A look at major bills from the
2008 legislative session

FACTOID:
2,521 bills were introduced during the 60-day legislative session. About 341 passed both chambers. The governor signed 338 bills, but partially vetoed 25 of them. Three bills were vetoed in their entirety.

Updated 04-04-08

• Beekeepers: Senate Bill 6468 gives tax breaks to the state's beekeepers and attempts to ease the economic impact of a nationwide epidemic that has left millions of bees dead.
• Fertilizer labeling: House Bill 2467 streamlines the process of registering and administering fertilizers.
• Hay weigh: House Bill 2923 allows for a USDA-approved scale to be used to weigh straw or hay for transport. The measure provides for a more efficient method of transporting these agricultural commodities on the state's public highways.
• Lake Roosevelt drawdown: Through Senate Bill 6874, an agreement was reached with the Spokane and Colville tribes for a slight drawdown of Lake Roosevelt. The resulting billions of gallons will help with drought relief, Odessa-area farmers struggling with a dwindling aquifer, as well as cities and fish.
• Local farms and healthy kids: Senate Bill 6483 promotes the use of state-grown fresh fruits and vegetables in public schools and to low-income residents.
• Urban forestry: House Bill 2844 requires the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to develop a model for expanding "urban forests" into cities and counties. The governor vetoed part of this bill. See veto message.

• New spending: Supplemental state operating budget (House Bill 2687) adds a net of $291 million to the current two-year budget of $33.4 billion. About $850 million left in reserve. The state is spending $1.7 billion more than it will collect in revenue. Spending sets up state for a $2.4 billion shortfall in 2009. Speaker Chopp has not ruled out raising taxes in 2009 to make up the deficit. Portions of the bill were vetoed by the governor. See veto message.
• Budget transparency: Senate Bill 6818 provides transparency in budgeting by allowing the public to see on a Web site how their money is spent.

• Beer and wine: Senate Bill 5751 allows as many as 30 grocery stores across the state to offer a limited number of beer- and wine-tasting events in the store.
• Building construction: Under Senate Bill 6504, construction projects that disturb less than five acres of land and require an Ecology construction storm water discharge permit are exempt from the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). The exemption does not apply if the Department of Ecology determines by rule that instances warranting SEPA review exist.
• Children’s toys: House Bill 2647 regulates the amount of lead, cadmium and phthalates in children’s products and toys. The governor vetoed two sections of the bill. See veto message.
• Distilleries: House Bill 2959 lowers the annual license fee for craft distilleries to $100 from $2,000 a year. It also would let them sell up to 20,000 gallons of liquor a year if at least half of their materials come from crops grown in Washington.
• Economic revitalization: Senate Bill 6855 makes extensive changes to how the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) can expend the funding under its authority for capital projects. CERB funding was primarily targeted towards rural communities, and this legislation reduces the amounts going to rural counties and redirects funding towards urban areas. The governor vetoed Section 10 of the bill that would have given responsibility to the Economic Development Commission that it already has. See veto message.
• Excise tax waivers: House Bill 3283 allows business owners who are deployed in military service to have interest and penalties waived on unpaid excise taxes.
• HVAC licensing: Senate Bill 5831 creates a task force to study statewide contractor registration and mechanic certification requirements for those involved in the HVAC industry (heating, ventilation and air conditioning).
• Workers' compensation - House Bill 3139 requires employers to pay workers' compensation benefits even if the claim is on appeal. About 60 percent of all appeals favor the employer. Some protections were added for self-insurers, such as Boeing and Weyerhaeuser, which will make it easier for them to collect overpayments created by the bill.

• Capital budget spending: The supplemental construction budget (House Bill 2765) adds $118 million in spending to a total capital budget of $4.5 billion. Portions of the bill were vetoed by the governor. See veto message.

