House Bill 2358 would raise fees on liquor licenses.

Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, who is chairwoman of the General Government Appropriations Committee, said the increase will amount to only $21 for a beer-only license, and the highest increase would be 10.5 percent.

For instance, the liquor license for a Public House, would increase $1,000 a year to $1,105.

The bill report here shows the full list of licenses and fees.

The bill just passed on a 50-47 vote.

I'm not sure what the total take from fee increases will be after all is said and done this session, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something of the order of $200 million plus.

Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, said this particular bill will raise only $2 million over the biennium.

House Bill 2356 was just approved by the House on a 50-47 vote.

This is the bill that suspends Initiative 728 for 2 years. This is one step on the way to approving a state budget. And it's being suspended because the Legislature has no intention of spending the $868 million that I-728 would generate over the next 2 years because of the $9 billion budget shortfall that lawmakers are facing.

We're still not sure exactly how much the Legislature will be spending out of this pot of money, but suspending it gives budget negotiators in the House and Senate the lattitude to set whatever amount thay want.

Today, that initiative, which was approved by voters in November 2000, accounts for about $458 per student in extra funding to local school districts. This next budget, they'll be lucky to get 25 percent of that amount.

Education funding reportedly is one of the few remaining parts of the budget to be finalized. The rest is pretty much good to go.

This is one of those bills that is "necessary to implement the budget" and it now goes to the Senate.

County Councilman Shawn Bunney, R-Lake Tapps, is objecting to Sheriff Paul Pastor’s plan to reduce marine patrols as the sheriff’s department searches for ways to trim spending.

The department took a $750,000 hit when the council approved a revised 2009 budget last month. But in a letter to Pastor dated Monday, Bunney noted the department will still see a budget increase over last year.

According to the letter, the sheriff’s department will reduce summer lake patrols by about 28 percent. May and September patrols would be nearly eliminated. And only one boat would patrol Lake Tapps from June to August instead of two.

“Given the deaths and injuries suffered every year on Pierce County waters, I don’t believe reducing marine patrols is the best place to cut services,” Bunney wrote.

Here’s the complete letter:

April 20, 2009

Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor
930 Tacoma Avenue South, First Floor
Tacoma WA 98402

Dear Sheriff Pastor,

I’m writing to voice objection to your plan to reduce marine patrols on Lake Tapps, Spanaway Lake, Alder Lake and the Puget Sound and respectfully request you at least maintain current patrol schedules.

As you know, the Council and Executive McCarthy worked hard to keep the Sheriff’s budget whole. In light of sufficient funding to maintain current patrol levels, I was surprised by your March 25 e-mail to Executive McCarthy, declaring your plans to decrease summer lake patrols by approximately 28 percent. May and September patrols would be “virtually eliminated”, and only one Marine Services boat will patrol Lake Tapps from June through August instead of the usual two boats.

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Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, made that assertion this morning at a news conference held by minority Republicans. It was right after the House Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee voted 8-7 to advance the proposed tax referendum another step toward the November ballot.

I've been trying to figure out exactly how hard the nursing homes and hospitals will be hit by state budget cuts so I can better explain it, beyond the rhetoric and hyperbole.

Here goes. Under the House budget proposal, nursing homes would be paid $10 less per patient per day for the residents they take care of on behalf of the state. That is, today, nursing homes get paid about $165 a day. Next year, they will get paid $155 a day. And in 2010-11, they will get paid $158 a day.

Cumulatively, that amounts to about $100 million less that will be paid by the state to nursing homes over the next 2 years. (Nursing homes contend they actually are taking a cumulative $160 million cut because their rates were supposed to be adjusted later this year to reflect higher costs and higher reimbursements.)

In any case, that helps explain why the nursing homes are part of the coaltion pushing for a temporary tax increase. State budget cuts will hit them pretty hard in their pocketbooks.

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Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma has selected Jack Connelly to serve on the Tacoma Public Library Board of Trustees, replacing Bob Evans whose term expired.

Connelly is a prominent personal injury attorney who has won many high-profile cases over the years, including a landmark racial discrimination lawsuit brought by two dozen families against the Puyallup School District.

He also represented former deputy prosecutor Barbara Corey, who won more than $3 million from Pierce County for wrongful termination and defamation.

Under Tacoma's charter, the mayor selects people to serve on the library board, and the City Council approves the selection.

Baarsma said he was looking for someone with a measure of independence.

"Jack is a prominent attorney, but he also has had an abiding interest in the library for some time," he said.

Council members are scheduled to vote on a resolution this evening approving the appointment.

The hospitals are off the fence. They've decided to back the proposed 0.3 percent increase in the state sales tax as far as getting it onto the ballot. But they haven't decided yet whether they will help bankroll a referendum campaign this fall.

That word comes from Cassie Sauer, vice president of the Washington State Hospital Association. I just got off the phone with her.

Meanwhile, a House committee amended House Bill 2377, the proposed tax referendum, to spend less money on a tax rebate for the poor and to shift that money to offset health care budget cuts proposed in the 2009-11 budget period. The Schmudget has all those deals on the blog for the Washington State Budget and Policy Center. We don't know what would happen with the tax money in 2012.

