Gov. Jay Inslee’s final budget proposal includes new wealth tax

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, announced on Thursday that she will not seek reelection in Washington’s 5th District after 20 years in the seat.

McMorris Rodgers said in a statement that the time has come for her to find new ways to serve the people of Eastern Washington.

“After much prayer and reflection I’ve decided the time has come to serve them in new ways. I will not be running for re-election to the People's House,” she said in a statement released on Thursday.

McMorris Rodgers is one of two Republicans among Washington’s 10 delegates in the House of Representatives. She represents Washington’s 5th Congressional District, which covers 16,053 square miles in the easternmost part of the state, spanning from Canada to Idaho and Oregon.

She was the sole no-vote in Washington’s Congressional delegation to impeach former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection. The state’s other two Republican representatives at the time voted to impeach.

McMorris Rodgers was elected to her position in Congress in 2004, most recently serving as Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She formerly was chair of the House Republican Conference from 2012 to 2018.

So far, three Democrats have started to raise money to run for the 5th District seat, according to the Federal Election Commission: Ann Marie Danimus, who has run for the seat before; Carmela Conroy, a former U.S. diplomat; and Bernadine Bank, a physician.

Late last year, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, announced that he would not run for reelection. His seat has attracted several candidates.

In prison, a can of paint or a patch of grass can make a difference to everyone inside. That’s what Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale, the prime sponsor of a bill to create a healthier prison environment, says she’s learned. 

House Bill 2169 would create a four-year pilot program at the Washington State Penitentiary East Complex in Walla Walla, aimed at improving the prison environment for inmates and officers alike through planting and painting projects and emphasizing communication between inmates and staff.

Mosbrucker aims to improve the health of prison staff as well as cut the inmate recidivism rate.

In a visit to a correctional facility, Mosbrucker recalled being struck by an inmate’s response when asked what they planned to do upon release.  

“It was so interesting because he said ‘I’m gonna go find grass … I just want to take my shoes off and stand on something that’s not concrete, because I’ve only stood on concrete for 40 years,’” Mosbrucker said. “How hard is it to plant a little square of grass?”

If successful, aspects of the pilot program could be expanded to other Washington prisons. 

Mosbrucker says many aspects of the bill came from her experience visiting Norway prisons in September 2023 on a trip with Amend, a public health and human rights program run out of the University of California San Francisco. Amend implemented a similar pilot project at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center.  

To boost communication and build stronger relationships, contact officers would be selected to act as mentors and coaches for inmates. Officers would also be trained on dynamic security tactics that emphasize building strong relationships to promote safety. 

The program would also implement decompression rooms for officers who face high-stress work environments. Mosbrucker said a primary reason for this legislation was to address the low life expectancy of corrections officers. Nationally, corrections officers live an average of 59 years, 16 years less than non-corrections workers, due to workplace stress. 

“That was my genesis and my drive to go figure out how to get that number higher,” Mosbrucker said. 

Mosbrucker also hopes the program will lower Washington’s recidivism rate, estimated to be around 30.7% in a three-year period. 

“Over 90% are gonna get out, so when you come from a dark locked cell for four years and then we say ‘Okay, now go out and make sure you be good,’” Mosbrucker said. “I think we can do better.” 

House Bill 2169 has passed out of the House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee and has been referred to Appropriations. 

Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order Tuesday to establish guidelines on how state agencies deal with generative artificial intelligence.

WaTech, the agency operating the state’s technology, will lead other agencies in developing guidelines over the next year. “It’s our duty to the public to be thorough and thoughtful in how we adopt these powerful new tools,” Inslee said in a news release.

Inslee’s executive order mirrors the issues discussed in two legislative bills and a House declaration on generative AI, the type of artificial intelligence that is creative, generating pictures or writing articles. 

The Washington House is awaiting a floor vote on a declaration by Rep. Kristine Reeves, D-Federal Way, that would set up a “Bill of Rights” on AI issues.

Meanwhile, Rep. Travis Couture  R-Allyn, and Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, have introduced parallel bills in the House and Senate calling for the creation of a 42-person study task force to begin meeting this year to come up with recommendations on how the Legislature and state government should address AI issues. The task force’s preliminary recommendations would be due to the governor’s office and to the Legislature by Dec.1, 2025, with a final report by June 1, 2027.

Nguyen’s bill is in the Senate Ways & Means Committee. Couture’s bill was due to be moved out of the house Consumer Protection & Business Committee Wednesday.

In the Inslee news release, Nick Stowe, the state’s chief technology officer, said generative AI could also provide state agencies opportunities for language translation, code generation and contract management. 

