Wash. Lawmakers Push Reforms As Budget Looms - Spokane, North Idaho News & Weather KHQ.com

Wash. Lawmakers Push Reforms As Budget Looms

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OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - With the Washington state Legislature having passed a key deadline for advancing non-budgetary bills, some prominent measures are still in play while others appear to be dead. 

Among those surviving the Wednesday cutoff are a package of business friendly changes to workers' compensation rules, a bill to require most insurers to pay for abortions and one creating a firearms offender registry accessible by law enforcement. 

Those that didn't make the cut include a high-profile bill to mandate universal background checks for all gun purchases, a measure to allow small businesses to pay some workers a temporary training wage and a proposal to require minors seeking an abortion to first notify a parent.

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