Under the Dome

Originally published Tuesday, March 12, 2002

TODAY

Good morning. Today is Tuesday, March 12, the 58th day of the 60-day regular session.

QUOTED

"You mean, if we cut travel, the bureaucrats will be in the building? So, when we board up the building, we've got 'em, folks!" -- Sen. Harold Hochstatter, R-Moses Lake, barely able to contain his glee during a Saturday floor speech. Hochstatter, an ultra-conservative lawmaker, was supporting far deeper cuts to state-agency travel and equipment budgets than the Senate Democrats were willing to accept.

"It's not faceless to me. When I think about state government, I think about corrections officers. ... I think about the State Patrol. When I think about state government, I think about the GA employees who helped us and who worked so hard for so many hours after the earthquake to help pull us back into shape, and to whom, at that time, we paid tribute. ... I think of social workers struggling with tough foster care issues. ... So I am going to ask my colleagues not to just criticize state government as a faceless mass, but to look at it and at what it does, and at how important it is to us." -- House Appropriations Chair Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, chastising Republicans for criticisms they made during a weekend committee vote on her $22.4 billion spending proposal, which includes 2 percent pay raises for state workers.

HEARINGS

Here are a few of the committee hearings and work sessions today in the Legislature. House committee meetings are in the John L. O'Brien Building. Senate committee hearings are in the John A. Cherberg Building.

House

- Appropriations: public hearing, House Bill 2451, supplemental appropriations, 8 a.m., HHR-A.

- Finance: subjects to be announced, 8 a.m., HHR-C.

- Transportation: subjects to be announced, 8 a.m., HHR-B.

- Floor session/caucus: 9 a.m.

Senate

- Floor session: 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

ON TELEVISION

The following are excerpts from today's schedule for TVW, the state's public affairs network, found on Channel 23 locally.

- 8 a.m. House Transportation Committee hearing on supplemental budget (live).

- 9 a.m. Senate floor debate (live).

- 1:30 p.m. House floor debate (live).

Compiled by Brad Shannon

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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