I ran into state Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, today over in Ulcer Gulch.

Jarrett is running for King County Executive. He and fellow candidates, King County Councilmen Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips, were invited to speak to the King County Democratic Central Committee.

Naturally, Constantine and Phillips stressed how long they had been Democrats.

(See, Jarrett is a newly minted Democrat. Only about 1 year old. So, the other two guys were driving home a point in front of the good ol' boys.)

When it came time to speak, Jarrett said, "I went for a lot of years thinking I was the only Republicans I'd ever voted for."

That's what the House Ways and Means Committee is discussing right this moment.

Committee members are making amendments to the state operating budget for 2009-11.

A little background: Local health departments, such as the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, used to get a chunk of money (about $25 million a year) from the state motor vehicle excise tax. That was repealed by then-Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature after Tim Eyman's Initiative 695 was approved by voters, even though it was later ruled unconstitutional.

Since 2000, the Legislature has given health departments aobut 95 percent of what they used to get.

This time around, Rep. Kelli Linville had a proposal to impose fees on health care professionals, birth and death certificates and restaurant inspections to provide a stream of money for health departments. (Interesting, doctors, nurses, chiropractors, etc. would be charged a fee to pay for local health programs.) Anyway, Linville, who is chairwoman of the main House budget committee, subsequently dropped that proposal and there are a bunch of others in the works.

More on this later, when the budget dust settles a bit more.

This was the second request Gov. Chris Gregoire made of legislative budget-writers this week, which she shared with reporters this morning.

Right now, there is $68.5 million that voters have approved in local property levies that can't be collected by the local school districts because of the current state limit on how much money districts can collect from local property owners.

For most school districts, local levies can account for no more than 24 percent of a district's total budget. (Tacoma is one of 91 school districts that can collect more. The limit for Tacoma is 31.47 percent.)

That $68.5 million would come from only 75 school districts out of a total of 296 school districts across the state. Tacoma would get $1.7 million this year. Puyallup would get $4.5 million. Sumner could get $8.1 million. Here is the full list.

A similar request came last week from Mary Lindquist, president of the 82,000-member Washington Education Association.

This might be a start for the teachers' union, but I think the WEA also wanted all school districts to be able to raise more money.

Gov. Chris Gregoire met with reporters this morning and said she has asked legislative leaders to let the 4-year universities raise tuition by as much as 14 percent in each of the next two years, and let the 2-year community colleges raise tuition by as much as 7 percent a year.

She said the 27 percent cuts to higher education proposed in House Democrats' budget is too deep.

"We should not resort to a second-class education system because we are in a recession," the governor said. Tuition at Washington colleges is still a bargain at about $6,800 at the 4-year schools and $2,700 at the community and technical colleges, compared to their counterparts in other states, she said.

In mid-December, when Gregoire released her budget proposal, she was proposing only 7 and 5 percent tuition increases at the 4- and 2-year colleges, respectively. But back then, the state was facing a $6 billion deficit not a $9 billion shortfall it faces today.

Victor Moore, her budget director, said the higher tuition levels would bring in about $70 million more than her original proposal.

UW President Mark Emmert has been pushing for permission to bring in more tuition money from students and their parents to help offset budget cuts.

Gregoire said her proposal to leaders (presumably House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown) "was not automatically shut down (and) it wasn't cheered."

Brown said later the Senate budget writers would take it under advisement.

The Senate has proposed 7 and 5 percent increases. The House has proposed 10 and 7 percent tuition increase. The House made deeper cuts to higher ed funding for 2009-11.

Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, a member of the House Transportation Committee, sponsored an amendment to a bill that deals with using cameras to enforce toll collection on the Highway 520 bridge.

Her amendment changed Senate Bill 5556 to make the state Department of Transportation look at adopting the same kind of tolling policy on the Narrows Bridge as DOT is considering for the new Highway 520 bridge.

The bill now awaits a vote by the full House.

It's called "open road tolling." That is, no toll booths. Most people would have transponders and pre-paid account like the Good To Go program on the Narrows. And those who don't pay would have pictures taken of their license plates. Then, DOT would sent them a bill for the toll, plus a $1 or so handling surcharge. Only if they ignored the bill for 30-45 days would they then be mailed a ticket.

There is a very different enforcement program on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge today. I you drive across the Narrows without paying the toll, you get a $52 ticket right away. No chance to pay the toll by billing.

Craig Stone, DOT toll guru, told me last month that there may come a day when the toll booths on the Narrows go away, "but today is not that day."

SB 5556 now says DOT has until Dec. 1 to come back with a recommendation to change the toll policy on the Narrows to coincide with tolls on 520. That would be fall of 2010.

Here is my post on this topic from March 23.

Here's an idea for the Narrows: Fast Food Plaza.

Each of the toll booths could be converted to a fast-food drive-thru window -- Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Ivars. That pretty much covers the 4 basic food groups. And the franchises could help pay off the bridge.

Would the eastbound commuter crowd on the Narrows be up for pizza for breakfast?

UPDATE: A reader pointed out that I omitted a very obvious food: tollhouse cookies.

The House and Senate capital budgets have set aside about $1.7 million to $1.8 million to help with the purchase of a piece of property right at the southern tip of Key Peninsula in Pierce County.

The project is virtually assured of state funding as long as the Legislature decides to spend at least $50 million on the Washington Wildlife Recreation Program in this upcoming two-year budget cycle.

Ryan Mello, a Tacoma Metropolitan Park District commissioner who's day job is working for the Cascade Land Conservancy, said the property has almost 1 full mile of waterfront. The plan would be to partner with Pierce County and Key Peninsula Metro Parks to turn the 94-acre parcel into a park for passive recreation.

The property was appraised at $2.5-$3 million, and there's still no deal with the property owner, he said. But the plan is to get some money from Pierce County conservation futures in the 2010 funding cycle and then buy the property in 2011 if the seller is willing, he said.

Here is some background and a picture of the site.

Oh yeah. Did I mention that Mello used to be the legislative aide to state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish? Dunshee just happens to be chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee.

Mello said the Devil's Head project was put at the top of the list for water access projects. And that was done by a non-legislative group, Dunshee told me last week.

Still, it doesn't hurt to know the chairman.

Looks as if Gov. Chris Gregoire wants to appoint former state Sen. Harriet Spanel, a Bellingham Democrat, to the Pacific Marine Fishery Commission.

Her appointment is pending confirmation by the state Senate, where she served for many, many years. She chose not to run this last time around.

Expenses and per diem only. Just the travel costs and meal. They only meet once or twice a year so it's not so demanding.

The King County Council has appointed a committee to help it find a successor to King County Executive Ron Sims, who is awaiting confirmation to a post in President Obama's administration.

Sims' chief of staff, Kurt Triplett, will run the county until the council picks a replacement. Then, an election will be held in November for voters to pick a more permanent replacement.

Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke will co-chair the committee. Here's the panel:

· Becky Cox
· Joan Crooks
· Adrian Diaz
· David Freiboth
· Beretta Gomillion
· Nancy Hutto
· Sharon Maeda
· Ted Choi Tam
· Bob Wallace
· Tayloe Washburn

Blue-Ribbon Committee to evaluate prospective appointees for King County Executive

Transparent process engages citizens in decision to be made by County Council

A blue-ribbon committee of citizens and county elected officials will help evaluate candidates for appointment should a vacancy occur in the office of King County Executive, under legislation adopted today by the Metropolitan King County Council.

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