Washington in Focus

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office has drawn criticism for providing legal advice to the Secretary of State’s Office regarding a request by Attorney General Bob Ferguson through his campaign attorney to alter the order of candidates on the November election ballot. Last month, two men also named Robert Ferguson filed to run for governor. State election laws has the order of candidates...

Washington is now the 11th state in the country to ban child marriages via a new law that went into effect on June 6 that makes it illegal for anyone under 18 to get married. House Bill 1455, passed by the Legislature this session and signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee in March, took effect on June 6. Prior to the new law, Washington was one of five states with no age requirement to marry. In thos...

Beginning Thursday, June 6, law enforcement officers in Washington can once again pursue someone if they have reasonable suspicion that person has violated any law. Lawmakers amended the stricter policy after a voter initiative was submitted to the legislature and was adopted into law earlier this year. The 2021 law that significantly restricted police came as part of a package of reforms which Re...

Police Chief Adrian Diaz is stepping down from his role as head of the Seattle Police Department amid an increasing number of issues within the department. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the move on Wednesday, stating that Diaz “will be stepping aside to work on special assignments.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection a...

An investigation by a law firm on behalf of the Washington State Department of Transportation found no merit to most of a former employee’s claims he was pressured to lie about the impact of the Climate Commitment Act on gas prices – and forced out of his job because of it. Scott Smith, a former economist with WSDOT, claims he faced hostility and retaliation after refusing to keep quiet about his...

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With hundreds of millions of tax dollars spent, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority is facing calls for accountability from city officials who look to the semi-governmental organization to get the area's chronic homelessness crisis under control. A senior KCRHA policy director says their efforts are working. KCRHA has served as the organization responsible for coordinating funding and...

There seems to be some confusion among certain state agencies about workers who received exemptions from WA Cares, Washington’s mandatory long-term care benefit program. The program is paid for by 58 cents out of every $100 earned deducted from workers' paychecks. WA Cares provided a one-time opportunity for people to opt out, if they could show they had private long-term care insurance in place b...

More than nine months since Washington state workers started paying into the state-mandated long-term care insurance program known as WA Cares, most working Washingtonians have contributed at least a few hundred dollars to the program. But if voters approve  Initiative 2124  this November, workers can opt out of having 58 cents out of every $100 earned deducted from their paychecks. WA Cares oppon...

There was no decision from the bench Wednesday afternoon in the Gators Custom Guns case regarding the state ban on high-capacity magazines for firearms.  State Supreme Court Commissioner Mike Johnston opened the  hearing  with remarks for what he said was, “the importance of a number of people watching this case.” “Personal side note, I’m a gun enthusiast. I know a lot about guns,” he said. Johnst...

There is ongoing debate over a newly-enacted law and its effect on natural gas in Washington state. The state's largest utility provider says it does not affect natural gas for new or future customers, but others argue that the new provisions set the stage for turning the shut-off valve for good.  House Bill 1589  signed by Gov. Jay Inslee last month consolidates Puget Sound Energy’s planning for...

Puget Sound Energy is challenging claims that a recent bill  signed  into law restricts or eliminates natural gas service, calling it "misinformation." This session, the Washington State Legislature enacted  Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1589 , which was signed last week by Gov. Jay Inslee. The bill was proposed during last year’s session, but failed to clear both chambers. Among its provisions...

A new law signed by Gov. Jay Inslee allows illegal foreign nationals to obtain professional and commercial licenses to work a variety of jobs if they otherwise qualify or meet requirements. Under existing state law, a  commercial vehicle license  is needed from the state Department of Licensing to legally work certain careers, whereas other professions are regulated by a board of commission that d...

(The Center Square) – Passing the the bar exam will no longer be a requirement for becoming a lawyer in Washington, the state Supreme Court ruled in a pair of  orders  Friday. Washington becomes only the second state to officially approve alternatives to the bar, following its southern neighbor, Oregon, which is set to make the change in May. The state Supreme Court appointed a  Bar Licensure Task...

One of the most controversial bills passed by the Washington State Legislature this session has yet to be signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee. Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1589 , dubbed by critics as the "natural gas ban bill," would allow utilities – that is, Puget Sound Energy – to start planning how to move away from natural gas. Inslee is expected to sign the bill, a cornerstone of Inslee's...

Scott Smith, a former economist with the Washington State Department of Transportation, spoke out Wednesday morning about the hostility and retaliation he says he faced after refusing to keep quiet about his calculations last year showing Washington’s cap-and-trade program would increase gas prices by 45 to 50 cents per gallon. “When I was preparing the estimates, the facts were so obvious that it...

Proponents of Initiative 2113 to reduce requirements for law enforcement to engage in vehicle pursuits expressed frustration at how a Wednesday morning legislative public hearing on the initiative was conducted. Testimony before both the Senate Law & Justice Committee and the House Community Safety, Justice & Reentry Committee did not begin until 30 minutes into the one-hour  hearing  due to major...

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said that he would not look at new revenue streams to address the city’s $229 million budget gap. Harrell gave his State of the City address with an emphasis on improving public safety, increasing the city’s affordable housing stock, addressing the drug epidemic and replacing aging infrastructure. “The size of this deficit means that we will have difficult financial dec...

The executive director of the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council says the overall revenue picture for the state is “pretty good.” But the elephants in the room as Dave Reich began his  revenue forecast  presentation Wednesday morning were the state Department of Revenue's Tuesday announcement that it had made a series of errors in tallying the state's new capital gains tax and...

Initiative 2117  to repeal Washington state's cap-and-trade law under the  Climate Commitment Act  could already be impacting the CCA's carbon credit futures market that is meant to reduce overall carbon emissions. Via forums like the Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE, traders can buy and sell Washington  carbon credit futures . Closing prices have steadily declined since I-2117 was  certified  la...

A group of Washingtonians turned out Wednesday afternoon at the steps of the Capitol building in Olympia to demand lawmakers follow the state's constitution and act on six certified initiatives. In December, the Let’s Go Washington voter advocacy group turned in 2.6 million signatures on initiatives to loosen restrictions on allowing police to pursue dangerous criminals, repeal the carbon tax, est...

A Washington bill would require a convicted sex offender be among the members of the State Sex Offender Policy Board, which would also be renamed “Sex Offense Policy Board.” House Bill 2177  sponsored by Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, would also require a victim of a sex offense serve in an effort to “diversify” the number of backgrounds represented on the board. While supporters maintain that i...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday morning  declined  to hear an appeal of a Washington State Supreme Court ruling from March 2023 that found a statewide capital gains tax to be lawful. The justices, as is their custom, did not offer a reason for not taking the case. Opponents of the tax – a 7% levy on individuals’ long-term capital gains exceeding $250,000 – had argued it was functionally an incom...

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee delivered his 11th and final state-of-the-state address Tuesday before a joint session of the state Legislature. “We will always be the strongest state in the nation; in fact, the state of our state is stronger than ever,” Inslee said as he opened his midday speech. The governor touted many accomplishments, including the increase in the state minimum wage while he’s been...

Gov. Jay Inslee has long known that a carbon tax could significantly increase gas prices in Washington state, contends the conservative Washington Policy Center think tank, which says it has the receipts to back up that claim. In a Thursday morning blog  post , WPC Environmental Director Todd Myers notes that reports from Inslee’s 2014 Carbon Emissions Reduction Task Force, or CERT, showed a carbo...