CORRECTION: This story has been modified to correct the summary of House Bill 2712. The bill does not allow local governments to apply for civil injunctions to curtail gang activities, as was previously reported. The Senate stripped that provision from the final version of the bill before the Legislature sent it to the governor.

The Legislature passed 335 bills during the 60-day session that ended Thursday.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has until April 5 to sign, veto or partially veto the bills. She already has signed several, including laws to expand rights of domestic partners, to deal with climate change and to give a tax break to Russell Investments if the company builds its new headquarters in downtown Tacoma or another of the state’s community empowerment zones.

“We did a whole lot this session and I’m proud of that,” House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, told reporters Friday in a post-session news conference.

Gregoire has scheduled a bill-signing ceremony for Monday afternoon, and more ceremonies will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

Below are some highlights from the 60-day legislative session that ended Thursday.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has until April 5 to sign, veto or partially veto the 335 bills approved by the Legislature.

We’ll provide updates on some as the governor acts on them. Governors generally wait until the final day to act on budget bills because of their complexity, so we don’t expect those until that first week of April.

EDUCATION

Teacher pay raise: Public school employees and some community college workers get a 4.4 percent raise in the 2008-09 school year. That’s an increase of 0.5 percent above the voter-approved law guaranteeing cost-of-living raises. In the budget.

UW Tacoma: The Tacoma campus gets $3 million to buy land and clean up contaminated soil on properties it already has bought. In the budget.

Kindergarten: All-day kindergarten is offered at 20 percent of the poorest public schools by the end of the 2008-09 school year, doubling the 10 percent that got it this year. In the budget.

UW Everett: HB 2548 would have authorized the University of Washington to open a branch campus in Everett. Died in a House committee. The debate between locations in Everett and Lake Stevens will continue.

College for inmates: SB 6790 would have provided some state-paid college classes for Washington prison inmates. Passed by the Senate. Died in the House.

WASL, Part 1: HB 3166 would allow end-of-course assessments in place of the math portion of the WASL, beginning in 2014. Awaiting the governor’s signature.

WASL, Part 2: Lawmakers earmarked $15 million to cover increased costs of administering the WASL, but saved money by making it shorter and reducing the number of open-ended questions. In the budget.

Recess: SB 6042 started out as a bill requiring recess in elementary schools. It was later turned into a bill that would study the availability of recess in elementary schools, but it still failed to pass.

Teacher “combat” pay: HB 1775, over five years, would have made an estimated 1,400 more teachers eligible for a $5,000 annual bonus for teaching in schools with high levels of students from low-income families. Passed the House; died in the Senate.

Bethel skills center: A coalition of schools in Pierce County gets $3 million to start work on a skill center to provide career and technical training for students at an old Safeway store at 16115 Canyon Road E. In the budget.

MONEY MATTERS

State savings: The Legislature expects to have $836 million in reserves by mid-2009, barring some sort of calamity. In the budget.

Sales tax rebate: Low-income families eventually may get a check for between $80 and $160, but not this year. Lawmakers set up a program for those who are eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, but did not provide any money for rebates.

Family leave: Money has been provided to set up a computer system to administer payments of $250 a week for up to six weeks to families who have a child or adopt a child, but there is no money for payments yet. In the budget.

Husky Stadium: The University of Washington asked the Legislature to pony up half of the $300 million the university says is needed to pay for safety improvements and upgrades. Died in committee. Lawmakers have put it on the agenda for next year.

Seattle SuperSonics: Lawmakers didn’t give Seattle $75 million so the city can fix up KeyArena to keep the NBA team or attract another, but they did create a task force that telegraphs their intention to take a close look at it in 2009. The task force language is in the budget.

Simpson Tacoma Kraft: HB 3116 would have waived the state sales tax for machinery to produce electricity from biomass, as the Tacoma Tideflats company is going to do. Died in the House.

Russell Investments headquarters: SB 6626 waives the state sales tax on construction of a new headquarters building for the international investment firm in Tacoma if it builds its new structure in certain economic zones – namely downtown Tacoma. Signed into law Friday.

Prosecutor pay: SB 6297 guarantees that the state’s 39 county prosecutors would be paid at least $100,000 a year by pegging their salaries to those of Superior Court judges. Sent to the governor.

Judges retire: HB 2887 lets judges fatten their monthly pension checks when they retire by buying into a different retirement plan at a discount. Sent to the governor.

Adult family homes: The governor and the Legislature set out to increase reimbursement to people who take care of physically and mentally disabled people on Medicaid by 4.8 percent to 5.8 percent, but opted instead to give higher payments to those caring for the most severely disabled instead of an across-the-board increase. In the budget.

Engine tax: SB 6900 would have required car and truck owners to pay an annual fee based on the size of their vehicle’s engine. Its mere introduction by Democratic Sen. Rodney Tom of Bellevue generated a widespread opposition campaign. It died without getting a hearing.

