The majority of the bills which comprise the Senate Democrats' reform agenda have been approved by the Washington State Senate ahead of the Feb. 14 floor cutoff deadline. A number of additional reform bills are still being considered by the Senate Ways & Means Committee as bills necessary to implement the budget.

The bills are projected to save at least $43 million in the 2011-13 biennial budget, while saving at least a quarter of a billion dollars over the next five years.

“We began in December with a pledge to scour our state government for savings, to preserve efficient practices and to eliminate waste and abuse,” said Sen. Nick Harper, D-Everett. “Today, a majority of the bills which were dedicated to that effort have passed the Senate with bipartisan support.”

The reform agenda proposed by Harper and Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, was crafted with the goal of reshaping the way Washington funds and delivers services. By reducing spending in current and future budgets while still fulfilling responsibilities to the citizens of Washington, the agenda supports short-term investments in areas which have the potential to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in savings.

“To make cuts that save money now but end up costing the state more in the long run is inefficient and wasteful,” Hargrove said. “Reforms are responsible, structural changes that deliver services to the public for less money. These bills fulfill a good portion of our goal of fundamentally changing the way our state does business.”

Bills in the reform agenda that have passed the Senate include:

• Accelerate cleanup of hazardous waste sites so that they can be developed and generate revenue. (SB 6211)
• Use a facial recognition matching system on applications for driver’s licenses, permits and identicards to reduce multiple identities, identity theft and fraud. (SB 6150)
• Require the state to write budgets that more consistently reflect expected revenues by requiring the state to balance the budget over a four-year period instead of the current two-year model. (SJR 8222)
• Make the Discover Pass transferable between two vehicles. (SB 5977)
• Address sexually violent predator civil commitment cases, moving responsibility to the Office of Public Defense. (SB 6493)
• Implement efficiencies in the management of the state's natural resources. (SB 6078)
• Make it easier to determine if a tax break is delivering its intended benefits or whether its purpose has vanished over time, and require a built-in sunset on any new tax break unless the Legislature votes to extend the exemption. (SB 6088)
• Establish a state Medicaid Fraud False Claims Act that creates civil liability for false or fraudulent claims against the state Medicaid program. (SB 5978)
• Require agencies to provide technical assistance and to work with small businesses on first-time regulation violations. (SB 6142)
• Act on studies that show close supervision, treatment and short-term punishment reduces crime more effectively than lengthy jail time, this bill reinvests money into treatment and supervision and saves the state more than $8 million in this budget. (SB 6204)
• Create an independent commission to break political gridlock and identify ways to make state government more streamlined and efficient. (SB 6345)
• Continue to support the Office of Regulatory Assistance in its efforts to help businesses and local jurisdictions better understand environmental permitting and government regulations. (SB 6359)
• Modify provisions for the Office of Regulatory Assistance regarding best permitting practices, methods for improving early communication with state agencies, and effective ways to assess and communicate project timelines and costs. (SB 6359)
• Ensure the state doesn’t count out-of-district, online students when deciding how much funding the state provides a school district for class room construction and other capital projects. (SB 6002)
• Authorize the use of sales and use tax proceeds for certain public facilities in innovation partnership zones for economic development. (SB 5401)
• Authorize community economic revitalization board funding to benefit innovation partnership zones. (SB 5404)
• Extend the authorization periods for subsidized child care. (SB 6226)
• Establish the Working Waterfront Redevelopment Jobs Act, creating a permit review and approval process for qualifying redevelopment and restoration projects located on or adjacent to certain marine shorelines. (SB 6170)
• Provide greater flexibility to allow local economic development organizations to take advantage of federal programs for stimulating job growth. (SB 6140)
• Improve timeliness, efficiency and accountability of forensic resource utilization associated with competency to stand trial. (SB 6492)
• Move forward a new evaluation process for teachers and principals that takes into account student performance and requires “unsatisfactory” personnel to improve, while providing professional development opportunities. (SB 5895)
• Recognize certain biomass energy facilities as eligible renewable resources to maintain jobs. (SB 5575)
• Provide for family assessments in cases involving child abuse or neglect. (SB 6555)
• Launch a pilot project to reduce state health care costs by allowing state employees to sign up for a direct patient-provider plan. (SB 6589)