Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is taking action on the last of 335 bills passed by the recent session of the Legislature. 

After signing 32 bills on Monday, she faced a stack of more than 40 bills on Tuesday, including the $306 million supplemental budget to increase spending this year.  Gregoire could use her veto to trim sections of the bill.  

Another bill would ban toxic chemicals in toys, such as lead. Toy makers oppose it and say it could ban toys with electronics inside, while child health advocates are pushing Gregoire to sign the ban into law.  She could also sign a measure providing future tax relief to people who qualify for the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit. 

On Monday, Gregoire approved state assistance for local enforcement agencies in preventing and combating street crime.  The governor also approved the use of tolls to help finance a new $4 billion floating bridge across Lake Washington, and a bill giving newspapers a tax break for their online advertising. 

Gregoire legally has until Saturday to complete work on the hundreds of bills sent to her by lawmakers, but her staff says she expects to complete that work by Tuesday.

Once the signings are finished, the governor’s re-election campaigning begins.  Gregoire plans to visit newspapers across the state Wednesday and Thursday.  She starts a re-election bus tour of the state on Monday.

Washington Governor Christine Gregoire (pictured left) has signed a plan into law that would provide southwestern Washington areas up to $50 million to match expected federal grants for protecting flood-prone areas. The money is intended to help fund construction on a to-be-determined final plan from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aimed at protecting Interstate 5 and the nearby municipalities from floods in Lewis County. The Governor also signed a separate measure that will help prevent flooding by authorizing the sale of state bonds to pay for flood projects in the Chehalis River basin. In December, I-5 was closed for several days during floods that encompassed Lewis and Thurston counties.

Despite overwhelming support for the bill passed earlier this month in the Washington House and Senate, Gov. Christine Gregoire is contemplating a veto of the strictest toy safety rules in the nation. 

The rules would dramatically reduce the amount of lead, cadmium and plasticizing chemicals allowed in children’s products made and sold in the state.  

A growing number of toy vendors and manufacturers across the country worry the well-meaning legislation - with safeguards they largely endorse - could have unintended consequences because of the way it was drafted.  Gregoire says that she met with Mattel and Hasbro officials and took their concerns to heart. 

Industry representatives initially called for weaker restrictions on the toxic ingredients.  They now seem focused on Washington’s failure to exempt the lead solder used on computer components enclosed within some electronics - proposed federal safety rules allow for its use. 

Gregoire says she’s looking for ways to deal with the omission without vetoing the entire bill. 

Before approving the legislation, lawmakers pushed through a long list of amendments to narrow its scope, including exemptions for pellet guns, model rockets, tricycles, athletic shoes, pocketknives, roller skates, sporting gear, sleds and skis.  The bill already had exemptions for batteries, darts, chemistry sets, computer games and software, wireless phones and calculators.  

As written, the bill would go into effect July 2009.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire has vowed not to seek re-election campaign contributions until after she signs all the bills passed by the Legislature this past session. 

In 2006 the Legislature changed a rule that prohibited raising campaign money for 30 days before the start of a legislative session and until 30 days after the end of a session.  Lawmakers eliminated the post-session fundraising ban because they had also moved the primary date from September to August. 

A loophole allows Gregoire to accept donations during the 20-day period when she signs bills and the state budget into law.  The Democratic governor’s campaign is accepting donations, but a spokesperson says Gregoire is not being told what, if any contributions are being made, or from whom. 

The Legislature passed 331 bills this session, and Gregoire has until April 5 to sign the measures, which include the budget and more than $300 million for new programs.  She has veto power for policy bills and she can also use line-item vetoes on individual budget items.  

Republican gubernatorial challenger Dino Rossi is critical of Gregoire because she could take advantage of the situation, and suggests that she should have implemented a self-imposed freeze on fundraising.  

Gregoire, who has raised $4.7 million compared with Rossi’s $2.9 million, says she is not soliciting contributions. 

Public Disclosure Commission records show that Gregoire raised more than $30,000 during last year’s 20-day bill signing period. 

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire has signed new tax breaks for the state’s aviation industry, but insists they aren’t subsidies like the ones being debated between Boeing and Airbus in the fight over the contract for the Air Force’s new refueling tanker. 

The legislation she signed, one of 15 bills autographed during a ceremony in Spokane on Thursday, offers a lower rate on the state’s business and occupation tax to companies that maintain and repair aircraft.   It’s the same rate that Boeing and its major in-state suppliers get, but Gregoire it’s not an unfair subsidy, adding that Airbus gets the same tax break. 

The U.S. government has charged that Airbus receives unfair subsidies from European governments, and the state’s congressional delegation has used those allegations as part of their challenge to the $35 billion federal contract for a new tanker jet awarded to a consortium that includes Airbus, rather than Boeing.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire has signed into law a bill that provides special “Gold Star Parents” license plates for mothers and fathers of fallen servicemen and women from Washington. 

The plates resemble those now available to Pearl Harbor veterans, former POWs and Medal of Honor recipients. 

Gold Star Parents’ license plates will be available to families who are certified by the state Department of Veterans Affairs beginning next Jan. 1 at no extra charge. 

The Gold Star has its roots in the first and second World Wars, when families who had lost a loved one to war displayed a banner with a gold star in their windows. 

Military families will have more unpaid leave under a measure signed into law by Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire. 

Also, during periods of military conflict, employees are entitled to up to 15 days of unpaid leave before their spouse is deployed or while their spouse is on leave from deployment.

The measure increases from 15 to 21 the number of days each year a state or local officer or employee who is a member of the Washington National Guard or Reserves is entitled to a military leave of absence from employment.  

Gregoire also signed into law a measure to issue a special license plate to the parents of military who have died while in service.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire has signed a bill that closes a loophole in the state’s three-strikes law.

The bill sponsored by Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, makes crimes committed in other states count toward Washington’s three-strikes law. Benton’s bill was brought forward after the case of Chelsea Harrison, a 14-year-old Clark County girl killed by a 45-year-old ex-convict, who committed crimes in Arizona.

Don Benton, R-Vancouver, comments

Under the three-strikes law, a person who commits three of the most serious felonies and other crimes, such as rape, can be sentenced to life in prison.