Senate Democrats want to revert back to the old, broken ways of school funding just to appease their biggest donors, the Washington Education Association. Sen. Lisa Willman (D-Mercer Island) was installed as the Chair of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee by the WEA just so she could advance a bill that will raise property taxes and destroy the gains made to adequate and fair funding our schools. Republicans – and even a few Democrats – are fighting back. GOP state Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia): “If school districts still have common funding needs that aren’t being met by the tens of billions of dollars already going into K-12, we should be talking about how to address those at the state level, and leave the local-levy limit in place.” (Shift WA)

Rep. Drew Stokesbary (R-Auburn) penned an op-ed in the Seattle Times about the ongoing budget growth problem in Olympia. “[State] spending persistently outpaces revenue, enabling our most essential services to be held hostage in exchange for new taxes,” wrote Stokesbary. He outlines a package of budget reform bills he introduced this session that would bring zero-base budgeting, performance metrics, better analysis, and requiring a six-year budget outlook period. (Seattle Times)

 The state Auditor’s Office has decided to conduct a much, much, much needed performance audit of Sound Transit. Hopefully Sound Transit doesn’t do what they normally do, ignore any and all rightful criticism, but actually listens to recommendations from the audit. Mariya Frost with the Washington Policy Center wrote: “Sound Transit officials should do due diligence in implementing them and making the agency more trustworthy and accountable to the public. Public credibility and trust are critical as Sound Transit moves forward with its multi-billion dollar light rail expansion throughout the region.” (Washington Policy Center)

By a vote of 33 – 12, the Washington State Senate passed a bill raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 years old. “By passing this bill, the Legislature is saving thousands of Washingtonians from a lifetime of addiction and smoking-related illnesses,” said State Attorney General Bob Ferguson in a news release. Washington becomes the 9^th state to raise the smoking and vaping age to 21. (MyNorthwest)

The City of Olympia is one of the many cities in Washington struggling to combat the issues of homelessness. After expanding shelter capacity, stopping the enforcement of a ban on camping, and more, the Olympia officials are now looking around, wondering what to do next. “We’re not going to solve homelessness over the next seven months,” Amy Buckler, the city’s downtown programs manager, said. (The Olympian)

Larry Gossett announced he intends to seek re-election for a seventh term to the King County Council. I’m definitely running. I had hoped that I would be able to be supportive of another person who would carry on what would be a very important legacy of being a very strong consistent champion of the working class, and poor people of inner-city communities of Seattle,” Gossett said. Attorney Girmay Zahilay announced last month that he planed to run for the Gossett’s District 2 seat. (Seattle Times)

After failing to replace a prosecuting attorney, the City of Wapato dismissed an entire court calendar of criminal cases. The situation led to a three-month hiring of a Selah attorney, who will act as both the city’s prosecuting attorney and city attorney, until a permanent selection. Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Brusic said, “Without a city or prosecuting attorney, the cases can’t be prosecuted,” Brusic said. “Continued dismissals for criminal cases for Wapato would be disastrous.” (Yakima Herald)

Kelly Keenan, director of Spokane’s Community, Housing and Human Services Department, said the city is looking to purchase an emergency shelter to increase the number of beds. “When we get to very high concentrations of people who are in very difficult circumstances … those places can become magnets for other people that intend to prey on those vulnerable members of the community,” said Keenan. City Council President Ben Stuckart added that it’s much more expensive for the city to open temporary warming centers than it is to have another shelter. (Spokesman-Review)

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