Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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The Snake River dams are critical to the infrastructure of our region, providing not only reliable power but also many other economic benefits. Removing these dams would have many negative impacts. You don’t have to take my word for it. Here are some of the findings from the multi-year public process in 2020 conducted by The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and Bonneville Power Administration:: “[Breaching] would not meet the objective to Provide a Rel...
If there’s one thing Americans can still agree on, it’s that tax policy is one of the most consequential decisions our government makes that impacts our economy and family budgets. With the exception of Washington state, policymakers in the mountain states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have been very active the last few years prioritizing tax relief while making fiscally conservative budget investments. While this ongoing tax relief effort is to be commended, more can be don...
Last week, the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning the capital gains income tax. I attended the hearing in person. It is unclear when the court will issue its opinion. The capital gains income tax is first owed on April 18, 2023. There are three possible rulings the court could issue. One possible outcome is for the state Supreme Court to catch the Hail Mary pass thrown by income tax advocates and by judicial fiat now allow a graduated income tax without a...
Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week that he will finally end governing under an emergency order — after more than 900 days —on Monday, Oct. 31. When the Legislature next convenes, it should ensure that this type of ongoing emergency governance without affirmative legislative approval never happens again. Whether or not you agree or disagree with every decision the governor made for the last 900-plus days, the fact remains these decisions with vast impact on individuals and...
Did you know the governor’s office is currently negotiating pay and compensation with state employee unions for the state’s 2023-25 budget? What is on the table? Will the outcome of these secret talks be no tax cuts for Washingtonians but big inflation pay raises for government employees? That answer is currently a mystery since these government pay raise talks happen in secrecy without disclosure of the financial details until the deal is reached. Why is this secret pro...
Governor Inslee has repeatedly made it clear that he believes his spending priorities exceed any need to provide tax relief to help families deal with the impact of record inflation. On the same day Inslee declined President Biden’s call for states to provide some type of tax relief, the Democratic Governor of Minnesota was instead begging his legislature to act. As reported by the Minnesota Reformer: “Gov. Tim Walz called on Republicans to return to the Capitol to sign off...
In 2016, Lincoln County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to require transparency for all the county’s collective bargaining talks. According to the resolution: “From this day forward, Lincoln County shall conduct all collective bargaining contract negotiations in a manner that is open to the public; AND Lincoln County shall provide public notice of all collective bargaining negotiations in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30.060 - 42....
Proponents of the unconstitutional capital gains income tax are working overtime to prevent voters from weighing in. First, there was the game last year with the emergency clause to prevent a referendum. Now capital gains income tax supporters are gearing up to counter a potential I-1929 signature gathering campaign by setting up a surveillance system to report any ballot petition signing locations. As reported by the Everett Herald: “Should I-1929 petitions get circulated, o...
As expected, the I-1929 (capital gains tax repeal) campaign officially filed a legal challenge to the attorney general’s ballot title and summary for the proposed ballot measure. The AG’s proposed language referred to the capital gains tax as an “excise tax” despite a court ruling unequivocally agreeing with the IRS and the rest of the country that a tax on capital gains is an income tax. From the I-1929 ballot title challenge complaint: “The Attorney General’s proposed ‘B...
Sorry to break the news, Washingtonians, but Year 3 of living under emergency orders by the governor will continue without meaningful legislative oversight. The House officially killed Senate Bill 5909 before adjourning. Although that bill as passed by the Senate was essentially fake reform, several amendments were introduced for the House floor debate to bring the policy back in line with what exists in the rest of the country by requiring affirmative legislative approval...
Sorry to break the news, Washingtonians, but year three of living under emergency orders by the governor will continue just as the last two years have – without meaningful legislative oversight. The House yesterday officially killed SB 5909. Though that bill as passed by the Senate was essentially fake reform, several amendments were introduced for the House floor debate to bring the policy back in line with what exists in the rest of the country by requiring affirmative l...
In an emergency, governors need broad powers to act fast. Legislative bodies inevitably take longer to assemble and act than a single executive, so they temporarily delegate their power to the executive in emergencies. But these powers are supposed to be transferred for a limited period of time. For example, in Wisconsin a state of emergency cannot exceed 60 days unless it is extended by a joint resolution of the legislature, and in Minnesota, a governor must call a special...
In a 7-2 ruling this morning, the State Supreme Court said the partial vetoes the Governor made in the 2019 transportation budget were unconstitutional. When issuing those vetoes the Governor said: “While my veto authority is generally limited to subsections or appropriation items in an appropriation bill, in this very rare and unusual circumstance I have no choice but to veto a single sentence in several subsections to prevent a constitutional violation and to prevent a f...
