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Gov. Gregoire signs last bills of regular session

For Immediate Release: May 16, 2011

OLYMPIA � Gov. Chris Gregoire today took action on the final 32 bills of the 2011 regular legislative session. In all, Gregoire acted on 378 pieces of legislation over the last several weeks, with all but two passing with bipartisan support.

�This has no doubt been one of the toughest legislative sessions in our state�s history,� Gregoire said. �But it�s also been one of bipartisan cooperation � and our legislators should be commended for that. I set out a series of transformative goals at the beginning of the regular session, and I�m pleased that working together, we achieved many of them to fundamentally change the way Washington moves forward.�

Several key pieces of Gregoire�s agenda included:

� Reduce and cap the shared-cost portion of unemployment taxes in 2011, which will reduce businesses� unemployment taxes by $300 million � freeing up needed cash to retain and hire workers. The legislation also provided a temporary increase in unemployment benefits for out-of-work Washingtonians;

� The �Launch Year Act,� which ensures more options are offered to high school seniors to take technical or advanced placement courses that lead to college credit or a career. By making the last year of high school the first year of career training or college, parents and students save on tuition costs, which saves taxpayers, as well. Gregoire is committed to continued work to create a seamless Department of Education to ensure students remain the focus of education resources;

� Legislation to create a Health Insurance Exchange, supporting the governor�s goal of limiting health care inflation to 4 percent over the next 10 years, which would save all Washingtonians a total of $26 billion in health care costs while increasing the quality of care;


� Provide the Department of Corrections the support needed to implement a series of safety enhancements recommended by the National Institute of Corrections; and

� Cost-saving measures and government reforms that will end the automatic annual pay increases now provided for those under the state�s oldest pension plans, saving the state $368 million over the next biennium, suspend the Presidential primary election in 2012, saving the state $10 million over the next two years, and create a users-pay system to ensure a sustained funding source for some state services, including state parks.

Gregoire also commended lawmakers for their work to increase environmental protection by approving several key environmental bills � including legislation that will phase out coal-fired energy production at the TransAlta power plant in Centralia starting in 2020, and a bill that ensures Washington has the best tools and equipment to mount an aggressive, rapid and well coordinated response in the event of a major oil spill in Puget Sound and other waters of our state.

�No one underestimates that amount of work that still needs to be completed to finalize a budget for the next biennium,� Gregoire said. �But that shouldn�t over shadow the incredible accomplishments achieved during the regular session. I presented some bold ideas � and the Legislature acted. Many of these reforms will save valuable taxpayer dollars to ensure Washingtonians still have access to the services they need and deserve.�

The special legislative session is scheduled to end May 25th. Gregoire continues to urge lawmakers to reform our state�s workers compensation system, and move forward with a proposal to streamline state agencies into a central Department of Enterprise Services.