Legislative Report December 16, 2011-21 Final Report The legislature adjourned its special session on December 14.  The Legislative Report is a weekly report that is distributed each Friday throughout the legislative session. Each edition includes an update of legislative activities as well as a list of specific legislative meetings of interest to ports. Copies of bills can be found on the Legislature’s web site at www.leg.wa.gov.
2011 Legislature at A Glance Length: 30 days; The Special Session began on November 28 and adjourned on December 14. Information: Ø For up-to-date legislative information, visit www.leg.wa.gov.  Ø To listen to a legislative hearing, visit www.tvw.org. Ø For both current and previous copies of the Legislative Report, visit www.washingtonports.org	INTRODUCTION The end-of-the-year Special Session of the state legislature adjourned “sine die” on Wednesday afternoon, after passing a measure that cut $480 million -- about twenty-five percent of the total amount needed -- from the current operating budget. After two weeks of little apparent activity, legislators decided to cut the things that they could all agree on, and save the heavy lifting for January. The final fiscal bill, SHB 2058, shifted some expenses from this biennium to the next, transferred some funds among accounts, and made some cuts (though not huge ones) to several agencies. There is very little in the bill that affects port districts. One item to note is that funding for the Department of Fish & Wildlife’s ballast water inspection program is shifted from the General Fund to the Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account. This bill does not replace the Governor’s 2012 supplemental budget proposal that we outlined earlier. While a few of those recommendations were included in this smaller bill, most of the major items were not acted upon. Those items will be “in play” when the Legislature returns January 9^th. As reported, they include HPA fees, cuts to ADO funding, and more. An additional item of significance that appeared late in the Special Session was talk of using several state revenue streams to fund a bond package in 2012 to support job programs. This concept is still very much a ‘work in progress’, but it has the potential to offer funding to several infrastructure programs that port districts strongly support. That discussion will begin in earnest when the regular session convenes next month. All of us here in Olympia wish each of you a happy and relaxing holiday season!
Advocacy The Legislative Report is distributed each Friday throughout the legislative session. Each edition includes an update of legislative activities as well as a list of specific legislative meetings of interest to ports. Each report concludes with Bill Tracking, a section offering brief descriptions of proposed legislation and noting where that legislation is currently located in the bill process. For easy access, the bills are directly linked to their posting on the Legislature’s website. WPPA representatives Eric Johnson, Ginger Eagle and Johan Hellman are following a wide-variety of issues throughout the session.  If you have questions concerning legislative activities, please contact them at 360-943-0760 regarding any specific issues.

Office Locations of Statewide Officials

Governor’s Office: Gov. Christine Gregoire’s office is located on the second floor of the Capitol (or Legislative) Building.

Lieutenant Governor’s Office: Lt. Gov. Brad Owen’s office is located on the second floor of the Capitol (or Legislative) Building.

Auditor’s Office: State Auditor Brian Sonntag’s office is located in the Sunset Life Building, 3200 Capitol Blvd. S., Olympia.

Secretary of State’s Office: Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office is located on the second floor of the Capitol (or Legislative) Building.

State Treasurer: State Treasurer Jim McIntire’s office is located on the second floor of the Capitol or Legislative Building.

Insurance Commissioner: Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s office is located in the Insurance 5000 Building, 5000 Capitol Blvd., Olympia.

How to Find your Legislator and Contact Them:

§ Senate: http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate

§ House: http://www.leg.wa.gov/House

How to Access a Bill:

§ http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/

Here you can enter the bill number you are looking for or even search for it by entering a subject keyword. You can save the bill, print the bill or just check its status and track it as it progresses through the Legislature.

How to Watch or Listen to a Hearing:

§ TVW – cable television http://www.tvw.org/tvguide

§ TVW - webcast – http://www.tvw.org/media/liveevents.cfm

§ In Person - Floor Calendar - http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature/calendar/

INTERNET

www.leg.wa.gov. Here you will find contact information for each legislator and their staff; legislative leadership; committees and their staff and current agendas; floor calendars; the most up-to-date bill information and much more.

www.tvw.org provides coverage of floor debates, committee hearings and other public policy events. Also included is a weekly news comment program. Coverage is available through REAL Networks or Windows Media both in real time or as archived. Follow the site’s instructions for access.

TELEVISION

TVW is a cable network the Legislature created to cover activities of both houses with live programming and delayed telecasts of each day’s events. The week’s programming can be found on their website, www.tvw.org.

The Washington Public Ports Association staff in Olympia is also here to assist you in getting information and we’re happy to walk you through any of the above. Please feel free to call us 360-943-0760 if you have any questions.