• Anti-gang bill: House Bill 2712 implements a series of enhancements to laws and programs to reduce criminal gang activities. Among other things it enhances penalties for adults who involve minors in gang-related felonies, expands penalties related to gang activities, permits penalties to be used to cure graffiti, and funds grants and efforts to combat gang activity.
• DUI driver's license: House Bill 3254 allows a special driver's license for drunken drivers whose license is suspended, but only if the car has an ignition interlock that can detect whether they've drunk alcohol. The device would be required for one to 10 years, depending on previous convictions, and no one convicted of vehicular assault or vehicular homicide in the last seven years could qualify. The governor vetoed a portion of the bill that would have allowed first-time offenders to receive a deferred prosecution, even if they are found not to have a drug or alcohol addiction. See veto message.
• Eluding police: House Bill 1030 enhances penalties for those putting citizens at risk while eluding a law enforcement officer.
• Identity theft: Senate Bill 5878 requires police to make out a report when identity theft is reported, thus providing documentation that is helpful to victims dealing with credit card companies and others. House Bill 1273 directs the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to develop a financial fraud and identity theft investigation/prosecution program. House Bill 2637 allows records provided by out-of-state businesses and credit card companies to be authenticated by affidavit rather than in person in criminal cases. When properly served with a request for records, the recipient must provide the records within 20 business days and verify the authenticity by providing a signed affidavit, declaration or certification.
• Judges retire: House Bill 2887 lets judges increase their monthly pension checks when they retire by buying into a different retirement plan at a discount.
• Police and firefighter pensions: Senate Bill 6573 puts $5 million a year into a special fund in 2011 to improve retirement benefits for police officers and firefighters who were hired after 1977 and help local governments pay for public safety. However, that funding would be triggered only if state tax collections increased by more than 5 percent year over year. It could rise to $50 million a year.
• Prosecutor pay: Senate Bill 6297 guarantees the state’s 39 county prosecutors would be paid at least $100,000 a year by pegging their salaries to those of Superior Court judges.
• Sex crime DNA: House Bill 2713 adds stalking, soliciting a prostitute and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes to the list of crimes for which criminals must submit a DNA sample to authorities.
• Sex predators: $5 million will be distributed to police departments to cover the cost of in-person visits by officers seeking to verify that sex offenders are living where they say they are. Authorities will collect DNA samples from offenders if they are not already on file. Prison officials will get more than $1.5 million to expand the use of global positioning satellite devices to track movements of some offenders while they are under community supervision. In the budget - House Bill 2687.
• Sex offender Web site: House Bill 2786 requires all level I sex offenders while they are out of compliance with the registration statute to be included on the statewide sex offender Web site.

• Same-sex couples: Senate Bill 3104 grants about 170 rights and responsibilities given to married couples to those in domestic partnerships. The expansion came two years after gay, lesbian and transgender people were given anti-discrimination rights, and a year after domestic partnership was made legal. More than 3,500 couples have registered as domestic partners since last year's law took effect.

