billion into schools, expand college enrollment by 9,700 students, cover 39,000 more children in health care and begin the $8 billion task of cleaning up Puget Sound pollution. The budget leaves $724 million unspent, including $134 million earmarked for a hard-to-tap "rainy day" account.

  Minority Republicans complained that "the taxpayers' pockets aren't large enough to accommodate this budget." "We're going to turn a $2 billion surplus into a $2 billion deficit in just a very short period of time. From our perspective it's not a fiscally responsible budget," said Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia.

Paid family leave

If Gov. Chris Gregoire signs into law a measure to offer paid family leave, Washington state would be the second state, after California, to have these benefits available for all workers.

The measure approved Sunday would:

• Beginning in 2009, pay $250 a week for up to five weeks of leave when people need to care for a new child, including adopted children. The benefit would be available to people who have worked 680 hours in a year. People who work less than 35 hours a week would receive a prorated amount.
• The funding mechanism for Washington's plan will be determined by a task force established by the law. California workers pay 0.6 percent of their wages to pay for the program.
• Require employers with more than 25 employees to hold workers' jobs open while they are on leave. Those employees must have worked for at least one year and at least 1,250 hours to qualify for job-protected leave.
• Require a one-week waiting period before benefits begin.