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FIFTEENTH DAY, FIRST SPECIAL SESSION

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MORNING SESSION

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Senate Chamber, Olympia, Friday, March 24, 2000

      The Senate was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by President Pro Tempore Wojahn. The Secretary called the roll and announced to the President Pro Tempore that all Senators were present except Senators Bauer, Brown, Finkbeiner, Hochstatter, Horn, Oke, Patterson, Sellar, Shin and Swecker.

      The Sergeant at Arms Color Guard, consisting of Pages Kyle Drennon and Chris Hoel, presented the Colors. Senator Rosa Franklin offered the prayer.

MOTION

      On motion of Senator Betti Sheldon, the reading of the Journal of the previous day was dispensed with and it was approved.

MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR

March 23, 2000

TO THE HONORABLE, THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

Ladies and Gentlemen:

      I have the honor to advise you that on March 23, 2000, Governor Locke approved the following Senate Bill entitled:

      ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 6067

      Relating to access to individual health insurance coverage.

Sincerely,

EVERETT H. BILLINGSLEA, General Counsel

      There being no objection, the Senate resumed consideration of Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 6404, as amended by the House, deferred March 23, 2000, after Senator Snyder’s parliamentary inquiry regarding the number of votes needed for final passage.

RULING BY THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE

      President Pro Tempore Wojahn: “In ruling on the point of inquiry raised by Senator Snyder on March 23, 2000, concerning the number of votes necessary to pass Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 6404, as amended by the House of Representatives, the President would first note that advisory rulings are not normally given by the President. For example, earlier this session, President Owen declined to rule on a point of order on whether a bill was properly before the Senate under Senate Rule 25, as long as that bill remained on Second Reading.

      “The President reasoned that until such time as a bill is on final passage, it may be changed by the body. Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 6404, as amended by the House, will be on third reading if a motion to concur is adopted. The House amendment cannot be changed by the Senate. For these reasons, the President finds that Senator Snyder’s point of inquiry is timely.

      “Section 501 of the House striking amendment to Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 6404 would allocate money from the emergency reserve fund to school districts to pay for increased fuel costs. Section 724 would transfer money from the emergency reserve fund to the multimodal transportation account for rail programs. RCW 43.135.045(2) provides that the Legislature may appropriate moneys from the emergency reserve fund only with approval of at least two-thirds of the members of each house of the Legislature. The President, therefore, finds that final passage of Second Substitute Senate Bill No.6404, as amended by the House, would require a two-thirds vote of the Senate (thirty-three members).

      “The President would distinguish an earlier ruling on Substitute Senate Bill No. 6404 in which President Owen ruled that a simple majority vote was required to transfer money from the emergency reserve fund. In Section 907 of Substitute Senate Bill No. 6404, money was transferred from the emergency fund to the multimodal transportation account. However, Section 907 also expressly amended RCW 43.135.045(2) to remove the statutory requirement for a two-thirds majority vote to make the transfer. RCW 43.135.045 was adopted as part of Initiative 601 and the point of inquiry in the earlier instance concerned the number of votes necessary to amend Initiative 601. President Owen ruled that only a simple majority was necessary to amend Initiative 601.”

      The President Pro Tempore ruled that Second Substitute Senate Bill No. 6404, as amended by the House, would take a two-thirds majority vote to pass the Senate.

PERSONAL PRIVILEGE

      Senator Tim Sheldon: “A point of personal privilege, Mr. President. I just wanted to, before we adjourned, to just take note of the big news event. Obviously, when we come back on Monday, we won’t have the Seattle skyline the same. The King Dome will be gone--will be flattened. I just wanted to make a comment on a couple of figures I noticed from the newspapers. It is going to take nine million dollars to tear down the building. It is only twenty-four years old and we still owe--the taxpayers still owe two hundred and six million dollars. So, as you buy a tee shirt and watch it on TV, remember the taxpayers are still paying for that building for a long, long time.”

MOTION

      At 10:11 a.m., on motion of Senator Betti Sheldon, the Senate adjourned until 10:30 a.m., Monday, March 27, 2000.

BRAD OWEN, President of the Senate

TONY M. COOK, Secretary of the Senate