• Autistic children: Senate Bill 6743 provides for early intervention/educational services for children with autism. The governor vetoed a section of the bill that would have directed the Office of Superintendant of Public Instruction to provide an autism guidebook to teachers and parents. See veto message.
• Career and technical education (CTE): Senate Bill 6377 creates a grant program for CTE programs preparing students for degrees or apprenticeships. The measure also tightens CTE program expectations by requiring that they lead to an industry certification or that they offer dual credit. The legislation is offered to help lower a 30 percent school drop-out rate. The governor vetoed the section of the bill that provided for the grant program. See veto message.
• Classified staff training: House Bill 2870 directs the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to create a training course for classified instructional assistants.
• Educational materials: The supplemental operating budget (House Bill 2687) provides an additional $4 million to pay for school librarians, books and computers.
• Internet education: House Bill 3129 increases the availability of public information to inform, encourage and assist high-school students who live in rural and remote communities to participate – via the Internet – in programs like Running Start to earn college credits.
• Kindergarten: All-day kindergarten is offered at 20 percent of the poorest public schools by the end of the 2008-09 school year, doubling the 10 percent that got it this year. In the budget (House Bill 2687).
• Math standards: Senate Bill 6534 returns responsibility for ultimate adoption of the state math standards to the State Board of Education rather than the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The standards will reflect a more earnest return to traditional math.
• Online math curriculum: House Bill 2598 requires the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the state Board of Education to gather information about creating a math curriculum that could be made available online to districts for free.
• Struggling students: Senate Bill 6673 provides nearly $18 million in Learning Assistance Program funds to be used to help students at risk of not graduating. The measure creates a grant program for summer programs in math, science and technology for middle and high schools. The governor vetoed sections of this bill, including the grant program. See veto message.
• Teacher pay raise: Public school employees and some community college workers get a 4.4 percent raise in the 2008-09 school year. That’s an increase of 0.5 percent above the voter-approved law guaranteeing cost-of-living raises. The total is $57 million in the budget (House Bill 2687).
• Teacher retirement: House Bill 3024 reduces from five years to two years the service credit that a member must earn in the Teachers’ Retirement System Plans 2 or 3 (TRS 2/3) before being eligible to purchase out-of-state service credit at full actuarial cost.
• Veteran families tuition waivers: Senate Bill 6371 ensures that eligible family members of killed, missing, captured or severely disabled military members can take advantage of tuition waivers at Washington's colleges and universities.
• WASL, Part 1: House Bill 3166 applies end-of-course assessments to replace the math portion of the WASL, beginning in 2014.
• WASL, Part 2: Lawmakers earmarked $15 million to cover increased costs of administering the WASL, but saved money by making it shorter and reducing the number of open-ended questions. In the budget (House Bill 2687).

• Campaign finance: Senate Bill 5278 allows voters in cities and counties to decide whether to use public money for campaigns. Campaigns for state office or school boards are not eligible.

• Cell phone privacy: House Bill 2479 requires publishers of telephone directories to get permission from customers before publishing their cell phone numbers.

• Antifreeze: House Bill 2996 requires that most antifreeze sold after Jan. 1, 2010, contain an aversive agent, making it taste bad so children and pets won’t ingest it.
• Climate change:  House Bill 2815 works to address climate change concerns. The legislation directs the state to develop plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Major sources of greenhouse gases are required to measure and report their emissions. Recommendations for a regional cap-and-trade market for carbon emissions must be made to the Legislature by December. The legislation builds on previous goals for reducing emissions over the next four decades, sets the guidelines for how to reach those emissions goals, and seeks to add "green collar" jobs.
• Climate change in GMA: Senate Bill 6580 allows local governments to address climate change in their growth management plans, directs the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development to provide computer programs and methodologies to reduce green house gasses for planning purposes, and provides pilot programs for up to 6 cities and 3 counties at an expected cost of $250,000 per jurisdiction. The governor vetoed several sections of the bill that provided emergency clauses. See veto message.
• Cougar hunts: Under House Bill 2438, the Legislature approved a three-year, statewide expansion of a program allowing the use of dogs in cougar hunts. A voter-approved initiative in 1996 had banned the practice.
• Flooding and erosion: House Bill 2525 requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue expedited hydraulic project approval (HPA) permits whenever the governor or the county declares an emergency related to flooding. Counties are also authorized to declare two or more consecutive years of flooding as a "chronic danger." The permits would allow stream bank stabilization to protect homes and property.
• Flood mapping study: Up to $280,000 has been allocated in the supplemental capital budget for a flood protection study to recertify levees in Washington. The cities of Puyallup, Sumner, Fife, Renton, Kent and Auburn, along with many rural locations of King and Pierce counties, have had significant areas newly mapped into flood plains because many levees are not certified under the new FEMA regulations.
• Flood recovery: Legislators approved House Bill 3374 which provides $50 million in bonds to kick-start efforts to protect Interstate 5 and communities in Lewis County, one of the areas hit hardest by December's devastating floods. The money will draw federal matching dollars for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers levee plan. House Bill 3375 earmarks $50 million in state funding for flood hazard mitigation projects.  Local communities want a broader plan, including consideration of dams. Other flood measures passed by the Legislature would give tax rebates, set up emergency systems and bankroll housing.
• Hunting and fishing for people with disabilities: House Bill 2540 relates to the Fish and Wildlife Commission Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities. The commission sets rules and regulations that help hunters and fishers with disabilities enjoy their hobbies safely and effectively.
• Marinas: Senate Bill 6532 allows a city with a population between 20,000 and 25,000 people to enter into a reduced-fee lease with the state Department of Natural Resources for the use of state-owned aquatic lands if the city operates a publicly-owned marina.

