Two bills in Olympia could make a big difference for high school and college students, and we're in the home stretch for both of them. Here's the news.

The first bill is called the Dream Act [HB 1817]. The Dream is an affordable college education for immigrant kids.

About 100,000 Washington residents attend college in-state each year. About 30,000 of them receive state "need" grants.

Another 1,000 students aren't U.S. citizens but can legally attend public schools, thanks to President Obama's action last summer.  These students entered the U.S. illegally as children, but can work, pay taxes and go to the schools they help pay for with those taxes. 

There's just one problem. Even while the cost of college goes up, these students aren't eligible for state aid. The Dream Act corrects this problem, and could dictate whether many of these students continue their education.

The Dream Act was introduced in the House by several representatives including Tacoma's David Sawyer [D-29] and Jake Fey [D-27]. It passed with strong bi-partisan support.

And it's dying in the Senate.

Senators Steve Conway [D-29] and Jeannie Darneille [D-27] helped sponsor the Senate version of the Dream Act, SB 5655. In the Senate, as in the House, it enjoys bi-partisan support. But ...

Senator Barbara Bailey [R-10, Olympia] chairs the Senate Higher Education Committee, which studies the Dream Act before it goes to the full Senate for a vote.

Senator Bailey won't let it out of committee. Why? Here's her reason. Higher education is already under-funded and there isn't enough money to go around as it is. So this is not a good time to expand the number of students eligible to compete for the money.

Sort of makes sense, if we ignore the inherent discrimination.

What doesn't make sense is the fact Senator Bailey and a few of her colleagues are sponsoring a bill to let state money go to students at Western Governors University, a nonprofit on-line school. If this bill passes, it would - yes indeed - expand the number of students eligible to compete for state financial aid.

This doesn't make sense, even if we ignore the inherent discrimination.

But hey, this kind of thinking may explain why Republicans are so popular with young people and Latinos.

Is there hope for the Dream Act? A little. One way it could succeed is if the Senate as a whole demands the chance to vote. This doesn't happen very often and would be embarrassing for Senator Bailey and the Majority Caucus Coalition. For these folks embarrassment is worse than STDs.

Another way it could succeed is if the House holds up the budget or another super-important bill, making the Dream Act a "go home" item. That means "nobody goes home until the Dream Act is passed." Since you can only have so much fun in Olympia, these threats often work.

OK, enough dreaming. The second bill we'll talk about establishes the Young Voter Registration Equality Act, known as YVREA. Can't say it? Hmmm. For those of you scoring at home this is SB 5270 and EHB 1279 (EHB stands for "Engrossed House Bill," meaning it passed the House). It was introduced in the House by Sawyer and Fey and Laurie Jinkins [D-27] among others; Tacoma's Jeannie Darneille is a Senate sponsor.

YVREA makes it possible for 16 and 17 year-olds to pre-register to vote when they apply for a driver's license. When these crazy kids turn 18 they're automatically registered voters and will receive campaign literature featuring candidates and the people who love them.

They can also vote. While not as much fun as reading campaign literature, voting is actually more important.

We pause for a brief message on the importance of voting. Marriage equality. Something more brief? Marijuana. Briefer still? Jeez. OK: Peace.

We now resume our regular programming.

Half the people 18-24 aren't registered to vote but almost 80 percent of these folks are licensed to drive. That's a big difference. Closing the gap could determine how sensitive government is to the needs of younger people.

And who could be against more inclusion of young people in our democracy? Really. Serious question. Who?

This bill too is bottled up in its Senate committee. Dead, actually. Toast. Until it isn't, which might take some of the same maneuvering we discussed earlier. Stay tuned. - Ken Miller

Ken Miller came to Tacoma as a community organizer in 1970. He's worked in corporate and small business, nonprofits and government.