Democrats fail to bring bill related to education funding to Senate floor

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Democrats failed in their effort to bypass Republican leadership and bring a bill related to local school levies to the Senate floor.


Senate Democrats had hoped for a beneficial ruling Friday from Democratic Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib, the presiding officer of the chamber, that would have allowed them to change the chamber rules so that they could pull the bill out of committee and put it on the floor calendar.

When that ruling didn't go in their favor, they tried another procedural path to get the bill to the floor, but one of their members had left the Capitol and they didn't have enough people to succeed.

The bill in question delays a deadline for a reduction in the amount of money school districts can collect through local property tax levies. A measure had passed the Democratic House on a 62-35 vote Monday and Senate Democrats had been calling for a vote in that chamber. Republicans included the measure as part of an education funding proposal they released Friday.