• Family leave: Money has been provided in the operating budget (House Bill 2687) to set up a computer system to administer payments of $250 a week for up to six weeks to families who have a child or adopt a child, but no funding source is identified for benefits next year.
• Foster care: New funding for more social worker visits, education screening and sibling contact. Pilot program of a new class of foster parents.
• Working family tax credit:  Under Senate Bill 6809, low-income families eventually may get a check for between $80 and $160, but not this year. Lawmakers set up a program for those who are eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. However, the original measure was changed to merely a setup, with money to pay for the rebates. Concerns had been raised about the measure's expected price tag: about $110 million in the next two-year state budget, and almost $165 million in the subsequent budget, if lawmakers decide to bankroll it.

• Dentists: House Bill 2881 creates an exception to examination requirements for dental license applicants who have practiced in another state for at least four years and have completed a one-year, post-doctoral residency.
• Health care reform task force: Senate Bill 6333 establishes a 13-member work group (4 legislators and 9 members appointed by the Governor) to conduct meetings around the state to provide health care information to citizens and seek public input on several health care reform proposals. The work group will also contract for an independent economic analysis of four health care reform proposals and a review of the actuarial analysis of the Insurance Commissioner’s health care reform proposal. This is the 16th health-care related study in the past three years.
• Health insurance partnership: House Bill 2537 makes changes to the 2007 Health Insurance Partnership Legislation (House Bill 1569), including providing a state subsidy to fund ongoing administrative and operating costs of HIP, limiting plan choice and portability, changing small employer eligibility to those not currently providing health insurance and at least 50 percent of employees are low-wage and exempting HIP from some insurance laws.
• Insurance rates: Senate Bill 5261 restores the insurance commissioner's authority to review health benefit rate plan increases. The insurance commissioner reviewed rate increases on individual health plans until 2000, when the Legislature ended it.
• Organ donors: House Bill 1637 adopts an amended version of the 2006 Uniform Anatomical Gift Act to regulate the donation of, or refusal to donate, bodies or body parts for transplantation, therapy, research, or education.
• Tobacco cessation: Smokers on Medicaid get help quitting. The Legislature set aside nearly $2 million for nicotine replacements and counseling. About 40 percent of people on Medicaid are smokers.

• Affordable housing: Senate Bill 6335 appropriates $6 million in the budget for the Homeless Families Services Fund. The Legislature created the fund in 2004 to provide for case management, counseling, referrals to employment and job training, domestic violence services, mental health services, substance abuse services, parenting skills education, transportation assistance and child care.
• Affordable Housing For All Program: Senate Bill 5959 puts into statute the Transitional Housing Operating and Rent (THOR) program to assist homeless individuals and families secure and retain housing. Grants are provided to nonprofits, local governments, housing authorities and Indian tribes. They will provide rental assistance, case management services, operating expenses of transitional housing facilities that serve homeless families with children; and organizational administrative costs. This is for families with children that have incomes at or below 50 percent of the median family income.
• Condominium agreements: House Bill 3071 does away with a requirement that anyone wishing to terminate a condominium agreement -- presumably to sell the building -- get approval from 100 percent of the owners if the building was built before mid-1990. (For newer buildings, the requirement is 80 percent.)
• Homeownership Counseling and Financial Literacy: Senate Bill 6272 provides $1.5 million for homeownership pre and post purchase outreach, education, counseling and support. Also requires the Department of Financial Institutions to implement a financial literacy and education program.
• Home inspectors: Senate Bill 5788 started out as a bill that would require home inspectors to be licensed. It was changed into a bill that would direct the Department of Licensing to study whether home inspectors should be licensed, then report back to the Legislature.
• Smart homeowners choices program: Senate Bill 6711 creates a program that will provide loans to low-income and moderate-income families who are delinquent on their mortgage payments to bring them current in order to refinance into a different loan product. The homeowner would then be required to repay the funds received at time of refinancing and agree to participate in a mortgage counseling program.

