A partial government shutdown awaits if lawmakers don’t deliver a budget by July 1^st. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have delivered confidence, saying they are sure the challenge will be overcome by June 22^nd – when the special session ends, but there are still lawmakers and reporters who believe, “The last 50 days of special session seem to have moved us millimeters closer to a budget deal.”

Either way, the countdown is on.

Seattle mayoral candidates debated upzoning at a forum in Wedgewood last week. “We cannot unwind the core principal of HALA because we need affordable housing. We cannot bring on the number of units we need in Seattle just today… unless we have a solution that includes private developers. City government just can’t do it. There’s not enough money. We will never be able to pay enough taxes,” candidate Jenny Durkan, former US Attorney, said in support of upzones.

Opposing upzoning, Bob Hasegawa, showcasing his doubt in the Seattle development community when he said we should not be, “expecting developers to do the right thing and create enough affordable units,” but rather set up a municipal bank to finance the construction necessary for Seattle to expand their public and affordable housing.

Check out our full coverage of the Seattle Mayor race here.

The Port of Vancouver should have allowed the public into oil-by-rail meetings, the Supreme Court ruled last week. They ruled that the port violated the state open public meetings law by holding closed-door meetings about the Vancouver Energy project.

Unions have reached a deal with Skagit County’s Sakuma Brothers Farms. Hundreds of farmworkers are impacted by the negotiations, which are the first of their kind for the Skagit County farm, which are predicted to be finalized this week after a vote.

Spokane property valuations will be delayed by more than four months due to staffing shortages in the Spokane County Assessor’s Office after six appraisers retired last year and have yet to have fully trained replacements fill in the gaps they left behind.

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