Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1921-02-11
SESSION REACHES
HALFWAY STATION
-FOUR IMPORTANT MEASURES
WILL RECEIVE MAJOR
CONSIDERATION
SCHOOL CODE VITAL
Report of Industrial Relations COM
mission Incorporated In
Administrative Code

Four weeks have passed since the
session of the legislature convened.
Four weeks and four days remain
for work. During these four weeks
and four days the legislature will
discuss and pass, or reject, the bud
get, the common school administra-
tive code, the roads and bridges ap-
portionment bill and the new rev.
enue and taxation measure. These
are the most important matters re-
naming.
AS matters OF secondary import
ance can be cited the blue-sky law,
farm marketing act as urged by
the governor, primary election law
amendments, gasoline tax measure,
and new inheritance tax act. Be
sides these there remains a host of
bills which are remedial in nature
and should receive attention.
Appropriation Bills Come Last.
The four big problems. however,
will make the greatest demand upon
the remaining legislative time The
appropriations committees are al
ready deep in this problem just as
the roads and bridges committees is
now working out the road apportiOn-
ments for the coming two years.
These bills usually come in the last
thing. They will be late this year
both have been somewhat delayed
by the civil administrative code, un-
til this week, but the way Is now
cleared for them.
The administrative code for the
common schools will get it's first
legislative introduction next We'd
nesday evening when the House and
Senate meet in joint session for the
first public hearing of its kind ever
held in Olympia by any legislature.
At this hearing the code will be con-
sidered section by esction, with pro-
ponents and opponents ready to pre-
sent their arguments. The school
code promises to be as lengthy
argued and as keen as the civil adj
illustrative code was in the Senate.
| School Code Is Drastic.
The school code il said to be Just
as drastic in changing the present
system school affairs as the civil
administrative code. The same argu-
ments which were advanced on the
civil administrative code are being
advanced on the school code, namely,
economy and efficiency in admins
tration. While the code has been
introduced and printed and copies
are and have been available to the
members of the legislature for
many days, very few outside OF the
members Of the educational COM
mittee are conversant with its feat
ures, or know much about it.
The same thing might be said
about the revenue and taxation act
which will be introduced some time
during the present week. The bill
was the subject before a public
hearing in the Senate Monday even
ing.
The code presented through the
report of the industrial relations
commission has been Incorporated
in the new civil administrative code
and will become law when the
governor attached his signature.
While the civil code features have
eliminated some of those incorpo-
rated in the industrial relation code.
the sections in the civil code cover
ing the director of labor and indus
try are: for the most part, copied
directly from the industrial relation
code This eliminates the industrial
code from any further consideration
as bill.
Fewer Bills Than Usual.
From the standpoint OF legislation
there have been fewer bills intro
duced so far this year than for sew
eral previous sessions. At the same
time fewer bills during these first
four weeks have passed both houses
than at previous sessions.
The House is more inclined to
pass bills than the. Senate. There
than in the Senate, but at the same
time the Senate has been giving the
House measures more consideration
than the House has been giving.
Only few bills have reached the
governor, outside OF the two legisla-
tive apportionment measures.
A tendency noticeab BILE earlier in
the session to inject partisan poll
teal feeling into pending legislation
has disappeared. The passage of the
administrative code which was
marked with more or less PARTISAN
shin has ia ken with II this fainf