Survivor, Olympia style.

It's that time of the legislative session that bills start being declared dead because of committee action or the lack thereof. Worthy ideas like marijuana legalization and horrible notions like stomping on state workers' right to collective bargaining are biting the dust. Some of the good stuff does get through to the next level though. Publicola reports…

...Sen. Sharon Nelson’s (D-34, Maury Island) legislation to require paid signature gatherers to register with the state and to raise the filing fee for initiatives made it out of the Senate Committee on Government Operations and Tribal Relations & Elections last week.

Also making the cut and moving along to the Rules Committee are a couple of my own personal State Senator's better ideas, SB 5306, which authorizes tribal governments in Washington to certify mental health counselors for their agencies, and SB 5362, authorizing utilities to solicit charitable contributions to assist their low-income customers.

Another of Senator Chase's bills, SB 5174, which encourages instruction in the history of civil rights, passed the full Senate 47-0 just yesterday.

We do win some. We've still got some work to do.