WA lawmakers argue for more transparency in utility bills

gas pump in car

Republican lawmakers say the new cap and trade system is leading to higher prices at the pump, like this one in Englewood, Colo., shown in a July 2023 photo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Washington lawmakers are considering a proposal to require gas and electric utilities to tell customers if they are passing along pollution auction costs to their consumers. 

The Washington Senate Energy & Environment Committee held a public hearing Wednesday on Senate Bill 5826, in response to a debate about whether utility customers should see cap-and-invest program expenses on their invoices. 

Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, proposed the bill after the state Attorney General’s Office told the Washington Utilities & Transportation Commission that more discussion was needed before mandating that cap-and-invest costs be listed on consumer utility bills. Critics of the state’s new carbon pricing system have accused the Attorney General’s Office of deliberately hiding those costs.

In a July 3, 2023, letter to the utilities commission, the Attorney General’s Office argued “If all program-specific charges were included as line items, customer bills would quickly become incomprehensible.” The office called for a more public discussion before including the information on bills.

“What’s the fear in being transparent?” MacEwen said after Wednesday’s hearing. Attorney General Bob Ferguson enforces transparency “when it is convenient and not when it criticizes the administration.”

Brionna Aho, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s office, responded with an emailed statement: “This was a public comment calling for more discussion. We are not aware of any allegation of unlawful conduct by any party. If Sen. McEwen would like to tell us who he thinks broke the law, we can look into it. He has not done so.” 

The state’s cap-and-invest program — in which oil companies and other polluting businesses and utilities bid on state allowances for their carbon emissions — has been connected by some to increased gas prices at the pump, because they believe oil companies are passing their auction costs along. 

“People need to know what the charges are,” Todd Myers, environment policy director for the think tank Washington Policy Center, told the Senate committee on Wednesday.

Puget Sound Energy, the Association of Washington Business, the Northwest Gas Association and Pullman-based Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories echoed that point of view.

Committee chairman Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, and Sen. Yasmine Trudeau, D-Tacoma, said utility costs and prices are difficult to separate into components and pin down because of the economic complexities of the power and fuel industries.

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King County Executive Dow Constantine won't run for reelection

A person speaks in front of a crowd

King County Executive Dow Constantine speaks before the opening of Sound Transit’s 2 Line light rail service in Bellevue, Wash. on Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Jason Redmond for Cascade PBS)

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced this week that he will not run for reelection next year after 15 years in the county’s top job.

Constantine was elected to the position in 2009 after defeating Susan Hutchison. The seat had been vacated earlier that year by Ron Sims, who had left with 11 months left on his term to serve as deputy secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. (Kurt Triplett, who finished Sims’ term, did not run for election.) Constantine decisively won reelection three times. Prior to being county executive, Constantine served on the county council and was in the state Legislature as a representative and a state senator.

Constantine, who grew up in West Seattle and still lives there, chairs the Sound Transit Board and serves on the Puget Sound Regional Council, the Mountains to Sound Greenway board and others.

King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, a former Bellevue city councilmember who has been on the King County Council since 2015, launched a campaign to run for county executive after Constantine's announcement. The Seattle Times reported that King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay was “seriously considering” running for the position.

The position is nonpartisan.

Seattle University researchers are seeking public input for the 10th annual Seattle Public Safety Survey.   

The survey asks people who live or work in Seattle to go to publicsafetysurvey.org and share their perceptions of crime and safety citywide and within their own neighborhoods.  

The survey will be open until Nov. 30. It is available in Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Korean, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya and Vietnamese. 

Seattle University’s Department of Criminal Justice, Criminology and Forensics leads the data collection and analysis, which is then provided to Seattle’s police department.  

“No neighborhood in Seattle is alike when it comes to crime and public safety,” said Dr. Jacqueline Helfgott, director of the school's Crime & Justice Research Center in a press release. “Data from the annual Seattle Public Safety Survey provides important information for the city to help the Seattle Police Department and the community work together to identify priorities and strategies to improve quality of life in Seattle neighborhoods.”  

Last year’s survey found people’s top five public safety concerns were traffic safety, police capacity, property crime, homelessness and community capacity. Concerns about “community capacity” include issues with wait times to speak to emergency dispatchers, insufficient resources for people experiencing public mental health crises and a lack of block watches.   

The Washington State Legislature has a new Senate Majority Leader after Senate Democrats elected Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, to the position on Monday.

Democrats retain a majority in the state Senate after this year’s general election.

After Monday’s vote, Washington is now the first state in the country to have two legislative leadership roles filled simultaneously by lawmakers who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. In the state House, Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, has served as the first woman and lesbian in the position since 2020.

