UPDATE: As several Senate Democrats pointed out on Thursday, Republicans’ political campaign committee is holding a fundraiser at Monday at a private residence in Olympia. The event, which is confirmed in an email obtained by reporters today, is at 9 a.m. in a home owned by lobbyists Steve and Kathleen Gano near the Capitol. Whether lawmakers are in session Monday or not, the fundraiser would not violate the state’s freeze on fundraising for officials during session. 

On a day their budget negotiators had more talks with Gov. Jay Inslee and also House Democratic budget leaders, a half-dozen Republicans in the Senate Majority Coalition called …

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Two Senate bills heard in the House Government Operations and Elections Committee this morning died almost immediately after the hearing, victims of retaliatory moves between the House and Senate. One measure dealt with the administrative home-assignment of workers and had passed the Senate 49-to-0. Another sought to limit voters’ ability to print out replacement ballots.

Rep. Sam Hunt, the Olympia Democrat who chairs the panel, adjourned the hearing and said later there would be no more gatherings of his committee before Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline for passing legislation from the opposite chamber.

The bill killing came …

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Just as he outlined a few weeks ago, Democratic Rep. Sam Hunt of Olympia mustered votes to push a handful of elections bills out of the House Government Operations and Elections Committee on Tuesday. Chief among them is a voting rights act letting cities and counties create minority-friendly electoral districts, a bill letting 16- and 17-year-olds preregister to vote when they get driver licenses, and a bill requiring ballot drop boxes on college campuses.

Also approved was a bill allowing voter registration on Election Day – for in person registrations – and changing the deadline for online registrations from …

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A series of proposals to lock Washington’s two-thirds tax-vote law into the state Constitution got a hearing in a Senate committee this morning. Advocates for better funding of public schools, universities and health programs were squared off against business groups and anti-tax advocates.

You can watch TVW’s full coverage of the hearing here, starting at about the 1:07:40 mark.

None of the proposals is expected to pass the Legislature this year. Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, told the Association of Washington Business on Wednesday there is not enough …

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In another busy day for election-related bills in Olympia, a liberal Seattle senator’s proposal to urge Congress to authorize a U.S. constitutional amendment got a hearing Tuesday in the state Senate Government Operations Committee. Most who spoke were urging passage of Senate Joint Memorial 8002, which is Sen. Adam Kline‘s  long-shot bid to get Congress to start a years-long process that could close a loophole in U.S. campaign finance law by sending a constitutional amendment out to the states.

It issue is the 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case known as Citizens United, which …

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Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, wants to pass a law mandating that state employees tell the truth at all times — presumably in response what she says are false allegations that she mistreated Senate staff.

Senate Bill 5504 would require state employees to be “truthful and forthright when providing information or answering questions related to the scope of their employment, the performance of their duties, and the operations of the agency at which the state employee is employed.”

Just to make sure Roach’s bill gets its point across, it adds a second, more expansive clause that reads: “State employees shall be truthful when providing information of any kind.”

Over the years, Roach has taken issue with various staff members’ accounts of her behavior. A former Senate attorney, Michael Hoover, filed a 15-page complaint in 2012 alleging that Roach had mistreated him repeatedly since 2003.

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Democratic Rep. Sam Hunt says he is prepared to hold votes on a handful of elections bills in his Government Operations and Elections Committee starting next week. Among them is a Republican-sponsored bill from Rep. Gary Alexander <a href=”http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?Bill=1211&year=2013” target=”_blank”><b> to pay for a state voter pamphlet for primary elections </b></a> in even-numbered years.

The lack of a printed state voter pamphlet in primaries was an issue in last year’s race for secretary of state, and both Republican victor Kim Wyman and her challenger Kathleen Drew came out in favor of the guide. The elections agency already produces an online pamphlet and …

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