WELCOME TO POLICY WATCH - 2002
Getting Ready for the Session
This will provide updates to the December POLICY WATCH - related to getting ready for the 2002 Session of the Washington State Legislature:
- -- key session dates
- -- Background on the BUDGET
- -- more up-coming LOBBY DAYS
- -- contacts for LEGISLATIVE ALERTS, ISSUES - some corrections
- -- sharing POLICY WATCH.
- Session begins in Olympia on January 14, and runs through
Thursday, March 14.
POLICY WATCH bulletins are issued weekly, usually on Friday or Saturday.
The likely key "Cut Off" dates for the 2002 Session are:
- 2/08 - last day for bills to be considered in the Policy Committee of the house where they originate
- 2/12 - last day for bills to be considered in one of the Fiscal Committees of the house where they originate
- 2/19 - last day for bills to be considered on the floor in their house of origin
- 3/01 - last day for bills to be considered in the Policy Committee of the opposite house
- 3/05 - last day for bills to be considered in the Fiscal Committee of the opposite house
- 3/08 - last day for bills to be considered on the floor of the opposite house
- 3/14 - 2002 Session adjourns for the year.
As this Schedule makes clear, everything will move VERY fast. If there is a budget item or bill you care about, make that known. Hearings are already scheduled and begin 1/14.
- With a $1.25 billion deficit looming, budget cuts and
other budget matters will dominate. The Governor's proposed Supplemental
Budget was released in December and is available on the Office
of Financial Management website: www.ofm.wa.gov,
as well as from the House and Senate Fiscal Committees.
To achieve $1.25 billion in savings, the Governor would get:
- $566 million from program cuts and reductions
- ($235 million of that amount comes from human services)
- $166 million from revenue-raising activities and fees (e.g., joining the "Big Game" lottery, increasing taxes on gambling, "use taxes" related to shipping, etc.)
- $329 million from various transfers (including from federal sources)
- Additional savings from eliminating state jobs, increasing
employee co-pays, etc.
- POLICY WATCH has heard from a number of groups about
upcoming ADVOCACY DAYS in Olympia. You may wish to mark your
calendars for the following:
2/06 - Independent Living & Cross-Disability Lobby Day
Church Advocacy Day
2/07 - Head Start/ECEAP (other counties)
2/08 - Homeless Youth Lobby day
2/12 - Gifted and Talented Kids Day
2/13 - Senior Lobby Day
2/18 - National Association of Social Workers Day,
Have A Heart For Children Day, Hunger Action Day
WA State CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) Day,
S.O.S. - Save Our State Rally, sponsored by organized labor, human services & faith communities
2/19 - Commemoration of 60th Anniversary of Executive Order 9066 - sending
Japanese-Americans to internment camps.
2/21 - Tobacco-Free Snohomish County
2/22 - Diabetes Day
2/27 - Asian/Pacific Islander Legislative Day
3/01 - Minority Executive Directors Coalition, Unity Day and Reception
Every Wednesday the ARC of Washington hosts a Disabilities Advocacy Day. Contact: Bean@arcwa.org.
- POLICY WATCH is not an advocacy document. It provides
basic information about the legislative process as it unfolds
week-by-week, and tracks a broad array of health, housing, human
services, and other low-income bills being considered by the Legislature.
It does not direct readers to call particular legislators or express
particular views.
Readers wishing to get weekly LEGISLATIVE ALERTS from advocacy groups that monitor specific issue areas are advised to contact those groups now, before the Session starts. The following groups are among those offering regular Alerts. (If you wish to get on their lists, contact them directly.)
Aging - seniorlobby@uswest.netseniorlobby@uswest.net
Child Care - WA Association for the Education of Young Children:
Child Welfare/foster care/adoption - Childrens Home Society:
206-695-3229; lippoldlau@aol.com
Children's Issues generally - Childrens Alliance: 206-324-0340
Disability - grier@arcwa.org
Fairness Lobby for GLBT issues - holleman@drizzle.com
Health - nickf@earthlink.net
HIV/AIDS - Lifelong Aids Alliance - action@llaa.org
Homelessness - WA State Coalition for the Homeless - wsch@earthlink.net
Housing - WA Low Income Housing Network - alerts@wlihn.org
Hunger - Shelley@childrensalliance.org
Long Term Care & Senior Housing - steinmetz@wahsa.com
Parent Teacher Student Assn. - manderson@wastatepta.org
Sexual Assault -lonniejb@attbi.com
Tobacco Prevention - WATCH/FRIENDS of the Basic Health Plan -
lonniejb@attbi.com, or sheryl.belcher@cancer.org
Youth - Seth.Dawson@compassh.org, also: paola@childrensalliance.org
Faith Communities:
Friends Committee on WA State Public Policy - fcwwp@quaker.org
Jewish Federation - remyt@jewishinseattle.org
Lutheran Public Policy office - pbenz@lcsnw.org
WA Association of Churches - merten@thewac.org
WA State Catholic Conference - WSCC99@aol.com
- Readers wishing to share POLICY WATCH with colleagues, students, neighbors, friends... are welcome to. Please simply forward each issue to your own lists (rather than recommend they sign up individually). It will help enormously, since POLICY WATCH is done on a voluntary basis, and goes out to readers across the state.