• Adult family homes: The governor and the Legislature set out to increase reimbursement to people who take care of physically and mentally disabled people on Medicaid by 4.8 percent to 5.8 percent, but opted instead to give higher payments to those caring for the most severely disabled instead of an across-the-board increase. In the budget (House Bill 2687).
• Dental care - Additional funding provided in the budget for senior dental care (House Bill 2687).
• Long-Term Care: House Bill 2668 expands services to seniors needing assistance with long-term care to include family caregiver support and respite ($1.5 million); a falls prevention program ($400,000); permitting nursing assistants to administer insulin by injection to people with diabetes in community-based or in-home care settings upon delegation by a registered nurse ($40,000); and behavior support and training in Boarding Homes and Adult Family Homes ($881,000 plus federal matching funds). The governor vetoed part of this bill, including a grant program for new adult day-care programs. See veto message.
• Property tax relief: Senate Bill 5256 excludes federal veterans benefits awarded for service-connected disabilities from income for purposes of qualifying for both the property tax exemption and property tax deferral program. Under current law, anyone at least 61 years of age or older, those unable to work because of a physical disability, or a veteran with a 100-percent service connected disability with a combined disposable income of $35,000 or less qualifies for the exemption program. The program provides a reduction in property taxes owed based on income and freezes the assessed value of the home for tax purposes.
  There is also a property tax deferral program for homeowners who are at least 61 years of age or retired due to a disability and their annual household income is $40,000 or less.

• Cemetery taxing districts: House Bill 3200 makes it easier for counties to establish local cemetery districts. The bill decreases from 15 to 10 percent the number of voter signatures required on a cemetery-district petition, and allows county commissioners to put the proposal before voters as a ballot proposition
• Fee and tuition increases: Last fall's approval of I-960 handed the Legislature a huge pile of government fee and college tuition increases to deal with. I-960 also directed the state to send out 10-year cost projections and lawmakers' voting records on those fees. The Democratic majority eventually put a few fees in a single bill, and crammed the rest in the budget (House Bill 2687). Total price tag: some $74 million.
• Newspaper tax break: House Bill 2585 provides a tax reduction for newspapers' online advertising. Newspaper publishers are taxed at a rate of 0.484 percent on their gross receipts. However, the online ads have been charged 1.5 percent higher because they are not considered printing. The bill makes it so newspaper online ad revenue is charged at the lower rate. The bill would expire June 30, 2011.
• Property tax levies: Senate Bill 6641 requires taxing districts to explicitly indicate in a ballot proposition for both multi-year and single year lid lifts that the district’s levy base will be permanently increased. If the ballot proposition does not expressly indicate that the final levy will be used for the purpose of computing subsequent levies, the levy increase is presumed to be temporary. This measure partially fixes an inadvertent error in a law passed by the 2007 Legislature that made voter-approved multi-year levy lid lifts permanent. An amendment that would have made the bill retroactive to July 22, 2007 and prevent permanent property tax increases on voter-approved levy lifts since that date was defeated.
• Vegetable oil tax exemption: House Bill 3188 creates a tax exemption for residents who use waste vegetable oil (such as leftover grease from fast-food restaurants) to make biodiesel.

