Washington: News Tribune

The League of Women Voters and Washington Education Fund are holding an awards event from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 30 (Saturday) at the Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma.

They will be honoring Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma, the Korean Women's Association and The News Tribune.

It's $40 a head for the dessert and wine reception. The awards program starts at 7:45 p.m.

The backdrop is the "Women's Votes, Women's Voices" exhibit, celebrating the Washington Women's Suffrage Centennial.

Matt Bergman, managing partner of Bergman Draper & Frockt, a Seattle law firm that specializes in asbestos litigation, has stepped down, taking the blame for the full-page newspaper ads that tried to pressure three state senators into passing a bill into law.

Mark Firmani, who handles public relations for the firm, confirmed a few minutes ago that an e-mail that was sent to me anonymously is, in fact, authentic.

Bergman left Monday for Kenya, where he has built a school with his own funds, Firmani said. Bergman is not resigning from the firm; he is just stepping down as its managing partner, Firmani said.

House Bill 2122 would reduce the business and occupation tax for people in the business of "printing or publishing a newspaper" to the same rate paid by The Boeing Co., Weyerhaueser and Microsoft, according to industry lobbyist Roland Thompson of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

That's a 43 percent cut from where it is now. The reduction would take effect July 1 and apparently would last indefinitely. The summary of testimony before the House Finance Committee indicated newspapers said they needed the tax break until about 2015.

The bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, would cost the state about $3 million to $5 million in lower tax collections over the 2009-11 biennium, Thompson said.

I'm writing a story for Sunday's print edition of The News Tribune, but it won't be nearly as long as this. (Unlimited space on line.) I'll be updated many of these items and adding more as the House and Senate continue to pass or kill bills through Thursday.

BY Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com

Budget and taxes: The state now faces an estimated $7.7 billion deficit over the next 28 months. Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed a no-new-taxes budget. Senate Democrats say they will unveil they budget proposal sometime after the March 19 revenue forecast. The state is getting about $3 billion of help from Uncle Sam, but the Legislature will have to make deeper cuts than the governor did in her proposal.