Sorry for the tardiness of this exchange. I'm still catching up with the overflow in my e-mail in-box. The Senate vote on HB 2261, in which the education community was on one side and the 82,000-member Washington Education Association was the outlier, is what provoked this outburst of "outrage" from the union and this response of "you should be ashamed" from the PTA.

It's enough to knock to "T" right out of PTA! (Or is it?)

In summary, teachers union president said to members: "I’m outraged. By a vote of 26-23, the state Senate just minutes ago passed HB 2261. Let them hear from you!
This bill is a travesty and an insult to the education profession. The groups behind it are vested interests masquerading as concerned citizens who care for children. Yet they’re denigrating and dismissing those of us who actually educate our state’s children!"

And the PTA president said to union leader: "This was an unwarranted attack on the integrity of this Association and our 150,000 members, many of whom (me, for example) are also members of WEA.
Every day PTA members volunteer countless hours of their time in their local schools, in many instances freeing your members from routine tasks so they can spend more time teaching our students.....Outraged, Mary? You should be ashamed."

Here are the full letter from the WEA, followed by the full letter from the PTA.

=> Read more!

One of the troubling aspects of the tax talk is the secretive nature of most of the participants in the coalition. From the outset, they have been hiding what they were up to, and often deliberately misleading to reporters.

The only up-front person in the whole thing seems to be Cassie Sauer, the main spokewoman for the Washington State Hospital Association and the coalition. And it appears coalition members are getting whipsawed by some legislative leaders.

House Speaker Frank Chopp got downright testy on Saturday after he told us the approval rate was 55 to 57 percent for the 0.3 percent boost in the state sales tax, and I suggested that wasn't very good before anyone is campaigning against it. (I'm wondering if 55-57 number is even correct after reading Austin Jenkins' post on CrossCut. He said it looks smaller. He also points out that the coalition wanted to see 60 percent support or higher in the absence of an anti-campaign.)

Here's a link to Austin Jenkins story on CrossCut.

One more point: Even though Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown told The Associated Press on Saturday that "nothing has changed" on the tax referendum front, many of her Senate Democrat colleagues left the same polling briefing that she sat through thinking the odds of a tax measure even getting onto the ballot were "less than slim."

Regardless of what happens Tuesday afternoon, the tax vote bill also is back on track. It had been scheduled for a committee vote on Friday, but now it will be Tuesday. (House Speaker Frank Chopp told reporters on Saturday he would have more to say about the referendum Friday afternoon.)

And it's the only thing on Rep. Eric Pettigrew's committee agenda. He's prime on the tax referendum.

Health & Human Services Appropriations* - 4/21/2009 8:00 a.m.

House Full Committee
House Hearing Rm B
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED 4/20/2009 8:19 AM

Executive Session: HB 2377 - Funding health care and the working families' tax rebate with a voter-approved temporary sales tax increase.

This from Sound Transit:

Countdown to a new era: all aboard Link light rail starting July 18

Free rides during opening weekend

Sound Transit Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels today announced a start date of Saturday, July 18 for Link light rail service — 89 days and counting!

The launch will begin a new era for public transportation in the Puget Sound region, with work underway to expand the first 15 miles of light rail service to a 55-mile regional system over the next decade and a half.

"We are counting down to a milestone. On July 18, we will make history," said Nickels. “We invite the entire community to come out and take a test ride, and enjoy a system that will grow north, south and east. Light rail will transform how we travel, how we grow and how we live."

July’s on-schedule, on-budget light rail opening will launch service between downtown Seattle and Tukwila. The line includes stops in Downtown Seattle, SODO, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley neighborhoods and Tukwila (see attached map and travel times).

=> Read more!

The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Saturday made a key change to Senate Bill 6116, the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink bill that shows how to spend King County taxes after the Safeco (Mariners) and Qwest (Seahawk) fields are paid off.

The bill now includes the kitchen sink, too.

SB 6116 would let Seattle keep the portion of money collected from the restaurant sales tax and car rental tax (just the portion within the city limits) until the ballpark and football stadium are paid off.

That would provide enough money for Seattle to make payments on a $75 million loan (plus inflation), to make improvements to a basketball facility.

Bottom line: If Seattle can't attract another National Basketball Association team by 2013, then Clay Bennett and the other Oklahoma owners of the former Seattle Sonics (Oklahoma Thunder) will have to pay Seattle another $30 million for getting out of the Key Arena lease early.

Here's the catch: The Legislature has to approve that revenue stream or $75-plus million by the end of session. Session ends Sunday.

The rest of the bill divvies up money among Husky Stadium, arts, housing (especially around rail stations in Seattle) and Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos (I mean, Seattle's International District and Pioneer Square.)

So, there are lotsa folks pulling for that bill.

That was a rhetorical question posed today by a lobbyist I ran into. He suggested it was another way to look at the revived tax referendum that is under discussion at the state capital.

The lobbyist noted the House and Senate proposed budgets assume the state will keep $850 million in reserves, yet the proposed tax referendum would ask voters to raise $350 million a year for each of the next three years to "buy back" what are being called life-or-death cuts to the health care programs.

