1. We’ll have more to say about the state budget adopted last night ($750 million in cuts plus $757 million in new revenues) later today. Meanwhile, check out the Washington Budget and Policy Center’s analysis, which concludes that while this budget is more “balanced” than Gov. Chris Gregoire’s original all-cuts budget, by far the largest share of the actions the legislature took to balance the budget were cuts to state services, including cuts to K-12 education, higher ed, and child care.
2. One bright spot for environmental advocates this session: State Rep. Hans Dunshee (D-44) sent out word late last night that his green jobs bill, which would fund energy retrofits at public schools throughout the state by selling $861 million in bonds, finally made it through in the final hours of the special legislative session. Dunshee says the bonds, which would require voter approval, would create 38,000 new jobs.
3. In a packed city council chambers yesterday, a panel of local environmental luminaries, including US Rep. Jay Inslee (D-1), Office of Sustainability and the Environment interim director Jill Simmons, and Worldchanging’s Alex Steffen, sat down with eight members of the city council (Sally Clark was out with the flu) to talk about how the city plans to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality, which we wrote about here.
Despite a significant amount of back-patting (Simmons congratulated the city effusively for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 7 percent below 1990 levels in 2008, “which is a fabulous achievement”) and optimism (the phrase “sustainable prosperity” came up over and over), it was unclear what, exactly, the city plans to do to achieve its ambitious carbon goal. If anything, some audience members noted, we’re going backward—building an underground waterfront freeway for cars, investing in a new 520 bridge that doesn’t include high-capacity transit, and failing to fully fund either the bike or pedestrian master plans.
4. Josh will be moderating a post-session wrapup for the 36th District Democrats tomorrow night from 7:30 to 9:30 at the Phinney Neighborhood Center (6532 Phinney Ave. N.) Guests include 36th District Reps. Reuven Carlyle and Mary Lou Dickerson, 36th District Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, and lobbyists for reproductive rights, environmental, and labor groups.
5. Also tomorrow, Erica will be tweeting Gregoire’s appearance on KCTS’ “Ask the Governor” show for PubliCola, live from the KCTS studio starting at 7 pm.
