Political Buzz » Governor

Gov. Jay Inslee signs bill allowing private mental evaluations of inmates

Jordan Schrader — Fri, 17 May 2013 00:01:52 +0000

Counties will be able to outsource mental health evaluations of jail inmates to the private sector if state psychologists aren’t doing them fast enough, under a law signed this afternoon by Gov. Jay Inslee.

Pierce County pushed the proposal, which I wrote about here. The Legislature has set a seven-day standard for mental evaluations of criminal suspects, but as of November and December, more than 80 percent of Western Washington offenders were still waiting for a Western State Hospital evaluation when the week was up. One of the reasons appears to be turnover in WSH staff who leave for …

Gov. Inslee signs bill to limit where groups of released inmates can live using state money

Melissa Santos — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:41:21 +0000

Cities, towns and counties will soon have more input on where groups of released inmates can live when the state is paying their rent.

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a measure into law Thursday that would prevent two or more ex-inmates who are using state-issued rental vouchers from sharing an apartment, unless they are renting housing that is on an approved list.

The state Department of Corrections (DOC) will be required to notify local jurisdictions when a property within their boundaries is added to the approved rental-voucher housing list, and allow local officials to submit a statement discussing whether the neighborhood …

Inslee: Lawmakers will start budget dealings in earnest Friday

Melissa Santos — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:48:25 +0000

Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday that state lawmakers have made progress in ongoing budget talks by at least agreeing on how much things will actually cost.

During a meeting Tuesday between legislative budget leaders and the governor’s office, “the parties reached some common assumptions about what the real numbers were,” Inslee said.

Using the newly agreed upon cost estimates, key lawmakers will meet again Friday to start making serious offers on what should be included or cut from the budget, he said.

“We’re singing off the same songsheet as far as the basic data, finally,” Inslee said after a bill-signing …

Christine Gregoire for president? Leader of EMILY’S List asks pollsters to include her name in pre-2016 polling

Peter Callaghan — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:39:15 +0000

In an article in a newish national political website called therun2016.com, Chris Gregoire is among a handful of Democrats who are part of the party’s “deep bench” of potential women candidates for president.

The article by former POLITICO writer David Catenese quoted EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock urging pollsters to broaden their list of names being tested among voters. The names she dropped were: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Gregoire.

But Schriock declined Thursday to say whether she’s spoken to any of …

Gov. Inslee coming to Tacoma Saturday to sign Jennifer Paulson bill

Kim Bradford — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:46:57 +0000

Gov. Jay Inslee plans to sign a bill aimed at better protecting victims of stranger stalking on Saturday at Birney Elementary School in Tacoma.

Birney was the site of a 2010 shooting in which Tacoma teacher Jennifer Paulson was killed by a man who had stalked her for years.

The legislation, named the Jennifer Paulson Stalking Protection Order Act by the Legislature, creates a stalking protection order, which advocates say would be taken more seriously by law enforcement and the court system than the anti-harassment orders frequently used when victims don’t know their harassers.

Paulson’s family worked for three …

Republicans longing for Chris Gregoire?

Jordan Schrader — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:01:15 +0000

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Some Republicans praised former Gov. Chris Gregoire to reporters today as they drew an unflattering comparison with her successor, Jay Inslee, in the two Democratic governors’ approach to end-of-legislative-session negotiations.

The criticism of Inslee to reporters was pretty mild. Both Sen. Linda Evans Parlette of Wenatchee and Rep. Gary Alexander of Thurston County took pains to acknowledge that Inslee is new — not yet past his 100th day. And Senate Republican leader Mark Schoesler of Ritzville said simply: “He’s not as active as his predecessor.”

The House and Senate budgets are far apart. “The key in previous negotiations where we had this kind of a separation …

Inslee now questioning A-F grades for schools but here’s what he said during the campaign

Peter Callaghan — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:04:52 +0000

First, check out Brian Rosenthal’s story today in the Seattle Times about Gov. Jay Inslee pulling the rug out from under Senate Republicans who are pushing a series of education reforms including assigning letter grades to the state’s public schools.

Then watch what Inslee told Stand for Children about the issue during the campaign. The segment on use of teacher evaluations for personnel decisions like layoffs, assignments and rehires appears at 8:55. The segment on using his concern for dropouts, students he calls the forgotten children, begins at 9:50. Part of his platform would include assigning letter grades …

Staff, friends, governors gather for Gov. Booth Gardner’s memorial service

Jordan Schrader — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:45:38 +0000

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.:

Gregoire choked back tears and Heck wiped his away as they remembered their former boss.

“We all knew this day would come, that Booth would find a better place.” Gregoire said. “We just didn’t know how hard it would be.”

It wasn’t all sadness. Between Gregoire, Heck, Gardner’s half brother Bill Clapp and his grandson Jack Nettleton, the crowd learned a lot about Gardner’s quirky side, including these tales of junk food:

He didn’t remember his daughter’s home phone number but could rattle off the number to Tacoma hamburger joint Frisko Freeze.
He would

…

UPDATE – Inslee’s tax plan pays for education add-on of $1.2 billion by hitting businesses, beer and bottled-water drinkers, car buyers

Jordan Schrader — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:00:28 +0000

By Jordan Schrader and Brad Shannon:

A budget plan Gov. Jay Inslee unveiled today would add $1.2 billion to Washington’s two-year spending on basic education to meet a court order demanding more funding for schools. (Details here.)

School districts would finally receive full funding for busing costs. Half of kindergartners would be in school for full days. Poorer districts would get more money to hire more kindergarten and first-grade teachers. Newer teachers would receive stipends.

A big chunk of new money – $466 million – would cover school materials, supplies and costs such as utilities. But Initiative 732 would be suspended again, …

Gov. Jay Inslee to release updated budget Thursday

Jordan Schrader — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:36:30 +0000

The Democratic governor will announce a plan at 11 a.m. Thursday to bridge the state’s budget shortfall and put new money toward public schools to start complying with a court mandate.

Rather than a full budget plan, Inslee’s proposal will build on the one released last year by his predecessor, Gov. Chris Gregoire.

His plan is expected to raise revenue by closing tax breaks. We will find out Thursday whether it also includes other kinds of revenue, such as extending tax increases on beer and businesses that are due to expire.