Washington: Wea

Majority Senate Democrats put out a list of bills that technically died on Ash Wednesday because they were not approved by the committee to which there were assigned.

But if they were among your favorites, don't go into mourning just yet.

Easter is April 12. And yes, some of these could rise from the dead by then or a couple weeks thereafter.

But just for the record, here are a few bills from the "Dead Bill List."

Sen. Ed Murray's proposal to get rid of the death penalty in Washington did die. So is his proposal to allow same-sex marriages. So too did Sen. Ken Jacobsen's perennial proposal to let him bring his dog into a bar when he goes drinking.

The Washington Education Association's leaders protested when Gov. Chris Gregoire rolled out her budget plan in December. And now the 82,000-member teachers union is running radio ads in Seattle and Spokane to warn against cutting $1 billion from education.

Facing a nearly $6 billion shortfall, Gregoire proposed a suspension of two citizen initiatives providing cost-of-living pay raises for K-12 teachers and money to lower class sizes. She also proposed a reduction in levy equalization money that usually goes to help tax-poor school districts.

Now that could get worse with Thursday’s revenue forecast. WEA began countering the cut-only mentality with its 60-second ads, which began today and cost about $90,000, according to spokesman Rich Wood.

I got this e-mail last night from Rich Wood, spokesman for the 82,000-member Washington Education Assocation. And quite frankly, I haven't had a chance to thoroughly examine the bills he refers to, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from sharing the union's concerns with you.

Here's the report (layman's English translation) for House Bill 1410, prime sponsored by Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Covington. Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, is sponsoring the same bill in the Senate, SB 5444.

"It goes way beyond the task force recommendations, especially in the area of school accountability," Wood says.

These are huge bills. They are an outgrowth of work done by an education task force.