RepWatch | The Tax Code and the Tuesday Group

April 29--Every day is like Tuesday: While President Donald Trump tried to negotiate last week with the conservative Republican Freedom Caucus to pass a second repeal of Obamacare (spoilers: It went nowhere), he kept losing moderates -- like the Tuesday Group, a looser caucus of moderate GOP congressfolk that includes 8th District Rep. Dave Reichert. While the Issaquah Republican has characterized himself as open to revising the Affordable Care Act, recalcitrant Tuesday Group legislators have kept Speaker Paul Ryan from accumulating enough votes to even introduce the measure.

The Tuesday Group has existed in various forms since the 1980s; in its current incarnation, members include Reichert and fellow Washington Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler and Cathy McMorris Rogers -- the latter an influential Trump supporter during the campaign and now the fourth-ranking Republican in the House. Like those two, Reichert's campaign collected $10,000 from the Tuesday Group's political action committee in the 2016 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Reichert has never stated how he might have voted on the American Health Care Act, Ryan and Trump's proposed repeal-and-replace measure that was withdrawn from a House vote in March. In a statement Wednesday, he noncommittally addressed Trump's one-page proposal to revise the U.S. tax code, calling the current code "messy" and "complex."

"We have been hard at work in the Ways and Means Committee to create a tax code that better serves the American people, and I look forward to continuing that work with the Administration and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle," Reichert's statement said in part.

Reichert is seeking to moderate Trump's agenda in other ways too, working with reps of both parties asking the president to reject new offshore drilling exploration in the Atlantic and Pacific Outer Continental Shelf. In a statement Friday, Reichert called for more research into energy alternatives, and offshore drilling "moves America in the wrong direction and could lead to policies that create long-lasting harm to the Pacific Ocean and Washington's shorelines."

Waiting for the bottom line: While state House and Senate representatives work overtime to hammer out a budget, no non-budget bills can come up for a vote in the Legislature. This 30-day special session is outside the Legislature's normal calendar, meaning last week's negotiations mostly took place out of sight. That gives us leeway to glance back at bills settled the prior week, before the April 23 end of session came and went. WashingtonVotes.org reports that five noteworthy bits of legislation passed one or both houses last week, with NCW legislators sometimes differing in their votes. For instance ...

* 12th District House Reps. Cary Condotta and Mike Steele voted against Senate Bill 5289, further limiting Washington drivers on how they may use electronic devices while behind the wheel. The bill, permitting only "minimal use of a finger to activate, deactivate, or initiate a function of a personal electronic device while driving," nonetheless passed the house April 19 by 61-36. Meanwhile, in the Senate, Sen. Brad Hawkins voted with the 39-10 majority to pass the bill on to Gov. Jay Inslee. It had yet to be signed Friday.

* After Congress voted to allow Internet service providers to collect and sell customers' Web-browsing information, Condotta and Steele both went to bat for House Bill 2200, a state measure that would require ISPs to get customer consent for the practice in the state of Washington. The House voted April 19 to send the bill to the Senate, 87-10. There it remains until regular bill action can resume.

* The state's REAL ID measure passed both houses April 20, heading to Inslee's desk. A 2005 federal act requires states to issue enhanced driver's licenses and identity cards with special security features, usable as valid federal ID to board domestic flights. Washington offers an enhanced card, at an enhanced price of $108 compared to $54 for a standard license. No enhanced card? Starting in July 2018, you'll need a passport to get on board. The bill creates a two-tier system, leaving the standard license in place but marking it as invalid for federal ID purposes, and lowering the price for an enhanced card to $78. Condotta voted against the compromise, while Steele voted for it. Once it passed the House 55-41, Hawkins added his name to the Senate's 36-13 majority in favor.

* A driver's fourth DUI offense would become a felony under Senate Bill 5037, which Condotta and Steele both agreed to in an April 20 vote. Right now DUI becomes a felony upon a motorist's fifth arrest. The House voted to toughen the law 85-11. Hawkins previously voted with the Senate majority 41-0 when the matter came up in February. The bill awaits Inslee's signature.

* NCW voters will be pleased to note that none of their 12th District legislators missed a vote this session, according to WashingtonVotes. Condotta, Steele and Hawkins all went on record for every matter brought to the floor, as did Wauconda Rep. Joel Kretz. The biggest offenders? Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D-Seattle) missed 52 votes; Rep. Michelle Caldier (R-Port Orchard) was absent for 62 votes; Rep. Norma Smith (R-Clinton) wasn't heard from on 66 votes; and Rep. Jay Rodne (R-North Bend), who once wrote on Facebook that "Islam is incompatible with western civilization!" and urged Americans to "arm yourselves!!!!!," missed a confounding 96 votes, perhaps due to being kidnapped by ISIS.

Reach Jefferson Robbins at 509-664-7123 or robbins@wenatcheeworld.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRobbinsWW. Contact him securely by PGP key.

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