Pedersen has been a lawmaker since 2007 when he took office as a state Representative. In 2012 he was elected to the Senate and currently sits on the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee, the Senate Law and Justice Committee, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Since 2012 he has served as the Senate Majority Floor Leader.

In a news release Monday, Pedersen said he was humbled to lead the Senate and is eager to build on bipartisan progress.

“We are excited to see our majority grow,” Pedersen said. “I am confident this new energy and passion will help Senate Democrats continue to put people first and tackle the issues Washingtonians care about most – affordable housing, great public schools, behavioral health, gun violence prevention, climate change and more.”

Pedersen has sponsored legislation to reduce gun violence and increase access to the Death with Dignity Act, and publicly sponsored the measure to legalize the sale of cannabis in Washington as well as legalize same-sex marriage. 

Pedersen will take the place of Sen. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, who announced earlier this year that he would retire after 14 years in the Legislature. The legislative session begins Jan. 13. 

Currently Pedersen is the executive vice president and general counsel for McKinstry, and lives with his husband Eric and four sons on Capitol Hill.

Everett voters appear to be on track to approve a new minimum wage of $20.24 per hour, nearly four dollars higher than the state minimum wage.  

Initiative 24-01 was passing with 58% of the vote Tuesday night. If it succeeds, large employers in Everett with over 500 employees will begin paying the $20.24 minimum wage beginning July 1, 2025. For companies with 15-500 employees, the minimum wage will be phased in, beginning at $18.24 on July 1 and reaching the same rate paid by large employers by 2027, which will be adjusted annually for inflation.

The measure does not apply to businesses with fewer than 15 employees.  

Supporters of the Everett Deserves a Raise campaign argued the higher wage is necessary to offset rising costs of rent, groceries, gas and other life expenses that are contributing to residents getting displaced from the city. The measure was backed by unions including UFCW 3000, the Snohomish & Island County Labor Council and the Public School Employees of Washington.  

Everett voters were tasked with choosing between two similar and competing minimum wage measures this election. Initiative 24-02, known as Raise the Wage Responsibly, also would have increased the minimum wage to $20.24 over time, but allowed businesses to count tips, health care and retirement contributions toward a worker’s minimum wage.  

The backers of this alternative measure, including the Washington Hospitality Association, argued the tipped wage credit and other exceptions would allow higher pay for workers without hurting businesses also feeling the impact of inflation.  

Initiative 24-02 was losing by 59% after the first ballot count Tuesday night. Had both measures passed, the one with more Yes votes would have superseded the other, according to the Everett Herald.  

Tipped wage credits were a flashpoint issue in Seattle recently. As part of its decade-long phase-in of its highest-in-the-nation minimum wage law in 2015, Seattle allowed businesses like restaurants and coffee shops to count tips toward workers’ minimum wage.  

That exemption is set to expire at the start of 2025. Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth introduced a bill in late July to keep the tipped wage credit in place in response to restaurant and other business owners’ concerns about the ongoing economic impact of the pandemic. Hollingsworth withdrew her bill one week later after facing swift blowback from labor leaders and workers.  

In 2022, Tukwila voters approved a measure to raise the minimum wage — now $20.29 an hour for large employers. Renton voters approved a measure in February 2024 to match neighboring Tukwila’s new wage. Everett would join these cities as having among the highest minimum wages in the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

This article was updated to clarify how Everett's minimum wage would be phased in for medium-sized employers. 

Michael Baumgartner takes early lead in WA 5th Congressional race

Republican Michael Baumgartner (right) leads against Democrat Carmela Conroy (left) after initial results dropped Tuesday night. 

Republican Michael Baumgartner (right) leads against Democrat Carmela Conroy (left) after initial results dropped Tuesday night. 

Republican Michael Baumgartner appears to have defeated Democrat Carmela Conroy in the race for Eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District. 

Baumgartner had 60% of the vote after Tuesday night’s initial ballot count. Conroy was trailing with 40%. 

Baumgartner is a familiar face in Spokane politics. He was a state senator from 2010 to 2019, and currently serves as Spokane County treasurer. Before entering politics, he worked as an economics officer for the U.S. State Department in Iraq and a civilian contractor in Afghanistan. 

Conroy spent 24 years as a foreign service officer and diplomat with the U.S. State Department. She has also worked as a deputy prosecutor in Spokane County and recently chaired the Spokane County Democratic party. 

The 5th District covers the easternmost part of Washington. Much of the district is agricultural, but it also includes major cities like Spokane, Pullman and Walla Walla. U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, has represented the district since 2004. In February, she unexpectedly announced that she would not seek reelection. Baumgartner got 28.5% of the vote in a 11-person primary, one of the most crowded races in Washington this year. 