The governor’s announcement also noted some pitfalls to using generative AI – including bias in programs and the impact on vulnerable communities, as well as the impact on people’s health, safety and rights – and called for addressing those concerns by the end of 2024.

The news release listed areas of concern into AI use for biometric identification, critical infrastructure, employment, health care, law enforcement and the administration of democratic processes.

King County is in the middle of an election, but registered voters will not be receiving a ballot in the mail. 

To vote for the King Conservation District Board of Supervisors Election, people need to go online to KingCD.org/VOTE, or use their mobile phone to scan the card they received in the mail. 

The King Conservation District has a five-member board that sets water, land and wildlife conservation policy. Voting for board seat No. 1 is open through Feb. 13. All registered voters in King County, except those who live in Enumclaw, Federal Way, Milton, Pacific and Skykomish, are eligible to vote in this election.

Three people are seeking your vote: Brittney Bush Bollay, the board’s current vice chair; Aaron Ellig, a biologist who works for Sound Transit; and Erik Goheen, a farmer who owns and operates a small farm in Redmond.

The conservation district distributes money for projects around the region, plants native trees and shrubs and does fire prevention work, among other responsibilities.

The Washington State Senate has approved a bill – for the second year in a row – to give local governments a new taxing authority to support their affordable housing and homeless service efforts. 

Senate Bill 5334 also passed the Senate in 2023, but the session ended before the House and Senate could work out compromise language.

The proposal would allow counties and cities to adopt an excise tax on the sale of lodging or short-term rentals. The revenue generated could be used to pay for various programs, including homeless assistance, temporary shelters and affordable housing. Local governments, however, could exempt seniors or people on a fixed income who operate a short-term rental. 

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Liz Lovelett, D-Anacortes, passed the Senate primarily along party lines. However, Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, voted in favor with Democratic senators, while Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, voted against the bill with Republican senators. The bill now moves to the state House for consideration. 

Increasing affordable housing continues to be a top priority for lawmakers and Gov. Jay Inslee, with various proposals this session from legislators on both sides of the aisle. In a recent Elway poll, Democratic voters in Washington strongly supported spending more on housing, while most Republicans were against the idea.

Short-term rentals have been seen as detrimental to local housing supplies, and various proposals at all levels of government, such as one by the Seattle City Council, have been passed to limit such listings. 

A Taylor Swift-inspired deceptive ticket sale bill passed out of the House Consumer Protection & Business Committee Friday morning.

House Bill 1648, or the “TSWIFT Consumer Protection Act,” follows the Ticketmaster meltdown fans experienced when trying to buy presale tickets to pop star Taylor Swift’s Seattle concerts on the Eras Tour.

The House Appropriations Committee will now consider the proposal to reduce ticket sale fees for concerts, sporting events, theatrical performances and more, following the fervor and failure of last summer’s concert season. The bill was previously introduced in the 2023 session but did not pass.

The proposed bill states: “Concert fans were frustrated at the ‘nightmare dressed like a daydream’ when trying to get access to their favorite artist’s live events. When fans felt the ticket sales industry created ‘bad blood’ with consumers, they refused to be told ‘you need to calm down.’ The legislature believes ticket sellers should be ‘fearless’ in providing integrity, fairness, and transparency with consumers, and therefore, the legislature refuses to ‘shake it off.’” 

Sponsored by Rep. Kristine Reeves, D-Federal Way, the bill aims to tackle hidden fees and dynamic pricing, in which prices fluctuate based on demand; clearly establish a refund policy if an event is cancelled; ban non-transferrable or speculative ticket sales; propose limits on ticket resellers, and ban using bots or software to buy tickets. 

Ticket sellers would also be required to obtain a state license, with an exception for  individuals selling tickets purchased for personal use. The bill would not apply to schools and universities, nonprofit cultural institutions or movie theater tickets. 

“I committed to my constituents in the community that I would not ‘shake it off’ and that we would continue to do this work until we were able to resolve ticket sales in Washington,” said Rep. Reeves when reintroducing the bill at a House Consumer, Protection & Business hearing on Jan. 16. 

A coalition of musicians and music groups, including SAG-AFTRA, Songwriters of North America and Washington-based artist Mount Eerie, have spoken out in opposition to the bill, claiming the current proposal does not effectively ban speculative ticketing and that it would deny artists the right to protect fans by ensuring tickets are not sold higher than the intended price.

Forty-seven Democrats are pushing a bill through the Washington House to study the creation of a new state agency — a housing department. 

The Housing Committee heard testimony Tuesday on House Bill 2270, which would have the Office of Financial Management hire a consultant to study consolidating all the state government’s scattered housing-related sections into one department. 

That consultant would also be asked to identify gaps in the state’s housing efforts; set up a clear mission for the new agency; recommend how the proposed department would be structured; and come up with a cost estimate for the reorganization. If the bill passes, the consultant’s recommendations would be due Dec. 1. 

