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03-13-2010, 07:39 AM
BRAD SHANNON AND JORDAN SCHRADER; Staff writers
Published: 03/12/1012:23 pm
The final day of the legislative session was busy and brought victories for many lawmakers.
Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, saw passage of her top priority – a crackdown on driving while talking on the phone. Her bill, which lacked votes in the House to pass last week, won easy approval there Thursday evening, 60-37.
The House passed the tougher Senate version of the bill, which would allow police to pull over drivers for using a phone handset to talk or send a text message. Both already are illegal but are secondary offenses, meaning police only can ticket drivers for them if they’ve pulled them over for speeding or some other violation. They will become primary offenses if Gregoire signs the bill. Voice-operated phones would remain legal.
Last week, the House voted to make texting, not talking on a phone, a primary offense. But it backed down Thursday, with many Democrats and some Republicans supporting a full ban. Both versions also ban all phone use in cars for teenagers, including for voice-operated phones.
Supporters said police lobbied hard in the past week, and lawmakers’ constituents chimed in too with calls and e-mails.
“The public-safety community in this state stepped up and fully engaged,” said Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle and a consultant to wireless and cellular companies, who pushed the bill in the House.
The session’s final day saw more progress on an effort by environmentalists to increase the state’s toxics tax from 0.7 percent, which voters set in 1988 through an initiative. The oil industry and refinery operators are strongly opposed and have been lobbying hard against it.
But Democratic Reps. Timm Ormsby of Spokane and Hans Dunshee of Snohomish are working on a bill that would raise the tax to 1.55 percent, raising $104 million for local-government stormwater projects for local governments while offering refineries a tax credit for oil products sold into other states. In the Senate, Democrats have moved a bill out of committee that raises the tax to 1.2 percent but has no credit.
Many cities and counties favor the tax to help them meet federal stormwater containment requirements.
In other last-minute activity, Carlyle won passage of a reform bill he thinks will bring an “enterprise” mentality to the state’s purchase of information technology, which costs taxpayers more than $1 billion a year.
Carlyle said HB 3178 could save at least $20 million this year and perhaps $30 million overall, and longer term could lead to more private-sector handling of IT business for the state, which he thinks can be cheaper and more effective.
Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, welcomed the possible savings through more efficiency, but he was one of three lawmakers voting against it. Williams said it opens the door to outsourcing of jobs.
from: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/03/12/1107234/talking-on-cell-phone-handset.html
Published: 03/12/1012:23 pm
The final day of the legislative session was busy and brought victories for many lawmakers.
Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, saw passage of her top priority – a crackdown on driving while talking on the phone. Her bill, which lacked votes in the House to pass last week, won easy approval there Thursday evening, 60-37.
The House passed the tougher Senate version of the bill, which would allow police to pull over drivers for using a phone handset to talk or send a text message. Both already are illegal but are secondary offenses, meaning police only can ticket drivers for them if they’ve pulled them over for speeding or some other violation. They will become primary offenses if Gregoire signs the bill. Voice-operated phones would remain legal.
Last week, the House voted to make texting, not talking on a phone, a primary offense. But it backed down Thursday, with many Democrats and some Republicans supporting a full ban. Both versions also ban all phone use in cars for teenagers, including for voice-operated phones.
Supporters said police lobbied hard in the past week, and lawmakers’ constituents chimed in too with calls and e-mails.
“The public-safety community in this state stepped up and fully engaged,” said Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle and a consultant to wireless and cellular companies, who pushed the bill in the House.
The session’s final day saw more progress on an effort by environmentalists to increase the state’s toxics tax from 0.7 percent, which voters set in 1988 through an initiative. The oil industry and refinery operators are strongly opposed and have been lobbying hard against it.
But Democratic Reps. Timm Ormsby of Spokane and Hans Dunshee of Snohomish are working on a bill that would raise the tax to 1.55 percent, raising $104 million for local-government stormwater projects for local governments while offering refineries a tax credit for oil products sold into other states. In the Senate, Democrats have moved a bill out of committee that raises the tax to 1.2 percent but has no credit.
Many cities and counties favor the tax to help them meet federal stormwater containment requirements.
In other last-minute activity, Carlyle won passage of a reform bill he thinks will bring an “enterprise” mentality to the state’s purchase of information technology, which costs taxpayers more than $1 billion a year.
Carlyle said HB 3178 could save at least $20 million this year and perhaps $30 million overall, and longer term could lead to more private-sector handling of IT business for the state, which he thinks can be cheaper and more effective.
Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, welcomed the possible savings through more efficiency, but he was one of three lawmakers voting against it. Williams said it opens the door to outsourcing of jobs.
from: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/03/12/1107234/talking-on-cell-phone-handset.html