Legislators from both Houses gathered on the steps of the state Capital on Monday to urge their colleagues to pass a transportation revenue package. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, talks about three bills dealing with impaired driving which were approved this week by the Senate Law and Justice Committee.

Welcome to In The Loop, a podcast update on the activities of the Washington Senate Democratic Caucus.  To download In The Loop, click HERE.

Sen. Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, today issued the following statement on the Senate’s failure to pass meaningful protections for babies and children from harmful flame retardants:

"A reasonable compromise could have been had that would have protected babies and children from unnecessary exposure to harmful flame retardants.

"Democrats offered a commonsense proposal to eliminate toxic chemicals from crib mattresses, changing pads, car seats and other everyday children’s products that almost all parents bring into their homes after having a child.

"But rather than accept this commonsense compromise, the Republican-controlled Senate preferred instead to placate the American Chemistry Council and put corporate interests ahead of children’s health.

"There is simply no acceptable reason for these cancer-causing toxic chemicals to be in our children’s products – and there is simply no excuse for Republicans’ failure to ban them. Republicans’ willingness to shortchange children’s health is only one part of their backwards set of priorities.

"Protecting women’s reproductive health and creating opportunities for immigrant children were also left off the Republicans’ list of important issues to address.

"At the same time, authorizing new ways for payday lenders to extract triple-digit interest rates from low-income families and giving employers new options for paying their injured workers less rose to the top.

"Washingtonians would be well justified in asking whose interests the new Republican-controlled majority is representing in the state Senate."

With literally hours left in the 2013 session, and virtually nothing to show for more than 100 days of work, 11 Republicans have decided their time would be best spent rolling back civil rights.

Click here to read more about the "License to Hate."

Washington has the fourth most crowded classrooms in America. We could have an additional $40 million in the next two years for our schools from an industry that can afford to pay its share. We need to stop giving the oil industry in our state a blank check and start holding them accountable.

To read the new Eye on the Majority post by Sen. Christine Rolfes, please click here.

Welcome to In The Loop, a podcast update on the activities of the Washington Senate Democratic Caucus.  To download In The Loop, click HERE.

By Sen. Ed Murray

Today the Senate majority caucus showed its unwillingness to even allow a vote on two bills with support from a majority of members of the Senate – the Washington Dream Act and the Reproductive Parity Act.

The Reproductive Parity Act, HB 1044, would move our state in the opposite direction of the 21 other states that have banned abortion coverage in their insurance markets, and it would do so by upholding our state’s long tradition of allowing women - not insurance companies - to make their own health care choices.

These bills uphold the fundamental Washington values of fairness and choice. The Washington Dream Act, HB 1817, would allow all deserving Washington students to pursue their full potential in education and in life – and it would do so by opening up state financial aid to young dreamers who are currently penalized simply because their parents are undocumented immigrants.

These bills are supported both by a majority of Washingtonians and by a majority of members of this chamber.

Today, we attempted to use a parliamentary procedure known as the Ninth Order to allow these bills a vote. We believed that too much was at stake for the health and well-being of thousands of Washingtonians for these bills to fail.

Make no mistake – while the actions of the majority today were procedural in nature, they were aimed squarely at two popular bills with bipartisan support. Their vote is an attack on a woman’s right to choose and on a free, fair and accessible education system for all.

When the majority caucus formed, their leaders spoke about the importance of putting policy over politics. Today, we saw how hollow those words were.

After exhausting all other legislative avenues, Senate Democrats on Monday announced their intention to use a procedural move to force a vote on two bills that have the support of the majority of the Senate, but have been blocked from consideration by the full Senate by Republican committee chairs.

The two bills which will be brought forward, the DREAM Act and Reproductive Parity Act, both passed the House of Representatives earlier this year. The DREAM Act, which received vast bipartisan support in the House, would allow students brought to the U.S. illegally at a young age and graduated from a Washington high school eligibility to apply for the State Need Grant which helps pay college tuition.

The RPA will require insurance companies that cover maternity care to also provide coverage for abortions. A letter signed by 25 senators stated their intention to vote for the RPA if it was allowed a vote on the Senate floor. Sens. Rodney Tom and Steve Litzow were among those who signed the letter.

“The Ninth Order is a vote on the DREAM Act and on the Reproductive Parity Act,” Sen. Ed Murray said. “It’s not our first place to go, it’s not the way I usually do business individually as a legislator, but we’re getting late here, we’re in the second to last week of session.”

You can watch the entire press availability below.

Welcome to In The Loop, a podcast update on the activities of the Washington Senate Democratic Caucus. To download In The Loop, click HERE.