There’s a debate raging amongst Washington State Democrat legislators. Olympia liberals can’t decide if they want to take our state’s health care system down the path of socialized medicine, or socialized medicine. “Do we stand up what’s not working in the Affordable Care Act?” said Sen. David Frockt (D-Seattle). “But at the same time, how do you move into a transformational direction into some kind of universal system?” To give you an idea of where some Democrats land on the liberal bell-curve, some consider Gov. Inslee’s public option the “modest” proposal. (Seattle Times)

A Senate bill that would set limits on which records state lawmakers would and would not have to make public is being shelved this session after a great deal of pushback. “I told you guys if the media pooped all over it, it was dead,” Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) said. “It’s dead.” Pedersen made the decision to kill the bill after newspaper executives and media lobbyists trashed the bill. “It was very clear that there was no opportunity for any good faith negotiations,” Pedersen said. (Everett Herald)

Democrats are pushing a bill that would likely lead to higher property taxes and recreate many of the pre-McCleary inequalities in education funding. “Going down the road laid out in this bill will get our state in trouble, because some districts are always able to take better advantage of local taxing authority than others, and sooner or later that’ll create the same conditions which led to the McCleary lawsuit,” Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia). Democrats seem set on causing another education funding crisis, then using that as an excuse to raise even more taxes. (KNKX)

It shouldn’t come as a shock to find out that Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s annual State of the City speech was chock full of lofty and expensive promises, but no details on how she’d pay for them. Free college and additional affordable housing units were just a few of the proposals she floated during the speech. Durkan said: “We have always invented the future. And that’s what I want to discuss today: How together we can build a city of the future.” (MyNorthwest)

Judge Terri Cooper presides over all legal matters that come before her courtroom, except jury trial, even though she does not have a law degree. Her appointment as court commissioner seems to violate state law – which requires cities with populations over 5,000 appoint judicial officers with law degrees. “I think it makes perfect sense that people would ask how someone who does not have a law degree can be on the bench,” Cooper said. (Spokesman Review)

Do you like The Morning Briefing? Forward this to a friend! It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at morningbriefing@shiftwa.org.

If you don’t want to receive this email each morning, click here to opt-out of The Morning Briefing.