• Highway 520: House Bill 3096 lays the foundation for putting tolls on the Evergreen Point floating bridge between Seattle and Bellevue as soon as 2009 – years before construction actually begins – and raising half of the $4 billion cost from tolls. The bill also sets a design that is too small to accommodate future growth in the region.
• HOT lane tolls: The Transportation Commission also was authorized to impose new tolls on solo drivers who want to buy their way into the car-pool lanes on Highway 167 between Auburn and Renton. Tolls would vary between 50 cents and $9, depending on traffic. In the budget.
• Narrows bridge toll hike: The Legislature authorized the Washington Transportation Commission to raise tolls on the new Tacoma Narrows bridge. A citizen advisory proposal to boost cash tolls to $4 and raise Good To Go pass tolls to $2.75 – both $1 higher than today’s rate – is before the board. In the budget.
• Suicide fences: The state Department of Transportation gets $7.5 million to build fences along the Aurora Avenue Bridge in Seattle (Highway 99) in the hope of making it more difficult for people to leap to their death. In the budget.
• Transportation budget: The supplemental transportation budget (House Bill 2878) adds about $37 million to operating programs for the remainder of the biennium. Also, $52 million is added for 10 new transportation projects, including $10 million for U.S. Highway 2 in Snohomish County, $26.9 million for a 10-mile concrete barrier along I-5 near Marysville, and $7.5 million for a suicide prevention fence on the Aurora Avenue Bridge in Seattle. Lawmakers agreed on a tolling plan to raise revenue for construction projects, OK'd tentative designs and a financing plan for a new Highway 520 bridge, and approved $85 million for three new small ferries to serve the Port Townsend-Keystone route. Portions of the bill were vetoed by the governor. See veto message.
• Tolls: House Bill 1773 would establish a state policy for the Legislature to put permanent tolls on bridges and highways, charge higher tolls during rush hours to discourage traffic, and impose tolls before projects are finished. Toll amounts are to be determined later. There are no limitations on the use of toll revenue.

• Human remains: House Bill 2624 requires anyone who finds human remains to notify local law enforcement. If the remains were determined to be American Indian, all area tribes would be notified.
• Lake Roosevelt drawdown - Through Senate Bill 6874, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Spokane Tribe of Indians will get a total of $6 million, as a part of a deal to draw down Lake Roosevelt slightly and provide billions of gallons a year to farmers, cities and fish in streams. The budget also includes $2 million for counties adjacent to Lake Roosevelt and $150,000 for assisting five northeast counties' access to the new water.
• Tribal police: House Bill 2476 gives tribal police the same authority as state police officers. Any citations or arrest documents would be filed with the state, not the tribe.

• Excise tax waivers: House Bill 3283 allows business owners who are deployed in military service to have interest and penalties waived on unpaid excise taxes.
• High school diplomas: House Bill 1283 allows honorably discharged Vietnam veterans who left high school before graduation to receive a high school diploma.
• Veteran families tuition waivers: Senate Bill 6371 ensures that eligible family members of killed, missing, captured or severely disabled military members can take advantage of tuition waivers at Washington's colleges and universities.

• Camera cops: Senate Bill 5363 would have expanded the use of cameras to enforce traffic laws by letting Seattle install them on arterial streets to catch speeders. Passed the Senate; died in the House.
• Out-of-state inmates: House Bill 2688 would have prevented the Department of Corrections from sending inmates to private prisons in Minnesota, Arizona and Oklahoma if the inmates are active in the lives of their children. Died in the House.
• Roadblocks for drunks: House Bill 2771 would have let police set up roadblocks, or “sobriety checkpoints,” to pull over drivers, see if they’ve been drinking and arrest them if they fail sobriety tests. Some lawmakers raised serious concerns about government trampling on civil liberties under this proposal by Gov. Gregoire to set up police checkpoints in search of drunken drivers. Earlier checkpoints were struck down, owing to the state constitution's strong privacy protections. Gregoire insisted the plan could meet constitutional muster. But lawmakers were not ready to take the plunge. Died in a House committee.
• Wrongful death: House Bill 1873 would have given parents legal standing to sue if a child were killed as a result of negligence. Although the House and the Senate passed versions of the bill, they could not agree on the same version, so it died.
• Yellow license plates: Senate Bill 6402 would have required people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs to put fluorescent yellow license plates on their vehicles. Died in a Senate committee.

