Budget Drama: Democrat leader confesses to being impaired during hearing, calling it a ‘poor choice’
OLYMPIA—Washington state House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon (D-Seattle) acknowledged Thursday that he drank alcohol before a late-night committee hearing Wednesday evening, where lawmakers said he appeared impaired while wrapping up debate on a key budget bill. The Democrat from West Seattle, in a statement to conservative radio host Jason Rantz, called it a “poor choice” […]
Budget bills in WA Legislature would tap rainy day fund, spend heavily on legal payouts
OLYMPIA [Jake Goldstein-Street and Bill Lucia] —Democrats in the Washington Legislature on Sunday proposed tapping the state’s rainy day savings account and slashing hundreds of millions of dollars for a child care program for low-income families to balance the state’s budget into next year. But under their plans, the state’s main operating account would have a more […]
Washington legislators pass $78 billion biennium operating budget
This year’s 105-day Washington state legislative session was in many ways a trudge. There was a multibillion-dollar budget deficit to solve. Sharp debate on parental rights and capping rent increases. Clashes over tax policy. Tensions between the new Democratic governor and legislators in his own party. And the unexpected deaths of a sitting senator and a […]
