The 2005 Legislature at a glance

Transportation/gas tax

Republicans and Democrats wrangled yesterday over an $8 billion transportation plan that would raise gas taxes by 9.5 cents over four years and spend billions on transportation projects in the central Puget Sound region, including the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

What passed:


Elections: Responding to problems that came to light after last fall's extremely close governor's race, lawmakers voted to require voters to supply ID at the polls, made it easier for counties to hold elections entirely by mail, and empowered the secretary of state to purge voter lists of felons and dead people. But lawmakers couldn't reach agreement on moving the state's primary to an earlier date, a move that would have helped in mailing absentee ballots in time.

Mental-health parity: One of the first bills signed into law by Gov. Christine Gregoire requires health insurers to cover mental illness the same way they cover physical ailments. Democrats had been pushing the legislation for years.

Prescription drugs: One bill allows more people to join the state's bulk-purchasing program, and another allows state employees and clients to use Canadian suppliers.

Sunday liquor sales: Lawmakers voted to repeal the state's long-standing prohibition against selling liquor on Sundays. The bill sets up a pilot program for 20 of the 161 state-run liquor stores and contract liquor stores in rural areas and could bring in more than $9 million in state and local taxes.

Performance audits: A new law requires performance audits of all state agencies. The state auditor will work with a citizen oversight panel to help grade agencies on fiscal efficiency, program effectiveness and customer satisfaction. Anti-tax activist Tim Eyman is pushing to get his own performance-audit initiative on the ballot.

Task forces: Lawmakers set up task forces to study financing of education, long-term health care and public-health financing.

Animal cruelty: Prompted by a serious animal-neglect case in Bellevue, lawmakers agreed to make it a felony to intentionally starve or suffocate an animal, causing it to suffer or die.

Apprenticeships: The first bill signed into law by Gregoire was a labor-backed measure requiring at least 15 percent of all the labor on major public-works projects be done by apprentices.

"Green" buildings: Legislators adopted a law requiring that new public buildings meet tough environmental standards, such as more efficient energy and water use.

Slander of a woman: Lawmakers repealed a 1909 law that made it a crime to falsely injure the reputation of a virtuous woman.

Public records: Lawmakers prohibited agencies from denying public-records requests that the agencies deem too broad, but allowed them to keep records secret by citing attorney-client privilege.

Life sciences: Gregoire's proposal to create a $350 million Life Sciences Discovery Fund was approved. The bill would allocate tobacco-settlement dollars to be used for biotechnology research.

The package, which passed the Senate, would raise the gas tax by 3 cents a gallon the first year, 3 cents the second year, 2 cents the third year and by 1.5 cents in the fourth.

It includes $2 billion for the viaduct, $972 million for Interstate 405 and $500 million to help replace the Highway 520 bridge over Lake Washington.

The package would not fully pay for replacing the viaduct and 520 bridge. The central Puget Sound region would have to contribute billions of dollars as well.

The plan would require the region to come up with its share of local money by January 2007 or risk losing funds for projects.

The Democrats' tax package includes a 60-cent-per-pack cigarette-tax increase and a $1.33-per-liter increase in the tax on liquor sold at state-run liquor stores. In addition, legislators voted to reinstate Washington's estate tax on the wealthy, which the state Supreme Court struck down earlier this year.

Teachers and state workers do well in the budget. It includes several hundred million dollars for pay raises and benefits. In addition, the budget funds Initiative 728, aimed at reducing school class sizes.

The budget also allows colleges and universities to boost enrollment by several thousand students and provides money to help expand several university branch campuses, including in Bothell and Tacoma, into four-year institutions.

Lawmakers made the task of increasing taxes easier this session by pushing through a bill that overhauls Initiative 601, which had required a two-thirds legislative majority to raise taxes. The new law, signed by the governor, suspended the supermajority requirement and allowed the Legislature to increase taxes with a simple majority.

Clean cars

Lawmakers approved a bill requiring the state to adopt California's emissions standards, which are stricter than the 1990 federal emission standards. By 2016, all new cars and light trucks sold in Washington would have to meet the new standards. But the bill was watered down somewhat as it moved through the Legislature, which removed a quota system requiring carmakers to sell a certain percentage of superclean-running cars. Gov. Christine Gregoire supports the legislation.

Unemployment insurance

Lawmakers approved a controversial measure that will significantly increase unemployment benefits for laid-off construction workers, farm laborers and other seasonal employees. Gregoire has already signed the bill, which was a top priority for labor unions but was bitterly opposed by business. It rolls back a key portion of a landmark unemployment-insurance system rewrite that lawmakers approved two years ago.

Discrimination against gays

What didn't pass:


Paid family leave: Legislation that would have given employees up to five weeks of paid leave to care for family members, financed through a payroll tax.

School levies: Legislation that would have allowed school levies to pass with a simple majority.

Smoking: A proposed statewide ban on smoking in public places.

Cellphones: A bill to make it a traffic infraction to talk on a handheld cellphone while driving.

KeyArena and the Sonics: The city of Seattle and the Sonics tried unsuccessfully to persuade lawmakers to go along with a taxpayer-financed $205 million expansion of KeyArena. A scaled-back request also failed.

College admissions: University leaders pushed unsuccessfully for a bill that would have let them consider race as one factor in admissions.

Sex education: A bill that would have required school districts that offer sex-health education to include information about contraceptives as well as abstinence.

Tattoos and body piercing: A group of tattoo and body-piercing businesses unsuccessfully sought state regulation of their industry.

Stem-cell research: On one of the session's most controversial issues, lawmakers were unable to reach agreement on a proposal that would have banned human cloning but permitted the use of human embryonic stem cells.

Malpractice: Democrats were unable to pass an alternative to competing ballot initiatives aimed at reducing medical-malpractice costs.

New state: Several Eastern Washington senators had proposed to carve out a new state east of the Cascades.

Legislation banning discrimination against gays and lesbians reached the floor of the Washington Senate for the first time in history, but fell one vote short of becoming law.

House Bill 1515, which has been around in some form for at least a quarter-century, lost 25-24 in a largely partisan split. Two conservative Democratic senators, Jim Hargrove of Hoquiam and Tim Sheldon of Potlatch, Mason County, joined all 23 Republicans to defeat the bill.

State law bans discrimination by race, sex, religion, national origin, marital status and other categories. The bill, which had passed the House, would have added sexual orientation to that list.