State Legislative Session Recap Print E-mail
jim-blog1Workers' compensation dominated most of the discussion.

The 2011 State Legislative Session is in the books. 

The operating budget that passed had major cuts to K-12 and higher education, as well as social services and many other vital programs. The budget passed near the end of the special session thanks to an agreement on workers' compensation. The new system allows limited structured voluntary settlements for L&I claims. The bill is expected to reduce costs in the insurance system by more than $1.1 billion over the next four years.

The transportation budget had a number of projects for the Spokane area. A story on those can be found here. Among the projects was $72 million to continue construction on the North Spokane Corridor, our top transportation priority.

The capital budget's two major projects are both in the Spokane region. Legislators allocated $35 million for the Biomedical and Health Sciences Building Phase I at WSU Spokane. This was our top capital priority for our region. Eastern Washington University will receive $30.5 million to renovate Patterson Hall.  

The Seattle Times has good rundown of what bills passed and what ones didn't.