• College for inmates: Senate Bill 6790 would have provided some state-paid college classes for Washington prison inmates. Passed by the Senate. Died in the House.
• Recess: Senate Bill 6042 started out as a bill requiring recess in elementary schools. It was later turned into a bill that would study the availability of recess in elementary schools, but it still failed to pass.
• Teacher “combat” pay: House Bill 1775, over five years, would have made an estimated 1,400 more teachers eligible for a $5,000 annual bonus for teaching in schools with high levels of students from low-income families. Passed the House; died in the Senate.
• UW Everett: House Bill 2548 would have authorized the University of Washington to open a branch campus in Everett. Died in a House committee. The budget (House Bill 2687)includes $100,000 for a further study of the UW North branch campus. The debate between locations in Everett and Lake Stevens will continue.

• Plastic grocery bags: House Bill 3215 would have required grocery stores to provide bags made from recyclable materials didn't make it to the checkout line, despite support from some environmental groups.
• Light pollution: House Bill 2534 would have required public and private outdoor lighting be fully shielded. It would have also limited outdoor facilities from using outdoor lighting beyond scheduled events and sought to restrict fully illuminating an outdoor display lot after 10 p.m. In addition, it would have required the removal of all mercury vapor outdoor lighting by July 2009.
• Yukon to Yellowstone: Senate Bill 5318 would have authorized the creation of the Yukon to Yellowstone wildlife corridor (Y2Y) that would engulf 2,000 miles of land. The bill would have required American fish and wildlife officials to work with their Canadian counterparts to protect a massive wildlife corridor known as the Yukon to Yellowstone Eco-Region.

• Polls: House Bill 2833 would have closed polling places in Pierce County in favor of all-mail voting, which is what the other 38 counties are doing. Died in committee.
• Special elections: Senate Bill 5271 would have dropped two of the four spring dates for special elections. Passed the Senate; died in the House.
• Voting: House Bill 2663 would have made it legal for 17-year-olds to vote. Another bill would have lowered the voting age to 16, but neither passed.

• Day-care worker union: House Bill 2449 would have let many directors and workers at day-care centers form a union and negotiate with the governor’s office for wages and benefits. Died after a contentious battle between the House and the Senate.

• Agricultural structures: Senate Bill 6609 would have reduced building permit fees on agricultural structures.
• Closed meetings: House Bill 3292 would have required executive sessions to be taped so a judge could review the record if there were allegations of violating the Open Public Meetings Act. Died in committee.
• Secret meetings: House Bill 2567 would have increased the current $100-per-day fine for violating the Open Public Meetings Act to a range of $250 to $1,000. Passed the House; died in the Senate.

• Catastrophic coverage: House Bill 2640 would have provided catastrophic care for the uninsured or underinsured, funded by a 1 percent payroll tax. The I-960 eight-year cost projection of this bill was $61 billion. Died in committee.
• Data mining: Senate Bill 6241 would have made it illegal to sell prescription records specific enough to be traced back to the prescribing doctor. Pharmaceutical companies use the information to market drugs to doctors. Died in the Senate.
• Small business health insurance reform: House Bill 1539 would have allowed health insurers to offer one benefit plan featuring a limited schedule of covered health care services (i.e. mandate free plan). It also would have changed the community rating band from plus/minus 4 percent to plus/minus 8 percent, and excluded health savings accounts from community rating. This would allow premiums to more accurately reflect the group’s risk and utilization. Failed to get a committee hearing, even though these recommendations were part of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care report.
• Universal health care: Senate Bill 6221 would have created universal health care in the state by replacing employer-provided health care with a payroll tax. The I-960 eight-year cost projection was $145 billion. Died in committee.