The Battle Ground City Council this week unanimously adopted Resolution No. 21-07 opposing a local income tax. That brings the number of cities officially going on record against a local income tax to four with Battle Ground joining Spokane, Granger and Spokane Valley. The Mayor of Yakima also recently indicated she plans to ask her city council to forward a local income tax ban charter amendment to the ballot for voters to consider like occurred in Spokane in 2019. Here is...
Washington Policy Center and the League of Women Voters of Washington want to thank the Washington State House and Senate’s bipartisan leadership for the remote testimony processes they established in the challenging legislative session that ended in April. That session was historic in its approach to conducting meetings — the COVID pandemic and need for distancing caused the Legislature to build on the prior remote testimony process and add new virtual participation options, with great benefits to both legislators and the...
We knew it was coming. The moment lawmakers tried to get clever and thought they could gain support for a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (House Bill 1091) and Cap and Trade (Senate Bill 5126) by linking the policies with a future transportation tax package, it was clear what the governor would do – veto the restriction. Never mind the fact it appears to be illegal to do this. But since he has previously issued questionable line-item vetoes, there was never any doubt that he would do...
We knew it was coming. The moment lawmakers tried to get clever and thought they could gain support for a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (House Bill 1091) and Cap and Trade (Senate Bill 5126) by linking the policies with a future transportation tax package, it was clear what the governor would do – veto the restriction. Never mind the fact it appears to be illegal to do this. But since he has previously issued questionable line-item vetoes, there was never any doubt that he would do...
Public records show lawmakers plan to use the capital gains income tax to set up a lawsuit to try to impose a broad-based graduated income tax. They’re going to get not one, but two. It could be years, however, before we know if the state Supreme Court decides to uphold its numerous rulings saying that you own your income or if they’ll instead reverse course. Just days after the Legislature approved Senate Bill 5096 — which institutes an income tax on capital gains — the Fre...
We are now more than halfway thru the 2021 Legislative Session and have passed the important House of Origin cutoff. This is technically when bills start to die. Among the bills the majority legislative leadership have not deemed worthy of moving are the numerous proposals to reform the Governor’s emergency powers. Despite no serious action to date on these bills, there is still time for lawmakers to act before Sine Die. It is difficult to understand why the majority l...
It has been 286 days since Governor Inslee first declared a statewide emergency relating to COVID-19. Since that time, the Governor has continued to extend emergency declarations and issued various economic restrictions. Despite repeated bipartisan calls for the legislature to be included in these decisions, the Governor refused to call a special legislative session in 2020. In contrast, Democratic Governors in Oregon, California, Nevada and Colorado (the members of the...
Despite the budget being balanced, billions in reserve, and projected revenue growth of 7.2%, Gov. Jay Inslee is yet again proposing an income tax on capital gains in his new budget. The Governor, however, claims that this type of tax isn’t an income tax. What does he know that the IRS and every other state across the country doesn’t? IRS: “You ask whether tax on capital gains is considered an excise tax or an income tax? It is an income tax. More specifically, capital gains...
There’s no other way to say it, 2020, has been just an awful year. It is difficult to believe anything good can come from this mess but I’m really excited to see that one silver lining to our collective misery will be the opportunity for more public participation across the state during the 2021 Legislative Session. With news that lawmakers will primarily be conducting business remotely next year also comes the exciting announcement of expansive remote testimony for citizens....
There’s no other way to say, 2020 has been just an awful year. It is difficult to believe anything good can come from this mess but I’m really excited to see that one silver lining to our collective misery will be the opportunity for more public participation across the state during the 2021 Legislative Session. With news that lawmakers will primarily be conducting business remotely next year also comes the exciting announcement of expansive remote testimony for citizens. Acc...
DURING the last two state budget cycles, Washington lawmakers have come dangerously close to forcing a government shutdown due to failures in the budget process. The current 2015-17 state budget was signed just 18 minutes before a shutdown would have occurred. The 2013-15 budget was finalized just a few hours before state agencies would have been forced to shutdown. In both cases, the tax revenue provided by citizens was increasing substantially, meaning these threats of...
I’ve lived in two exclusive vote-by-mail states during my time as an eligible voter. My first ballot ever cast was via the mailbox in Oregon. There the ballots are due in the hands of election officials by 8 p.m. on election night to be counted. Now living in Washington, I’ve trained myself not to worry about election results until the Friday following election day due to the state’s postmark deadline eligibility for ballots. I’ve often wondered how the country would react to...