Today is the deadline for members of the coalition in favor of a temporary 3-year tax hike to say whether they are in or out. The 97 hospitals in the association -- that's all of them -- are in, Sauer said.

CLARIFICATION AND UPDATE (8:45 a.m. Wednesday): The hospital association has 97 member hospitals, but some of them are public hospitals so they can't participate in any political campaign. Also, the Service Employees International Union confirmed they are definitely in for the ballot measure.

I have to contact the others -- nursing homes, SEIU locals 775NW (home care workers) and 1199NW (nurses) and AARP -- to see if they are in, too. And, of course, we'll all be talking to House Speaker Frank Chopp later today.

"Our board met this morning," Sauer said. "We are going to support the referendum."

If the tax referendum gets onto the ballot, the hospitals will do more polling and decide then whether they will put up money to help finance the campaign to win passage of the tax hike, she said.

(Scroll down to see previous posts for background on the tax proposal.)

Polling last week indicated voters were lukewarm in their support for a tax hike, but that polling also was done just as some households were filing their federal income tax returns (April 15). So that might not be a clear indication of how much support is out there, she said.

The hospitals faltered in their support last weekend, but agreed to take another look and decided today they're back on board, at least as far as getting the measure on the ballot for voters to decide.

That's what's in the works. I haven't had a chance to talk to everyone involved in the talks about the state Department of Corrections budget.

But word is, the Legislature may end up forming a commission similar to the one that Congress created to examine which military bases should be closed.

Besides McNeil, which is really old and expensive to operate, there are parts of the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla and part of the prison-reformatory in Monroe that are antiquated and need to be replaced.

Last week, I heard Gov. Chris Gregoire say on TVW in an interview with host Austin Jenkins that she doesn't want to close any prisons until the state has new prisons to put the displaced inmate in.

More on this later.

The House Health and Human Services Committee, led by chairman Rep. Eric Pettigrew, D-Seattle, just voted 8-7 to recommend the full state House of Representatives put a tax increase on the November ballot.

House Bill 2377 was amended by the committee, but the thrust of the bill is to put a referendum on the fall ballot, asking voters to raise the state sales tax from 6.5 percent to 6.8 percent for three years -- Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2012. That would raise almost $1.1 billion. The money would be used to offset cuts to the state Basic Health Plan and other health programs.

HB 2377 now goes to the Rules Committee to await a vote by the full House.

Meanwhile, I just heard an advertisement on the radio on the drive down to Olympia (from Tacoma). It was encouraging listeners to contact their legislators to tell them not to raise taxes.

The group is called Advance Washington. According to the state Public Disclosure Commission, they just filed papers. Dick Davis, the columnist you sometimes see on our op-ed page, is the main contact.

The directors listed are Steven Mullin, president of the Washington Roundtable,and Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business.

Apparently, I haven't spent enough time in my car, because Brunell just told me the radio ads have been airing for the past week. It was a $50,000 buy, he said.

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The availability of that $5 billion is what motivated many members of the state education community to push lawmakers into passing House Bill 2261. It also drove a wedge between the 82,000-member Washington Education Assocation (teachers union) and parents, school administrators and others.

By a vote of 67-31, the House on Monday night approved changes the Senate made to the bill, and sent it to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who had lobbied for it and therefore is expected to sign it.

The bill broadens the definition of "basic education" and obliges the state to spend more money on schools, but the major expenditures won't happen until beyond 2011.

Rep. Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, was one of the members of the Education Finance Task Force that spent most of a couple years working on the bill.

"These reforms are not about us; they are about the kids," said Priest. "We are required to do all we can to give every child a chance to excel in whatever career path he or she chooses. This legislation will give us more confidence the state is moving closer to that point."

Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, was co-chairman of the task force and co-sponsor of the Education Reform bill: "One of the most important changes we’ve accomplished is to expand the definition of basic education. This definition establishes our legal responsibility as legislators to fund our education system based on what we’re asking of our children. If we ask them to earn a diploma that prepares them for their future, we have to be willing to fund it."

More of their remarks appear further below.

And here's the reaction from the League of Education Voters, which has been pushing this measure in some fashion for years.

League of Education Voters applauds passage of the education reform bill

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The House, on a partyline 56-42 vote, last night approved a $5 fee on license tab renewals to raise an estimated $22 million for the state parks and recreation commission through mid-2011.

House Bill 2339 is the measure that would charge vehicle owners a $5 annual fee unless they check a box on their car registration that indicates they do not want to pay what is being called a "voluntary donation."

The fee would take effect Sept. 1, and lawmakers expect 50 percent of vehicle owners to pay the new fee.

The bill now goes to the Senate. This is one of the measures majority Democrats are taking to close an overall $9 billion shorfall in the state's operating budget. They say this will keep all state parks open.

Republicans, and a few Democrats, voted against the measure. Arguments of the GOP are below.

Here are the arguments from minority House Republicans:

State park fee legislation (HB 2339) violates state consumer protection act

* In 1991 the state alleged that TCI’s marketing scheme for its new ENCORE servies violated the rights of 473,000 customers by subjecting them to at least a $1.00 per month charge for a premium they never ordered.

* Attorneys argued successfully that customers should be free from “unfair”ordeceptive acts or practices” in how they are treated by their cable TV provider.

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