Better police pensions: SB 6573 would put $5 million a year into a special fund in 2011 to improve retirement benefits for police officers and firefighters who were hired after 1977 and help local governments pay for public safety. However, that funding would be triggered only if state tax collections increased by more than 5 percent year over year. It could rise to $50 million a year. Sent to the governor.

LAW AND ORDER

Finding sex predators: $5 million will be distributed to police departments to cover the cost of in-person visits by officers seeking to verify that sex offenders are living where they say they are. Authorities will collect DNA samples from offenders if they are not already on file. In the budget.

Tracking sex offenders: Prison officials will get more than $1.5 million to expand the use of global positioning satellite devices to track movements of some offenders while they are under community supervision. In the budget.

Prometa protocol: The Legislature cut $105,000, but left $395,000 to pay the Pierce County Alliance to test the effectiveness of a cocktail of drugs that is supposed to reduce drug cravings enough to let addicts focus on their recovery. In the budget.

Out-of-state inmates: HB 2688 would have prevented the Department of Corrections from sending inmates to private prisons in Minnesota, Arizona and Oklahoma if the inmates are active in the lives of their children. Died in the House.

Roadblocks for drunks: HB 2771 would have let police set up roadblocks, or “sobriety checkpoints,” to pull over drivers, see if they’ve been drinking and arrest them if they fail sobriety tests. Died in a House committee.

Sex crime DNA: HB 2713 would add stalking, soliciting a prostitute and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes to the list of crimes for which criminals must submit a DNA sample to authorities. Sent to the governor.

Gang bill: HB 2712 would provide grants to police to combat gangs and graffiti and increase penalties for adults who use minors to help commit gang-related felonies. Sent to the governor.

Camera cops: SB 5363 would have expanded the use of cameras to enforce traffic laws by letting Seattle install them on arterial streets to catch speeders. Passed the Senate; died in the House.

TRANSPORTATION

Bob Oke Bridge proposal: Senate Joint Memorial 8026 would have recommended naming the new Tacoma Narrows bridge after the late Republican senator from Port Orchard who championed its construction. Passed by the Senate Transportation Committee, but never got to the floor.

Murray Morgan Bridge: The state increased its contribution toward renovating the dilapidated downtown Tacoma bridge to $40 million, up from $26.5 million. The new amount is about half the estimated cost to repair or replace it. In the budget. HB 3158 would have let Tacoma use part of the state sales tax to cover the rest of the cost, but that bill died.

Regional transportation: SB 6771 would have authorized a study of the future role of the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID), the tri-county agency that developed the roads portion of the roads-and-transit measure rejected last year by voters. Passed the Senate; died in the House.

Sound Transit: SB 6772 would have turned over the RTID’s road-building duties to Sound Transit, the tri-county agency in charge of building a bus-and-rail system. Died in a Senate committee.

Tolls: HB 1773 would establish a state policy for the Legislature to put permanent tolls on bridges and highways, charge higher tolls during rush hours to discourage traffic, and impose tolls before projects are finished. Toll amounts are to be determined later. Sent to the governor.

Yellow license plates: SB 6402 would have required people convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs to put fluorescent yellow license plates on their vehicles. Died in a Senate committee.

Transportation sales tax: HB 3051 would have exempted $1 billion in highway projects from the state’s 6.5 percent sales tax if tolls are to be used to cover half of the construction cost. It also would have retroactively forgiven $43 million in sales tax on the Tacoma Narrows bridge project. Passed the House; died in the Senate.

Narrows bridge toll hike: The Legislature authorized the Washington Transportation Commission to raise tolls on the new Tacoma bridge. A citizen advisory proposal to boost cash tolls to $4 and raise Good To Go pass tolls to $2.75 – both $1 higher than today’s rate – is before the board. In the budget.

HOT lane tolls: The Transportation Commission also was authorized to impose new tolls on solo drivers who want to buy their way into the car-pool lanes on Highway 167 between Auburn and Renton. Tolls would vary between 50 cents and $9, depending on traffic. In the budget.

Highway 520 tolls: HB 3096 would lay the foundation for putting tolls on the Evergreen Point floating bridge between Seattle and Bellevue as soon as 2009 – years before construction actually begins – and raising half of the $4 billion cost from tolls. Sent to the governor.

Suicide fences: The state Department of Transportation gets $7.5 million to build fences along the Aurora Avenue Bridge in Seattle (Highway 99) in the hope of making it more difficult for people to leap to their death. In the budget.

HEALTH CARE AND INSURANCE

Universal health care: SB 6221 would have created universal health care in the state by replacing employer-provided health care with a payroll tax. Died in committee.

