Tagged: Washington State Legislature

On Wednesday, hundreds of immigrants and advocates plan to gather in Olympia to lay out their priorities for lawmakers. One top issue is called the Washington Dream Act, which state Senator Ed Murray, D-Seattle, introduced today. Under the measure, undocumented college students would become eligible for state financial aid.

It’s Friday — time to talk over the news with Joni Balter, Eli Sanders and C.R. Douglas. President Obama spoke of unity and equality as he laid out his policy agenda for a second term. How will the message be received in Washington D.C.? Education and labor were the focus as lawmakers in Olympia got to work in the second week of the state legislative session. Also, Chris Hansen says he's struck a deal to bring the NBA back to Seattle, but officials in Sacramento promise they won't go down without a fight. What stories caught your attention this week? Write to us at weekday@kuow.org.

A new bill will be proposed this week in the Washington state Legislature that aims to limit access to the criminal records of juvenile offenders.

Increases in tuition and investment shortfalls have left Washington state's Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) program with a nearly 20 percent funding gap. Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom says it's time for the state to get out of the prepaid tuition business. Tom says that if everyone now enrolled in the program wanted their money right now, the program would be short $631 million. The State Actuary puts the chances of GET not being able to meet its obligations at about one percent. Should Washington state end the GET program? We take a closer look.