• Homeowner warranties: Senate Bill 5550 would have allowed homeowners to sue contractors for negligence if there were problems with their homes. Died in the House Rules Committee.

• Husky Stadium: The University of Washington asked the Legislature for half of the $300 million the university says is needed to pay for safety improvements and upgrades. Died in committee.
• Seattle SuperSonics - Four Seattle-area businessmen and Seattle's mayor, wanting to counter the SuperSonics' move-minded Oklahoma owner, sought state support for using $75 million in current King County taxes as part of a package to fix up KeyArena to keep the NBA team or attract another. Despite the last-minute push, the Legislature didn’t give Seattle any money, but lawmakers did create a task force to take a closer look at the issue in 2009. The task force language is in the budget (House Bill 2687).

• Engine tax: Senate Bill 6900 would have required car and truck owners to pay an annual fee based on the size of their vehicle’s engine. Its introduction by a Democrat senator from Bellevue generated a widespread opposition campaign. It died without getting a hearing.
• Initiative 960: Senate Bill 6931 would have increased the state liquor tax by 42 cents a liter to raise $12 million a year for drunken-driving patrols and drug treatment. It failed, but it is now the basis for a test case on whether I-960’s requirement of a two-thirds vote by both houses of the Legislature to raise taxes violates the state constitution. Pending a court ruling.
• Property tax relief: House Joint Resolution 4228 would have asked voters in November to amend the state constitution to allow property tax assessments to be averaged out over time. Averaging would smooth out assessments so homeowners don't get hit with such a big shock on their property tax bills. Died in the House without a hearing.
• Server farms: Senate Bill 6666 would have provided tax breaks to high-tech companies with server farms in Washington. The measure called for a reduction in sales taxes paid on replacement equipment for large computer data centers. Lobbyists for Yahoo and Microsoft have said that a lack of tax help could possibly jeopardize expansion of their server farms in Quincy. The bill received a hearing in the Senate, but a last-minute effort to revive the measure in the final week of the session did not gain enough momentum to move the legislation.

• Bob Oke Bridge proposal: Senate Joint Memorial 8026 would have recommended naming the new Tacoma Narrows bridge after the late Republican senator from Port Orchard who championed its construction. Passed by the Senate Transportation Committee, but never got to the floor.
• Regional transportation: Senate Bill 6771 would have authorized a study of the future role of the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID), the tri-county agency that developed the roads portion of the roads-and-transit measure rejected last year by voters. Passed the Senate; died in the House.
• Sound Transit: Senate Bill 6772 would have turned over the RTID’s road-building duties to Sound Transit, the tri-county agency in charge of building a bus-and-rail system. Died in a Senate committee.
• Transportation sales tax: House Bill 3051 would have exempted highway projects costing more than $1 billion from the state’s 6.5 percent sales tax if tolls are to be used to cover half of the construction cost. It also would have retroactively forgiven $43 million in sales tax on the Tacoma Narrows bridge project. Passed the House; died in the Senate.

• Veterans' state contracts: House Bill 2210 would have required state agencies, including higher education institutions, to award 5 percent of all procurement contracts for purchases, personal services, public works, and leasing or renting that are exempt from competitive bidding to certified veteran-owned businesses. Passed the House; died in the Senate.

• Don’t mess with pets: House Bill 2836 would have let judges extend protection orders to the pets of people involved in domestic disputes, and would have made it a crime to mistreat pets of domestic violence victims. Passed the House; died in the Senate.
• Police escorts for riding lawnmowers: House Bill 3183 would have exempted park maintenance equipment operated by certain local jurisdictions from vehicle license requirements. The bill was a request by the city of Fife that noted state law requires equipment, such as riding lawnmowers, to be transported to parks on a trailer or with a police escort. Passed the House; died in the Senate.