OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Lawmakers started the session promising to make education and health care top priorities - and they have - but they've also had to deal with attention-grabbing issues such as a proposal for a NASCAR racetrack, a new arena for the Seattle SuperSonics and what to do with the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

At the halfway mark of the session, many bills are still working their way through the system while others have died. Capitol veterans cautiously warn that nothing is ever really dead while the Legislature is in town, but many measures that fail to make the cut by March 14 will disappear for good.

"As far as I know, everything, all of the major pieces of legislation we are tracking, is moving along just fine," said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. "We're still on track with our major agenda - health care, education, passing a 'rainy day' fund. We're still sticking to basics."

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, sounded equally optimistic.

"All of our caucus priorities are absolutely progressing through the process," she said Wednesday. "So far all the ships are heading the right direction and we hope to reach the dock right on time."

With majorities in the House and Senate, the Democrats are pushing through their agenda with force. Republicans say it's too expensive, expands government and that many of their concerns are being ignored.

"It's no surprise that when you have one-party rule, that sometimes the minority voice gets lost in the shuffle," House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt of Chehalis said. "I think that's happening this year."

Education has taken the forefront. A lawsuit filed by a coalition of teachers, parents, community groups and school districts in January accusing the state of failing to live up to the constitution - which defines education as the state's paramount duty - is pending.

Lawmakers are trying to do more and bills including significant budget enhancements, day-long kindergarten for more children, more college enrollment slots and measures dealing with the high-stakes Washington Assessment of Student Learning are moving along, Kessler said.

"Math and science is the big focus this year," Kessler said. "As a result of having some extra money, we're able to address some of these problems."

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education has already released recommendations for $1.3 billion in new education spending. Overall, the plan earmarks $17.4 billion for the full array of education programs, compared with $14.5 billion currently.

But Republicans say new programs and more money won't solve the state's education problems.

"I'm really worried that we're not tackling the issue that are in front of us, that we're just creating new programs," DeBolt said.

Another concern is the WASL test. As state law stands, students in the class of 2008 are required to pass the math, writing and reading sections of the statewide test to graduate from high school.

Only 58 percent of the class has passed all three sections of the 10th grade WASL. Lawmakers are tossing around various measures on what to do. The governor supports delaying the math and science requirement, but House and Senate education committees have both approved measures that go farther.

The House bill would allow students who don't pass the WASL to earn a a "certificate of individual achievement" and still graduate. The Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education has approved a bill that would delay the math WASL graduation requirement for two years and establish many more alternatives for passing the reading and writing sections of the test.

The main event of the second half of the session will be crafting a new two-year, $30 billion state budget. The governor's draft, released in December, has drawn generally high marks from fellow Democrats in the House and Senate. Gov. Chris Gregoire proposes spending about $1.3 billion of a projected surplus of $1.9 billion, with education and health care the biggest winners. Majority House Democrats plan to release their budget proposal on March 19, shortly after a new revenue forecast is released. Full House approval is expected that week, and the Senate will quickly respond with its own version. Negotiators will then resolve differences.

The Senate has approved Gregoire's proposal for a constitutional amendment to create a "rainy day" fund where regular contributions from the treasury would accumulate to over $1 billion, to be tapped during down times. The measure awaits action in the House.

Health care has also been a prominent issue this session. Measures based on Gregoire's Blue Ribbon Commission are working their way through the system but it's unclear how extensive they will be.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, which included the goal of having all Washington residents covered by 2012, has been watered down after it was criticized by insurers and business groups.

The new bill, which has support of Republicans, would still require some people and businesses to buy their health coverage through a state pool system.

Currently, almost 600,000 of Washington's 6.5 million residents, including 73,000 children, have no health insurance and others are underinsured.

The Senate has already passed a bill that would provide coverage to 38,000 more children in the next two years. House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, has said the House version of the bill would be fast-tracked and Gregoire is expected to sign the bill into law.

After the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage in a 5-4 decision last July, the state's five openly gay lawmakers called for the right for same-sex couples to get married but pursued the more immediately attainable goal of seeking domestic partnership rights.

The state Senate has already approved domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. The bill would provide enhanced rights for same-sex couples, including hospital visitation, the ability to authorize autopsies and organ donations, and inheritance rights when there is no will.

To be registered, couples would have to share a home, not be married or in a domestic relationship with someone else, and be at least 18.

Similar to California law, unmarried, heterosexual senior couples would also be eligible for domestic partnerships, if one partner were at least 62.

The House is expected to pass the measure and Gregoire is also expected to sign it into law.

Environmental issues also took the foreground, and early on the House passed a measure that would phase out the use of some fireproofing chemicals in televisions, computers and upholstered furniture as long as safer alternatives are available. The measure, which is supported by Gregoire and the state Department of Ecology, awaits action in the Senate.

Senate Democrats are also pushing a bill that sets goals for dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state in the coming decades. The bill has passed a Senate committee and is awaiting a floor vote.

Lawmakers also will be producing construction and transportation budgets. The largest construction spending will be for new schools and college buildings. The transportation package will deal with cost overruns already projected for last year's 16-year project list.

The session has been interrupted by attention-grabbing issues, such as what to do to replace the quake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. Seattle voters are casting ballots by March 13 on a rebuild option and a tunnel. The governor and legislative leaders say the $2.8 billion rebuild is the only option that makes sense. Lawmakers also are looking for financing for a new Highway 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington.

Bills that would help finance a NASCAR track in the state and a Sonics arena in Renton do not have the support of many lawmakers. But those issues have received a lot of attention, with NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip and current driver Greg Biffle and NBA legends Bill Russell and Lenny Wilkens coming to lobby for the projects.