There were few jitters Monday as the Legislature convened in Olympia, with pomp and ceremony fast giving way to serious business.
Freshman members Reps. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, and Ann Rivers, R-La Center, found opening day to be “crazy busy,” in Rivers’ words, but upbeat in tone. That’s despite legislators’ daunting task to fill a $4.6 billion budget deficit in the next 104 days.
“I’m just so excited to get to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I just cannot tell you how optimistic I am about the legislative session in the work we’ve already begun,” she said.
Harris, too, was focused on the work ahead, which for him includes serving as the assistant ranking minority member on the Environment Committee and three other committees.
“The people elected me to go to work in Olympia, and that is what I am doing,” Harris said. “Four committee assignments means I get to be involved in more pieces to the puzzle and putting Washington back on the right track.”
Tuition tussle
For two Clark County veterans, Sens. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, and Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, there was no hesitation wading into sticky issues, either.
In fact, Benton got an early jump on Friday.
He joined the controversy over the limits of Tim Eyman’s voter-approved Initiative 1053, which calls for a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature on any new tax or fee increase.
Last month, Washington state transportation officials, key legislators and Eyman sparred over a proposed rate hike for Puget Sound ferry riders recommended to the state ferry system by a citizens’ riders advisory board.
Not good enough, Eyman claimed.
In response to an inquiry filed by state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna affirmed that ferry rates do fall within the scope of I-1053.
Now comes the question of state university and college tuition-setting authority, an issue batted back and forth in recent years between Washington’s big schools and the Legislature.
Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget plan for 2011-13 calls for an 11 percent tuition hike at four-year institutions, and a 10 percent increase at two-year colleges.
While a comprehensive state budget ultimately must earn House and Senate approval, current practice is to give colleges and universities final say on whether to impose an increase penciled in by budget writers.
Enter Benton, author of a new written request to McKenna to weigh in on tuition-setting.
“Clearly, tuition is a fee. Nonetheless, please confirm in your informal opinion that tuition at public schools falls under the purview of RCW 43.135.055 as amended by Initiative 1053,” Benton wrote.
In a news release, Benton said, “The people have spoken loud and clear multiple times that they want greater accountability from their elected representatives when it comes to ‘revenue raising,’ be that taxes, fees, tolls, and yes, tuition.”
Benton was an official I-1053 co-sponsor and was “deeply involved” with the drafting of Eyman’s similar I-960, which majority Democrats suspended in early 2010, he said.
Eyman was not quite so circumspect.
He said Gregoire recanted on earlier words when she told news reporters last week, “I’m not gonna let (I-1053) stand in the way of me moving forward for what I think is right.”
Said Eyman: “It is truly scary when the highest-ranking official in the government declares her superiority to the rule of law. No one is above the law, not even the governor.”
Voicing hope that McKenna will again concur on I-1053 purview, Eyman said Friday, “This the new battle line that seems to be drawn out. It’s kind of like the new frontier, now.”
Terse welcome
Sparks also flew Monday when state senators balked at seating a newcomer over a simmering dispute about dirty campaign tactics.
Moments after the Senate chamber opened for business, Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyullap, introduced legislation to deny fellow Democrat Nick Harper of Snohomish County his 38th District seat.
Nick Harper beat incumbent Everett Democratic Sen. Jean Berkey in the August primary by 122 votes and then won the general election.
But McKenna has formally alleged that liberal consulting group Moxie Media violated campaign finance rules by using money from unions and trial lawyers to create shell groups with misleading names such as “Conservative PAC” to attack Berkey.
After Kastama made his case Monday, senators voted 23-18 to not advance his motion and Harper was seated. In Southwest Washington, Sens. Benton, Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, and Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, voted to advance the motion, while Pridemore, joined with those who voted to block it.
Still, the Moxie episode was the catalyst for campaign funding disclosure reforms authored by Pridemore, new Government Operations, Tribal Relations and Elections Committee chairman.
Pridemore’s Senate Bill 5021 would target such shell games, requiring transparent listing of donors and candidate recipients while boosting penalties.
He wasted no time pushing the bill, and expects bipartisan support. It’s scheduled for the committee’s first hearing on Thursday morning.
Of course, that’s just one move in a cat-and-mouse game with campaign operatives, Pridemore told the audience at a 49th District town hall meeting on Saturday.
“Once we close those loopholes, they’ll find new ones, because there’s so much money involved,” he said. “And then, we’ll have to pass new laws.”
Howard Buck: 360-735-4515 or howard.buck@columbian.com.
