Updated at 2:28 p.m. with comments from Tim Ceis

Washington's political maps for the 2012 elections may not be settled after all.

The Washington State Redistricting Commission agreed on new legislative and congressional districts in January. Their work included the creation of the state's new 10th Congressional District centered on Olympia.

But now the commission's work has been challenged by John Milem, a Vancouver man who has closely followed the redistricting process.

Milem filed a petition Wednesday with the Washington State Supreme Court, asking that the plan be tossed out.

Milem, a retired attorney, argues the commission flouted constitutional and legal requirements by failing to draw districts that are compact, convenient and encourage electoral competition.

In an interview, Milem said the commission's priority of protecting incumbents was evident in the new maps, as incumbents of both parties got safer seats.

Milem is correct on that point.

Just look U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert's 8th Congressional District. Previously a suburban swing district, the 8th was redrawn by the commission to become solidly Republican. The new district lost its Bellevue and Mercer Island portions and now crosses the Cascades to pick up Wenatchee and Ellensburg.

Similarly, the 2nd and 9th Districts were redrawn to be safer for their Democratic incumbents, Rick Larsen and Adam Smith.

"We've lost electoral competition in those districts as a result of the plan," said Milem.

That holds true for many state legislative districts too. Milem says partisan considerations trumped the goal of drawing logical district boundaries, leading to some strange contortions.

For example, Milem describes the shape of the 18th legislative district near Vancouver as "one arm short of a swastika."

Milem has followed the state's redistricting process for decades out of an interest in good government. He followed the commission across the state to attend every public hearing in 2011, and the commission even formally thanked him for his advice.

But Milem says a legal challenge like his is long overdue, arguing that previous redistricting panels drew even worse maps.

He submitted his own plans to the commission showing how maps could be drawn free of partisan considerations.

Whether Milem has a shot at overturning the redistricting plan is not clear. He is representing himself in the challenge.

Tim Ceis, the former Seattle deputy mayor who was one of the Democratic members of the redistricting commission, said he does not believe Milem's challenge will be successful.

"We think we are well within the requirements of the constitution and state law and federal law in how we did redistricting," he said.

If the state Supreme Court does invalidate the political maps, the court would have to draw up its own maps by March 1.

A Senate committee has passed a bill that would allow counties and cities to raise fees and taxes for transportation improvements.

Under Senate Bill 6582, counties and cities could choose from several fees and taxes: a 1 percent annual motor-vehicle excise tax, a $40 annual car-tab fee, and a local gasoline tax of up to 3 cents a gallon.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, passed in the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday.

The car-tab fee could be imposed by city councils and county commissions without going to voters, but the gasoline and excise taxes would require voter approval.

“One of the biggest problems we have is finding something that works for the state,” Haugen said. “What works for one county may not work for another.”

The proposed 1 percent motor-vehicle excise tax drew the most comments Tuesday at the transportation committee. If passed by a local government and approved by voters, an owner of a vehicle valued at $10,000 would have to pay $100 a year.

State Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, said the tax is “not fair and not equitable.”

However, Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, said she’d be “more than happy to pay the fee,” if it’s used for projects that encourage more people to use public transportation.

Cities and counties could approve either a car-tab fee or the motor vehicle excise tax, not both.

Cities and counties currently can impose a $20 car-tab fee without getting voter approval. The bill would increase the amount allowed without voter approve to $40.

Haugen’s bill would also allow cities and counties to collect 1, 2 or 3 cents per gallon in gasoline and diesel taxes — also with voter approval.

The city and county gas taxes combined couldn't exceed 3 cents and must be used for roads, under the state constitution.

Amber Carter, government affairs director for Association of Washington Business, testified against the bill at a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee last week.

She said imposing a local gasoline and diesel tax would put local businesses at a disadvantage and that a statewide tax approach would be more appropriate to fund transportation projects.

The bill now goes to the Senate Rules Committee.

Two Senate bills dealing with teacher evaluations, which stalled in committee last week, will be brought back to life in the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, according the Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, the panel's chair.

Senate Bills 6177 and 6203 failed to make it out of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee last week. However two "title only" bills (legislation that has no content except for a title) will be amended in Ways and Means with the content of the other measures, Murray said.

Senate Bill 6203 would require school districts to lay off teachers according to their performance evaluations, instead of the current system that focuses mostly on seniority. The other measure emphasizes probation for teachers who do not meet expectations.

Democratic state Sen. Ed Murray, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, on Monday proposed sending voters a half-cent sales tax increase that would eventually be replaced by a capital gains tax.

He also proposed that the Legislature eliminate several tax breaks to raise money for education. A third proposal would increase tobacco taxes to help fund rural hospitals, Haborview Medical Center and other health care services.

Changing tax exemptions and raising taxes in Olympia would require a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate. That's proven impossible to date.

The ballot measure proposal "I would admit is more of a trial balloon, but I am chair of Ways and Means and I've talked to all my committee members and it's where I think is the best place to land," he said.

Murray said he expects to introduce bills soon on the proposals.

The ballot measure would increase the state sales tax by a half-penny for one year and then impose a 5 percent capital gains tax starting in 2013. As the capital gains tax is implemented, the sales tax would ramp down and go away by 2016. The money would help fund K-12 education.

Another proposal to raise money for education would tinker with several tax exemptions, including getting rid of a business-and-occupation-tax exemption for the interest that banks and other lenders earn from real-estate loans.