On the campaign trail, Conroy and Baumgartner were split along party lines on most issues. Baumgartner listed securing the southern border as a top priority, while Conroy emphasized her support for abortion rights. 

Republicans have historically held a large advantage in the 5th District. The last Democrat to hold the seat was Tom Foley, who served as Speaker of the House and was defeated by Republican George Nethercutt in 1994. 

Kamala Harris takes Washington’s 12 electoral votes

a ballot drop box

A ballot drop box on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, one week before the November 5 election. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

Vice President Kamala Harris has likely captured Washington’s 12 electoral votes in the presidential election, but the results nationwide are not yet known.

After the first vote count in Washington on Tuesday, Harris and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz had 59% of the Washington vote, followed by 39% for former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, and other candidates took less than 1% of the vote.

For the latest updates on the presidential contest, visit PBS Newshour online or on live television.

Washington voters have chosen the Democratic nominee for president each election since 1988, but for the four presidential elections before that, Washington picked the Republican nominee. In the 2020 election, Washington voters chose President Joe Biden over Trump by a 58% to 39% margin.

Although in the Western half of the United States, only California and Texas have more electoral votes than Washington, presidential candidates do not usually spend much time campaigning here because the state has become such a reliable vote for the Democratic nominee.

But over the state’s 135-year history, the presidential vote has regularly gone back and forth between the Republican and Democratic parties; and once, in 1912, Washington voters chose the Progressive Party candidate for president.

Senate: Maria Cantwell takes lead against challenger Raul Garcia

Sen. Cantwell on election night

Incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington greets the crowd after a clear victory on election night at the Seattle Convention Center. (Grant Hindsley for Cascade PBS)

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell appears headed toward reelection with 60% of the votes tallied in the first statewide ballot drop Tuesday. 

Her GOP challenger, Dr. Raul Garcia, was trailing with 40% as of Tuesday evening. Votes will continue to be counted over the following days. 

Cantwell, 65, lives in Edmonds and has served as a senator for more than 20 years. She moved to Washington in 1983 and served three terms in the state House from 1986 to 1992. Cantwell then was elected to the U.S. House in 1992, but lost her reelection campaign in 1994. She took down Republican U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton in 2000 and has held the Senate seat since. 

She chairs the Senate Commerce, Science & Technology Committee, where one of her accomplishments was sponsoring the CHIPS & Science Act, which allocated nearly $250 billion over five years for technology research and manufacturing. This included four semiconductor projects in the Pacific Northwest, creating an estimated 2,880 jobs. 

Her campaign has spent nearly $3.6 million, compared to Garcia’s campaign spending of $617,000, according to federal campaign disclosure records. 

Yakima physician Raul Garcia has worked as an emergency room doctor for more than 25 years, and has described himself as a Cuban immigrant who fought for the American Dream. He dropped his bid for governor and instead chose to run for U.S. Senate early in the election cycle. Previously, he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2020, losing in the primary. Garcia calls himself a moderate conservative, and says he takes a “common sense” approach to policy issues. 

Gov. Inslee approves plans for WA’s largest wind turbine farm

About a dozen wind turbines are on a hill; an empty road is in the foreground.

Wind turbines on a hill near Ellensburg, Wash., November 19, 2022. Washington’s electricity needs are expected to double by 2050. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

Gov. Jay Inslee has approved a revised plan to populate the Horse Heaven Hills south of Kennewick with the largest wind turbine farm in Washington. 

His approval leaves intact more than three-quarters of the originally requested number of turbines. While Inslee gave his approval on Oct. 18, his office and the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council confirmed that approval to Cascade PBS on Friday. 

This Horse Heaven Hills project has aroused the most contentious disagreement among several clean energy projects in Washington. The proposed turbine farm has drawn scrutiny for its possible impact on Native cultural sites and on wildlife in the area, as well as its visibility from the Tri-Cities. Tri-Citians have also questioned the effects of the wind farm on ferruginous hawk nests.

In September the Site Evaluation Council voted 4 to 3 to approve the recommendation. Opponents of the project have until Dec. 17 to appeal the decision to the state’s courts.

Inslee has been pushing new wind turbine projects and solar panel farms to be located across the state as part of his campaign to trim the state’s carbon emissions. In an Oct. 18 letter posted to the Council’s website last week, Inslee said that the Council had adequately addressed the environmental, cultural and community impacts of the project. But the letter also had an undercurrent of impatience over the delay, since the Horse Heaven Hills project took most of this year to be approved.

“We will not meet our state’s urgent clean energy needs if the path to a final recommendation from the Council spans multiple years and contains conditional micrositing process requirements that further prolong final siting approval for a significant portion of the primary project components,” Inslee wrote. “I strongly encourage the Council to identify opportunities to increase its efficiency and provide for more timely decision-making. You can expect my office to engage with you on this critical issue before the end of my administration.”

