WA lawmakers have less than 2 weeks left

With less than two weeks before the regular legislative session ends, it's time for Washington lawmakers to make the final push to get their bills approved by both houses and signed into law by the governor.

Measures related to the state budget are exempt from most deadlines and thus fair game until the Legislature ends on April 24. But many bills had to be approved in some form by both the House and Senate by Tuesday evening in order to remain afloat.

Here's a look at the issues that have hung around so far:

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS

Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed into law a bill to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages with all the rights and protections given to registered domestic partnerships in Washington.

Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said the bill was really a technical change to the wording of current law, which recognizes domestic partnerships and civil unions from out of state but not same-sex marriages.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The House approved a Senate bill to help bring medical marijuana dispensaries out of the legal gray area in which they currently exist.

It establishes a licensing process for cannabis producers, and protects qualified patients and physicians who prescribe medical marijuana from arrest.

Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, but the Obama administration has said it won't prosecute users who are in compliance with state law.

SURROGATE MOTHERS

The Senate passed an amended version of a bill by Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, that would legalize compensated surrogacy contracts.

Senate lawmakers gutted the surrogacy portion of the bill and approved the portion that brings Washington in line with the Uniform Parentage Act.

Pedersen says that the move buys them time to reinstate the surrogacy provisions before session ends.

TUITION-SETTING AUTHORITY

A bill by Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, expected to come to the floor later this week aims to mitigate the effects of lost state support for higher education by giving tuition-setting authority to schools for the next four years.

It also tries to help students by requiring colleges and universities that raise tuition above a certain level to increase their contributions to financial aid from 3.5 percent of tuition revenue to 5 percent. That would bring in $25 million at the University of Washington alone, Carlyle said.

It would also expand eligibility for the State Need Grant to include households earning 125 percent of the median family income, or $96,000 for a family of four.

The bill would allow higher education institutions to charge high school Running Start students a fee equal to 10 percent of that institution's tuition and fees. The program has been free to students until now.

TEACHER EVALUATIONS

The Senate approved on Tuesday an amended version of a broad education reform bill from the House.

The amendment by Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, would make teacher effectiveness, rather than seniority, the main factor in budget-induced layoffs.

The bill includes several other reform measures, including new core learning standards for K-12 students.

MATH ASSESSMENTS

The governor signed off on a bill that would require students in the graduating classes of 2013 and 2014 to take only one end-of-course exam for math, instead of two, to complete state graduation requirements.

PREPAID TUITION

Both chambers have passed different versions of a proposal to refine the state's Guaranteed Education Tuition program, which allows parents to buy credits for future tuition at today's prices. The Senate version was changed substantially after a state actuary report found the GET program to be essentially sound. It proposes some changes to governance of the program, would not pay for some student fees, and would increase the role of the state actuary in the future.

ELECTRIC CAR FEES

The Senate's 2011-2013 transportation budget includes a bill establishing an annual $100 registration fee on electric cars.

Senate Transportation committee members said it would ensure electric car drivers pay their fair share of highway maintenance, which is paid for out of the gas tax.

PRISON SAFETY

Following the death of corrections Officer Jayme Biendl, who was slain at the Monroe Correctional Complex in January, the Senate approved a bill to improve safety at state correctional facilities, including increased video monitoring and better training for corrections employees.

COAL

The House overwhelmingly passed a measure that would gradually shut down TransAlta in Centralia, Washington largest coal-fired power plant.

The bill would transition the plant away from coal by 2025, aiming to help the state meet a statutory target that it reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

PHOSPHOROUS

The governor signed into law a bill that restricts the use of phosphorus-based lawn fertilizer in an effort to avoid contributing to harmful algae blooms in lakes and streams.

The bill exempts phosphorus-based fertilizer for use in gardens and on agricultural lands, and retailers would still be able to sell it if it's clearly marked that the product is only for the permitted uses.

MAIL-IN BALLOTS

Gregoire signed off on a bill requiring the entire state to use only mail-in voting. Pierce County was the last holdout.

Supporters say getting all counties on the same page tightens up the voting process and eliminates confusion caused by maintaining two different systems. And mail-in voting has a much higher voter turnout and costs half as much to process as ballot-center voting does.

WORKERS' COMPENSATION SETTLEMENT

A business-backed proposal to add a lump-sum settlement option to the workers' compensation system is still alive, having been incorporated into the Senate budget.

The proposal is part of a thorny business-vs.-labor fight over workers' compensation this year. Labor-friendly House Democrats are opposed to the business-backed idea, but a state estimate shows the option could save $1.2 billion in the next two years.

NOTARIOS

A bill to crack down on immigration assistants engaged in the unauthorized practice of law passed the House unanimously and heads back to the Senate for approval of amendments.

The bill is in response to several cases of immigration assistants - often known as "notarios" in Spanish - giving bad advice resulting in deportation for immigrants seeking residency.

Since immigration is an extremely complex area of law, supporters say only licensed attorneys should provide immigration legal advice.

MEASURES THAT FAILED

While there's no guarantee that a bill won't show up later on as a provision in the budget, these measures don't appear to be moving forward anytime soon:

COUGAR HUNTING

A Fish and Wildlife-backed Senate bill to extend a current pilot program allowing the use of hounds in cougar hunting never made it to the House floor.

Hound-hunting is still permitted in public safety and livestock depredation instances.

STORMWATER FEE

Bills in the House and Senate that would have charged a 1 percent fee on the wholesale value of petroleum products, pesticides and fertilizers to raise an estimated $100 million a year never made it out of committee.

The fee was opposed by oil, agriculture and other business interests. A similar bill failed in 2010.

EDUCATION REFORM

Neither the governor's education reform proposal, which would have established a new cabinet-level Education Department and consolidated nine state agencies into one, nor an alternative proposal from the House survived the deadline.

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Associated Press writers Phuong Le and Donna Blankinship contributed to this report.