Tagged: Washington State Legislature

House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt is stepping down as minority leader because of recent health issues.

DeBolt, a Republican from Chehalis, announced to his colleagues on the House floor Wednesday that he would be leaving his role, but would still serve out his two-year term.

The Washington House has voted to allow the Department of Licensing to continue to issue fictitious driver’s licenses to undercover police officers. But with new safeguards. Even so, the vote late Tuesday came over the objections of some Republicans.

The Department of Licensing has issued so-called confidential driver’s licenses for decades. But it never had direct authorization from the Legislature to do so. 

Repeat drunk drivers in Washington may soon carry a scarlet letter driver’s license and have to wear an alcohol detection bracelet. Those are just two of the requirements contained in DUI legislation proposed Tuesday in Olympia.

The bipartisan plan follows two recent drunk driving tragedies in the Seattle area. 

House Public Safety Chair Roger Goodman says the ankle bracelet detects alcohol consumption and alerts authorities.

The Washington state House has approved a transportation budget that would allocate $8.4 billion over the next two years.

Under the proposal passed Tuesday, the money would go toward maintenance and preservation of infrastructure and toward existing big-ticket projects like the State Route 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington and the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel replacement.

The Senate has approved a measure that would no longer allow marriage to remain an absolute defense against allegations of some forms of rape and sexual assault.

The measure that was passed on an unanimous vote on Monday would remove the spousal exemption from both rape in the third degree — in which no physical force is used — and from taking indecent liberties.

More than 60 lobbyists in Washington have been sent warning letters for failing to submit monthly reports that detail how much they earned and how much they spent to lobby state lawmakers. 

“This letter is the only formal warning you will receive from PDC staff for not filing timely lobbying reports during 2013," said Lori Anderson of the Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission, which issued the letters.

Democrats in the state House are proposing a budget plan that would eliminate a variety of tax breaks to help pay for education in the state.

Similar to a budget proposed by Gov. Jay Inslee, the plan by House Democrats unveiled Wednesday would increase government spending by more than 10 percent. The two-year budget would spend $34.5 billion, more than $1 billion beyond a plan approved by the Senate.