Health care reform: SB 6574 would have attempted to reduce the cost of health insurance by creating a stock market-like exchange for plans. Died in committee.

Catastrophic coverage: SB 6603 would have provided catastrophic care for the uninsured or underinsured, funded by a 1 percent payroll tax. Died in committee.

Data mining: SB 6241 would have made it illegal to sell prescription records specific enough to be traced back to the prescribing doctor. Pharmaceutical companies use the information to market drugs to doctors. Died in the Senate.

Insurance: SB 5261 would give the insurance commissioner authority to review health benefit rate plan increases. The insurance commissioner reviewed rate increases on individual health plans until 2000, when the Legislature ended it. Since then, rates have increased dramatically. Sent to the governor.

GOVERNMENT AND ELECTIONS

Campaign finance: SB 5278 would allow voters in cities and counties to decide whether to use public money for campaigns. Campaigns for state office or school boards are not eligible. The governor is scheduled to act on the bill Monday.

Closed meetings: HB 3292 would have required executive sessions to be taped so a judge could review the record if there were allegations of violating the Open Public Meetings Act. Died in committee.

Polls: HB 2833 would have closed polling places in Pierce County in favor of all-mail voting, which is what the other 38 counties are doing. Died in committee.

Voting: HB 2663 would have made it legal for 17-year-olds to vote. Another bill would have lowered the voting age to 16, but neither passed.

Special elections: SB 5271 would have dropped two of the four spring dates for special elections. Passed the Senate; died in the House.

Secret meetings: HB 2567 would have increased the current $100-per-day fine for violating the Open Public Meetings Act to a range of $250 to $1,000. Passed the House; died in the Senate.

MISCELLANEOUS

Climate change: HB 2815 directs the state to develop plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Signed by the governor.

Antifreeze: HB 2996 would require that most antifreeze sold after Jan. 1, 2010, contain an aversive agent, making it taste bad so children and pets won’t ingest it. Sent to the governor.

“Moonshine” bill: HB 2959 would lower the annual license fee for craft distilleries to $100 from $2,000 a year. It also would let them sell up to 20,000 gallons of liquor a year if at least half of their materials come from crops grown in Washington. Sent to the governor.

Initiative 960: SB 6931 would have increased the state liquor tax by 42 cents a liter to raise $12 million a year for drunken-driving patrols and drug treatment. It failed, but it is now the basis for a test case on whether I-960’s requirement of a two-thirds vote by both houses of the Legislature to raise taxes violates the state constitution. Pending a court ruling.

Identity theft: SB 5878 would require police to make out a report when identity theft is reported, thus providing documentation that is helpful to victims dealing with credit card companies and others. Sent to the governor.

Wrongful death: HB 1873 would have given parents legal standing to sue if a child were killed as a result of negligence. Although the House and the Senate passed versions of the bill, they could not agree on the same version, so it died.

Day-care worker union: HB 2449 would have let many directors and workers at day-care centers form a union and negotiate with the governor’s office for wages and benefits. Died after a contentious battle between the House and the Senate.

Counselors: HB 2674 would set standards, training requirements and oversight guidelines for some 18,000 counselors by mid-2010, regulate their areas of practice, and require a report by 2011 to see how many counselors are complying with the new standards. Sent to the governor.

Children’s toys: HB 2647 would regulate the amount of lead, cadmium and phthalates in children’s products and toys. Sent to the governor.

Mortgage brokers: SB 6381 would make it illegal for mortgage brokers to give clients a loan with a higher interest rate for the broker’s own financial benefit. Sent to the governor.

Human remains: HB 2624 would require anyone who finds human remains to notify local law enforcement. If the remains were determined to be American Indian, all area tribes would be notified. Sent to the governor.

Home inspectors: SB 5788 started out as a bill that would require home inspectors to be licensed. It was changed into a bill that would direct the Department of Licensing to study whether home inspectors should be licensed, then report back to the Legislature. Sent to the governor.

Tribal police: HB 2476 would give tribal police the same authority as state police officers. Any citations or arrest documents would be filed with the state, not the tribe. Sent to the governor.

Domestic partnership: SB 3104 grants about 170 rights and responsibilities of marriage to those in domestic partnerships. Signed into law last week.

Cell phone privacy: HB 2479 would require publishers of telephone directories to get permission from customers before publishing their cell phone numbers. Sent to the governor.

Don’t mess with pets: HB 2836 would have let judges extend protection orders to the pets of people involved in domestic disputes, and would have made it a crime to mistreat pets of domestic violence victims. Passed the House; died in the Senate.

Beer and wine: SB 5751 would allow as many as 30 grocery stores across the state to offer a limited number of beer- and wine-tasting events in the store. Sent to the governor.

Joseph Turner: 253-597-8436

Niki Sullivan: 360-754-6093

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