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OLYMPIA–It is with a mix of encouragement and disappointment that the Senate majority leader says four of the six citizen initiatives to the Legislature "might" have public hearings scheduled before the end of the 2024 session. But don't hold your breath. We are now nearly two-thirds into a 60-day session, with only a handful of committee meetings remaining before adjournment on March 8. Despite repeated efforts by Republicans asking for majority Democrats to hold hearings on the initiatives, w...
When our state's budget surplus reached approximately $15 billion last year, many of us felt it was time to give some of that back to taxpayers in the form of meaningful property tax relief. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, Democrat budget writers continued a decade-long trend of spending just about every dime given to them. They even changed some rules to take money that should have gone into the state's rainy-day fund, just so they could spend it on new programs and entitlements. Wh...
House and Senate budget writers released their 2023-25 state operating budget proposals recently. It was a reminder that taxpayers have been very kind to the state's coffers as revenue forecasts over the past few years have continued to increase. As a result of taxpayer largess and the majority party's proclivity to spend every dime available, state spending has more than doubled over the past 10 years. Has our population doubled? No. According to the Washington State Office of Financial...
OLYMPIA–As Washington state seeks to find a financial solution to fund road construction projects, address backlogs in transportation maintenance and preservation needs, and fix crumbling infrastructure like bridges, one idea that has gained traction (pun intended) is the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax. The VMT is a fee charged to drivers based on the number of vehicle miles traveled, regardless of fuel efficiency. Typically, a user-based approach is a more fair and equitable way of levying f...
OLYMPIA–Growing up on the farm, I heard grandma's sage advice in just about every situation imaginable. "A trouble shared is a trouble halved." "This isn't my first rodeo." "Many hands make light work." When hearing about Kaiser Permanente's change in how its customers could get their prescriptions refilled, what came to mind was this: "It doesn't cut the mustard." Last summer, the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) and the School Employees Benefits Board (SEBB) voted to allow Kaiser P...
OLYMPIA–Over a decade ago, in November of 2007, Washington voters proved their intelligence, foresight, and practicality by approving the state’s constitutional “rainy-day fund.” Here is an excerpt from the Voters’ Guide: “Every year 1% of state revenues are automatically put into the fund. Until the fund reaches 10% of state revenues, the money can only be spent when the economy declines seriously, as it did after 9/11, or if there is a catastrophic emergency requiring immediate action. If other unforeseen circumstances come up, a 60% majorit...
OLYMPIA–It's been more than two months since Gov. Jay Inslee announced his "Healthy Washington–Roadmap to Recovery" plan on January 5. While I am grateful that all of Washington is now in Phase 2 of that plan, when asked repeatedly about what the Phase 3 reopening of our state economy looks like–parameters and definitions–the governor has repeatedly come up empty. Until he held a press conference on Thursday, March 11 (more on that in a moment). Within this vacuum of leadership, and with da...