Rep. Melanie Morgan, D-Spanaway, proposed a similar bill in 2022, but it never made it out of committee. This year’s bill has 46 Democratic co-sponsors in addition to Morgan. 

“We have not been able to end homelessness,” Morgan told the committee Tuesday. Washington would need roughly 1.1 million new housing units to do so, she said. With the housing department proposal, “We will go from a broad patchwork to a one-stop shop,” Morgan said. 

No one testified against the bill Tuesday.

Those testifying in favor included the Association of Washington Business, the largest business coalition in the state; Futurewise; Habitat for Humanity for King and Kittitas counties; the Washington Low-Income Housing Alliance and Local 1199NW of the Service Employees International Union, which represents health care workers. 

“It’s a good move for the state of Washington,” said Morgan Irwin, representing the AWB.

A member of the public, Arthur West, said: ”What I see now is various agencies putting band-aids on the problem.”

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.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has informed city department directors and finance managers that the city is implementing a hiring freeze for most positions. The move comes as the city faces a projected budget deficit that could reach as much as $251 million by 2025.

The freeze exempts public safety hires including police officers, firefighters and employees at the new CARE “dual dispatch” department. It also exempts employees backfilling for those using the city’s paid parental or family care leave and employees “providing essential public services,” according to a mayoral spokesperson. Exemptions for positions providing essential public services will be decided on a case by case basis but might include, for example, civilian staff in the police and fire departments.

Offers of employment made before Jan. 19 are not affected.

The city jobs website shows 115 open positions as of Jan. 22, though at least 14 of them are public safety positions exempt from the freeze.

The number of open jobs underplays the scope of vacancies in city departments. For example, according to data obtained by Crosscut, City Light, Public Utilities and Parks and Recreation had 287, 171 and 137 vacant positions, respectively, as of August 2022.

The Coalition of City Unions, which represents nearly 6,000 city workers in 11 unions, said pay and safety issues have contributed to the lingering vacancies.

The projected general fund budget deficit stems from a combination of tax revenue decreases, the impact of inflation, and a likely increase to city employee wages. The Coalition of City Unions and the Seattle Police Officers Guild are both currently bargaining new contracts with the city.

In an email, the mayor’s spokesperson said, “The city is taking a comprehensive approach to addressing the forecasted budget gap and structural budget issues, including thorough analysis of current city spending and an array of strategies to drive efficiencies, optimize investments, and prioritize the needs of residents, in collaboration with the City Council.”

He continued, saying that the mayor is still considering all options for addressing the shortfall, including “the potential for new or adjusted revenue sources.”

Harrell and former Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda convened a task force in 2022 to explore new progressive tax ideas for the city, in response to earlier projections of the coming budget deficit. That task force came up with nine ideas for new or expanded city taxes.

A Thurston County judge dismissed a challenge to disqualify former president Donald Trump from the ballot of the March 12 presidential primary. 

In a hearing Thursday morning, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Mary Sue Wilson ruled that Secretary of State Steve Hobbs' office made no errors in including Trump on the primary ballot. In Washington, state law allows any voter to challenge a candidate’s right to be on a ballot on several grounds, including felony convictions, election officer misconduct and eligibility for the office.

Eight Kitsap County voters had challenged Trump’s inclusion on the primary ballot, arguing that the former president should be excluded based on his eligibility outlined by federal law. They cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which disqualifies government office holders who have supported an insurrection from holding a federal office. Trump was impeached by Congress in 2021 on a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, but was acquitted by the Senate, where a simple majority voted to convict – 10 votes short of the two-thirds supermajority necessary for conviction. The conviction vote was made largely along party lines, though seven Republicans voted with Democrats to convict.

Wilson also declined to remove Trump’s name from the general election ballot, saying it would be “premature” to do so at this time. But Wilson added that her decision doesn’t block any future challenges to Trump’s inclusion on November’s ballot. 

Washington is one of 35 states where Trump’s eligibility to run for president in 2024 has been challenged. The challenges either have been dismissed or rejected in at least 15 states. Two of the states, Maine and Colorado, disqualified the former president from their ballots, though those decisions are under appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the Colorado case on Feb. 8.

Washington’s Democratic and Republican parties use the results of the primary as one factor to select state delegates to their national conventions, where the parties choose their general-election presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Primary voters in Washington must choose only one political party on their return envelope and then vote for one person in that party’s slate of candidates.

The state Republican Party named Donald J. Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Chris Christie as its primary candidates; and the state Democratic Party named Joseph R. Biden Jr., Dean Phillips, and Marianne Williamson as its candidates.