The proposal to help fund Harborview and rural hospitals would increase the cost of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products as well as extend a tax on beer.

From Times staff reporter Stephanie Kim:

Discover Passes, which give users access to Washington state parks, could be transferred between vehicles if legislation in Olympia passes.

Gov. Chris Gregoire cut funding from the management of state lands last year and state Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-San Juan Island, proposed a bill to help deal with it by creating the Discover Pass, a permit to park vehicles on state land and recreational sites.

Ranker now hopes to push forward Senate Bill 5977, which would allow the Discover Pass to be valid for two vehicles, an issue that upset some people. He said that by adding the transferability option, more people would get a Discover Pass, which is now an option when renewing car license tabs.

SB 5977 has bipartisan support, including Senators Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley and Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee.

A bill in the House deals with transferability, among others issues, such as fees and surcharges, event parking and National Park Service free days.

House Bill 2373, sponsored by Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, would create a Family Discover Pass, which would make it possible to transfer the pass to any vehicle. The annual cost for the family pass would be $50.

The House bill would also extend the places where Discover Passes could be purchased, as well as parking for events on state land and recreational sites and the terms and conditions of gift passes.

Before the Discover Pass was created, funding for Washington State Parks, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources came from general-fund tax money.

An annual Discover Pass costs $30, plus transaction fees. Currently, the pass is good for only one vehicle. A single-day Discover Pass costs $10, plus transaction fees.

House Bill 2373 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Committee on Ways & Means Monday.

SB 5977 passed on the Senate floor, 44-0 on Jan. 27. Five senators were excused from the vote. It is now in the House Committee on General Government Appropriations & Oversight.

King County government and the Oakland A's baseball team -- that's a comparison we hadn't heard before.

But in his state of the county speech Monday, King County Executive Dow Constantine made that connection, saying he had just seen Moneyball, the Oscar-nominated movie that shows how the chronically under-funded A's were able to compete with financial behemoths like the New York Yankees by throwing out a lot of baseball conventional wisdom and innovating, finding ways to squeeze the most of every buck.

"The county used to be a little like the Yankees," Constantine said to a packed house at Bellevue City Hall. "Its first response to a problem was to throw money at it."

But now the county is more like the smart and scrappy A's of the previous decade, Constantine said. "Finding inefficiencies in the established system, seeking out the highest performance at the lowest-possible cost. Getting the best value."

Such a comparison, of course, puts Constantine in the role of Brad Pitt, who played A's General Manager Billy Beane in the movie. "Which was primarily my point," Constantine joked after his speech.

And it means Deputy Executive Fred Jarrett has the part played by nebbishy Jonah Hill who portrayed Harvard-educated, statistics-geek Paul DePodesta. "My wife would appreciate that," Jarrett deadpanned.

In a more serious vein, Constantine said the county probably never will have the money it came to expect in the old days -- so it would have to get by with less. He detailed some of the ways the county has been more efficient: reaching a new regional jail agreement with the city of Seattle; dramatically reducing the percentage of animals euthanized by the county; replacing the old political formula that governed bus service with one based more on data and productive routes.

It's not all rosy at King County, though. Constantine acknowledged that state budget cuts could be harmful to some in King County -- which has a larger population than 14 U.S. states -- particularly those who rely on social services and public health. But the county is trying to be more efficient with its own spending, he said, controlling what it can, in hopes that if it has to ask for a tax increase at some point, it will have demonstrated to voters prudent management.

State Auditor Brian Sonntag also released a report last week criticizing the county for not fully following federal rules in spending $10 million in grants. The "overarching problem," according to Sonntag's spokesperson Mindy Chambers, was that the county was tardy in getting information to auditors, which meant the federally mandated audit was late.

Auditors found no misappropriation or diversion of funds, Chambers noted, and she said auditors were encouraged by Jarrett's concern and vow to fix any problems. "That's really important and we have every reason to believe they are on a good path to get things done in time next year."

Jarrett said Monday he didn't think the auditors findings themselves were serious. The problem, he said, was the defensiveness of some county employees in responding to auditors. "We're not going to let that happen again," he said, and noted he gave auditors his cell phone number.

Legislation legalizing same-sex marriage cleared the House Judiciary Committee on Monday by a 7-to-5 vote

Senate Bill 6239 is expected to go to a House floor vote Wednesday, for final passage. House supporters say they have more than enough votes to approve the measure. Gov. Chris Gregoire supports the bill as well.

The measure passed the Senate last week. Opponents of the bill have promised a referendum ballot challenge if it makes it into law.

Given the fact that talk about eliminating tax breaks rarely gets even a hearing in Olympia, Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle has introduced a measure, House Bill 2762, that would put an expiration date on 251 tax exemptions starting in 2017.

The exemptions would expire in phases over several years and the legislation exempts tax breaks for food, medications and employee wages as well as those that are constitutionally required, part of an existing legal agreement, in place to prevent double taxation or that already have an expiration date. He pegs the value of all of them at about $1.9 billion.

The idea, he said, is to force the Legislature to reassess which exemptions are worth keeping.

"We in the Legislature rarely hold a hearing on whether or not a tax exemption works," he said Friday. "Whether or not we're getting value for the public, whether or not we're getting return on investment for taxpayers."

He also contends it's unfair that tax breaks can be approved with a simple majority vote, but state law requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate or voter approval to change or eliminate exemptions.

Speaking of which, it would take a two-thirds vote to pass this bill, which seems highly unlikely. But Carlyle said he's been promised a hearing to discuss the measure.