(The total take from that 0.3 percent hike in sales tax would be $1.1 billion total. But if you subtract the amount of money that would be given out in "rebates" through the Working Families Tax Credit (about $220 million) you're left with, yes, that's right, $850 million. (Sure, that's over 3 years, but you get the point.)

Basically, there are some who want the state to dip further into the amount of money in savings to restore funding for health care programs that are targets of cuts.

State budget writers (and Gov. Chris Gregoire) say they are just being prudent by holding back that much money in case the economy gets even worse and state tax collections continue to plummet. (In fairness, they have fallen dramatically and are about $5 billion lower than expected only 1 year ago.)

Besides, it would be so embarrassing for the governor and Legislature to have to come back to Olympia to rewrite a budget a second or third time. The public would start comparing them to the Gov. John Spellman and Republicans of the 1980s. That would intolerable.

Still, you can see why the Democratic legislators are threatening to make deep cuts to health care programs. Consider the alternative. They would have to try to mount a tax referendum campaign by telling voters, "People are going to DIE if you don't raise your taxes to put more money in state savings and give money to poor people!"

Hard to say that with a straight face.

I'm told the reason the tax referendum was revived from near-certain death over the weekend was that House Speaker Frank Chopp has some members of his Democratic caucus who absolutely refuse to vote for a budget with $4 billion in spending cuts -- unless there is a tax proposition on the ballot, too.

We'll find out more tomorrow. That when the tax vote coalition members say whether they are in or out. The campaign really needs two components: It's gotta have the Service Employees International Union, which represents homecare workers and nurses, to provide the foot soldiers for doorbelling. And it needs the hospitals and nursing homes to pony up the money.

If one of them drops out, there likely won't be a tax referendum campaign this fall.

Senate Bill 5540 was approved by the Senate on 29-19 vote just a while ago and is now headed to the governor.

The bill would let Clark County create high capacity transportation corridor areas, and allow the collection of 0.9 percent sales tax, rental car and other taxes within the boundaries.

This is a possible precursor to construction of another bridge (or bridges) across the Columbia River between Vancouver, Wa. and Portland, Ore. and what might become a light-rail line on the bridge(s).

This was basically a Craig Pridemore vs. Don Benton fight. Both senators are from the Vancouver area. Pridemore, the Democrat, sponsored the bill. Benton opposed it. And since Pridemore has more friends (ideologically, anyway) than Benton, Pridemore won. Democrats outnumber Republicans 31-18, and it was largely partyline vote.

The House passed the bill 52-45 after changing Pridemore's bill to say Clark County Transit can borrow money only for 25 years, not 40 years.

Senate Bill 5556 is now on its way to Gov. Chris Gregoire. The Senate, on a 44-4 vote, agreed with some changes the House made to the measure last week.
The House passed the bill 98-0.

One of those changes has become just as significant as the underlying bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor. Kilmer just wanted to make sure that soft-hearted judges who are inclined to reduce the amount of the $52 ticket for failing to pay the bridge toll made that reduction from the $40 fine, not from the $12 surcharge. (The surcharge goes to help pay off the bridge loans.)

But in the House, Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, persuaded her colleagues to give a break to people who cross the bridge without stopping at a toll booth to pay the toll. (Not everyone has transponders, she said, particularly her constituents further north who don't cross the bridge as often as Gig Harbor folks. They sometimes cross the bridge and realize later they forgot to pay the toll, but today they have no recourse but to go to court.)

Anyway, the state Department of Transportation has until Dec. 1 to come up with "recommendations for implementing a time period allowing for the payment of tolls on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge prior to the issuance of an infraction."

DOT is talking about a possible 3-day grace period on the Highway 520 bridge, once that facility is tolled, mostly likely in October 2010.

Here's what I wrote last week after the House passed the same bill.

The Senate just passed -- and sent to the governor -- a bill that will let Tacoma, University Place, Auburn, Bremerton, Spokane, Vancouver and Whitman County create special taxing districts to pay for projects.

I don't have all the particulars on this bill, but I have a call into Randy Lewis, Tacoma city lobbyist, who will have more details for me. And our own business columnist Dan Voelpel probably knows more, too, but I couldn't reach him right away.

But basically, the state would get to keep a portion of the state sales tax -- up to $500,000 a year for the next 25 years -- to make payments on improvements to a particular area in the city, if the improvements generate that much money in additional sales taxes.

UPDATE: Randy Lewis said Tacoma wants to create the revitalization district to build a parking garage over by the Tacoma Dome to accommodate downtown office workers and others. If you recall, the Lemay Car Museum is eating up a bunch of prime Dome parking by the freeway. Or they will.

And University Place will use its money for -- what else? -- the Towne Centre.

It's a form of "tax increment financing," although for some reason some lawmakers hate using that particular phrase.

2nd Substitute Senate Bill 5045 now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire for signature.

The Senate basically voted to agree with some last-minute additions to the bill that the House made late last week. The Senate vote was 47-0. The House vote was 92-5.