Washington: Rodney Tom

Moments ago, the Washington State Senate passed SB 5895, the 2009 version of the Homeowner's Bill of Rights. The vote was 25 to 24, mostly split along party lines. A number of Democratic Senators defected to join the Republican caucus in voting against. But the bill passed.

We'll have the roll call up shortly.

UPDATE: Roll call:
E2SSB 5895
Residential real property
Senate vote on 3rd Reading & Final Passage
3/11/2009

Yeas: 25 Nays: 24 Absent: 0 Excused: 0

Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Hargrove, Hatfield, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, McDermott, Murray, Oemig, Prentice, Pridemore, Regala, Rockefeller, and Tom

Voting Nay: Senators Becker, Benton, Brandland, Carrell, Delvin, Haugen, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, Jarrett, Kilmer, King, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Pflug, Ranker, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Shin, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli
The Northwest Progressive Institute commends the State Senate for passing this important legislation, and we extend our sincere thanks to Senator Rodney Tom, the prime sponsor, for safely sheparding SB 5895 through to the House of Representatives.

There apparently is no special consideration given to a former member of the Washington State Senate, not after he takes out full-page ads in multiple newspapers and attacks his former colleagues.

That's what former state Sen. Brian Weinstein, Mercer Island lawyer, has learned after he and his law partners paid for ads in The News Tribune, The Olympian, Skagit Valley News, Everett Herald and a lot of smaller newspapers. The ads accused Sens. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island and Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, of blocking a bill that Weinstein and his colleagues at Bergman Draper and Frockt really wanted to get passed.

Yesterday evening, the Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee released its agenda for next week's Thursday committee meeting.

Among the bills that have been scheduled for a hearing is SB 5895, prime sponsored by Senator Rodney Tom. SB 5895 is the 2009 Senate version of the Homeowner's Bill of Rights, one of our top legislative priorities.

Although much of the important work in Olympia gets done behind the scenes, having a strong showing at a hearing always helps. Here are the details:

Public Hearing on Senate Bill 5895
Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Senate Hearing Room 4, J.A. Cherberg Building
Capitol Campus, Olympia, Washington

We urge you to make the trip to Olympia if you possibly can.

State Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the tax increase isn't about raising money; it's about health benefits.

The current tax is more than $2 a pack, as I recall. And it would raise maybe more than $200 million. So, it really is about raising money, too. Maybe just a little bit?

I'd have to research the exact numbers.

Proposal to Increase Cigarette Tax by $1/ Pack Key to Smoking Prevention and Protecting Healthcare Access

“Cut Smoking, Not Prevention” campaign established to support cigarette tax increase

OLYMPIA—A coalition of health care and anti-smoking advocates today welcomed introduction of legislation by State Senator Rodney Tom (D-Medina) that will increase the state cigarette tax by $1/ pack.