The original plans by Scout Clean Energy of Boulder, Colorado, called for either a maximum of 147 670-foot-tall wind turbines or 222 500-foot turbines along a 24-mile east/west stretch of the Horse Heaven Hills, producing a projected 1,150 megawatts of wind power. The plans also called for two 500-megawatt solar panel farms on the east and west sides of the 24-mile stretch.

After some back-and-forth between the Council and Inslee’s office, the council set a 0.6-mile buffer around 60 to 70 ferruginous hawk nests, a 0.25-mile buffer around historic Native American fire sites and a one-mile buffer alongside Webber Canyon, another culturally sensitive spot for Indigenous nations. The Council ordered that the eastern solar farm be removed from the plan because of its proximity to sensitive Native cultural sites.

If 500-foot turbines are installed, that would trim the number of turbines by approximately 50, from 222 to roughly 172. If 670-foot turbines are installed, that would cut the number of turbines by approximately 34, from 147 to roughly 113. More precise figures will be calculated later.

The Washington State Republican Party owes $5,000 in fines after Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission, a campaign watchdog for the state, found the committee to be in violation of state campaign laws in 2023 and 2024. 

The fines are related to four campaign finance and political advertising violations, the PDC said in a statement Tuesday, and administrative charges were filed by PDC staff earlier this month. 

PDC staff allege that the state party illegally contributed to the political action committee Let’s Go Washington by transferring $100,000 from the Republican committee’s exempt fund for unallowed activities. The PDC noted that exempt accounts can only be used for limited purposes and can not be used for direct contributions to other campaigns. 

Let’s Go Washington is the sponsor behind the four initiatives included on the general election ballot this year that seek to overturn Democrat-backed programs such as the state’s cap-and-trade program, the capital gains tax and the long-term care program.

The state Republicans were also fined for depositing $106,500 in anonymous contributions on Sept. 17 and failing to disclose the source of those contributions. The state party then amended the disclosure report to reveal contributors a few days before the PDC hearing on Oct. 24

According to the disclosure commission, political committees cannot hide sources of contributions as “anonymous” if they know the source. Campaigns and committees cannot accept more than $500, or 1% of total contributions in a year, from anonymous sources, the PDC added.

The PDC also alleged that the Republican committee failed to include sponsor identification in a 2023 campaign text, then failed to submit expenditure reports for the texts on time. The state party was 87 days late submitting the reports, which was also 80 days after the 2023 general election.

Committees and campaigns are required to include sponsor identification in such text messages.

The Republican Party has 10 days to ask the commission for a reconsideration, and up to 30 days to appeal to a Superior Court. Additionally, $1,000 of their fine can be suspended if the state Republican Party meets conditions laid out by the PDC, including transferring $100,000 from the non-exempt fund to cover the cost of the illegal expenditure from the exempt fund.

In a statement to Cascade PBS from GOP Chairman Jim Walsh, he said that the party always cooperates with the PDC and supports transparency at all levels regarding campaign finance laws, but said that recently he believed the PDC has reached some “hasty conclusions about a grab-bag of minor WAGOP projects.”

“The timing of these hasty conclusions is worth noting—right around the general election,” Walsh said. “The WAGOP will consider all options in responding to the PDC’s conclusions, as allowed by law and tradition. But there’s no need to match haste with haste. For the next few days, the WAGOP is focused on winning elections.”

Update 3:45 p.m. October 30, 2024: This article has been updated with a statement from Washington GOP Chairman Jim Walsh.

Whitman County searching for about 250 missing election ballots

The state capitol building

The Washington Capitol building in Olympia in a January 2024 photo. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Whitman County is investigating how hundreds of election ballots went missing somewhere between the printing plant and voters’ homes.

County Auditor Sandra D. Jamison said she has verified that all the ballots were processed out of the Spokane printing plant on Oct. 16 and were scanned by the U.S. Postal Service into their system. But they do not know yet what happened to the roughly 250 ballots after that.

Jamison said she is working directly with postal officials in Washington to retrace the next distribution steps in hopes of finding out what happened.

“I certainly understand how frustrating it is for those of you who have not yet received a ballot,” she said in a letter to voters and the media. 

The Whitman County elections staff is asking voters to call their office at 509-397-5284 if they did not receive a ballot, and another one will be issued to them. Any voter in any county who is missing their ballot may also print a replacement by signing in to vote.wa.gov.

“Rest assured that I am diligently investigating this matter. My goal is to make sure that every Whitman County registered voter receives a ballot and has the opportunity to participate in this election,” Jamison wrote.