In the latest demonstration that Democrat legislators seemingly hate private-sector jobs, they have introduced a bill that would remove tax incentives from companies which are simply “alleged” to have committed an employment law violation –validity does not matter.  Representative Timm Ormsby (D – Spokane) has introduced HB 1285, which would eliminate tax breaks for any fruit and vegetable processor which has a complaint filed against it for alleged violations.  Rep. Ormsby is obviously not interested in fair process or if the company is actually guilty.  This is one of many job-killing bills which the Democrats have introduced which would negatively impact private-sector jobs if passed. (Click to read full Shift Article and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

U-Haul statistics reveal that people are leaving Washington State in droves.  For years Washington has been one of the top five states where people are moving to, according to U-Haul rentals, yet recent reports show this trend has quickly reversed itself.  After extreme liberal officials have dramatically increased their economic attacks on major employers and the state’s largest city condoned continuous political violence from liberal thugs (which has still never been condemned by the state’s Democrat politicians), Washington state dropped 31 slots down to 36^th in the places where U-Haul trucks are driven to.  It is notable that the top three states where people are moving to (Tennessee, Texas, and Florida) do not have a state income tax.  As Washington Policy Center’s Paul Guppy notes, “Washington state has the same advantage, which is likely the single greatest reason our state hasn’t seen even more people move away.” (Washington Policy Center)

Representative Noel Frame (D – Seattle) has received two strong negative hits in her attempt to (illegally) have state government steal more money from people she doesn’t like (i.e. private sector job creators) with her wealth tax.   The first hit to Representative Frame’s HB 1406 comes from the Washington State Department of Revenue’s fiscal analysis which stated, “There is some litigation risk that the courts would invalidate the wealth tax on the grounds that it is a property tax that conflicts” with the Washington State Constitution.  The second is that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (the primary target of Frame’s greedy bill) might not actually be a resident of Washington State, and thus not subject to the tax, by the time it would take effect.  Even Frame admitted that this is a “notable” fact. (Cornfield Report, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Department of Revenue Fiscal Note, and Noel Frame Twitter)

Joining many international, national, and local health experts, the Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said teachers do not need to be immunized for schools to reopen.  Dr. Rochelle Walensky stated, “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen,” and that “safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely.” Meanwhile, the Washington Education Association and its local affiliates continue to demand that all teachers and staff must be vaccinated before schools can reopen, despite overwhelming medical and scientific data proving their argument has no factual support. (Seattle Times/Bloomberg)

The Whatcom County Health Board has become the latest local group of health officials to express their frustrations with Governor Jay Inslee’s poorly planned and randomly executed “Roadmap to Recovery” scheme.  In a letter to the governor, the board stated its disappointment with the Inslee Administration for failing to provide an opportunity to provide input on his latest set of restrictions and non-scientific criteria for reopening local businesses.  The board also stated that the governor’s plan treats counties “inequitably,” for populous counties are allowed to reopen with higher infection rates than what its own county is experiencing.  The local officials write, “The new metrics cannot be justified with science, risk, or equity.” But they can be justified by Jay Inslee, because he really likes being the only one in charge, and yet having no accountability because all problems are somebody else’s fault. (Whatcom County Health Board Letter via County Commissioner Ben Elenbaas’ Facebook page)

Deaths from drug and alcohol overdoses continue to skyrocket in King County, yet Governor Inslee fails to make a simple change to his “emergency” orders which could help address part of this problem.  According to data from the King County Department of Health, deaths from overdoses rose 23% during 2020, and if trends continue, deaths will jump an additional 38% in 2021.  In King County alone, there could be 300 more deaths due to drug and alcohol overdose in 2021 than there were in 2019. So-called 12-Step programs (like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous) are one of the most effective methods to assist those with substance addiction, yet under Governor Inslee’s orders, in-person meetings have been effectively shut down.  Most of the meetings have moved to Zoom, yet attendance is down considerably, and very few “newcomers” are able to make the necessary connections via virtual meetings to “find recovery.”  As Shift reported previously, there is a simple adjustment in Governor Inslee’s orders that could help thousands who are struggling to achieve sobriety. Currently 12-Step meetings are considered “group counseling,” which limits meetings to five people (effectively preventing any in-person meeting from occurring).  Yet, if 12-Step meetings were categorized as “faith-based” gatherings, meetings could occur at less than 25% of room capacity.  This simple adjustment could save hundreds of lives in Washington State.  Unfortunately, Governor Inslee has so far refused to listen to the science on this issue and make this change.  (King County Department of Health and Shift)

In an announcement that shocked no one, ultra-liberal Seattle City Council President M. Lorena Gonzalez is running for mayor.  As is typical of most liberal declarations, Gonzalez highlighted her background and “identifiers” more than providing specific policies she hopes to put forth.  As a city councilmember since 2016, Gonzalez has had a hand in the city’s failed efforts to reduce homelessness, carbon emissions, and crime.  She was a leading voice in the council’s recent actions to cut police funding, during a time when many crimes (including murder) were increasing.  She is also among the city’s liberal political establishment who have never condemned the far-Left activists who committed numerous acts of political violence last summer.  Strangely, all of these facts make Gonzalez a leading contender to become Seattle’s next mayor.  Remember, Seattle’s last five elected mayors – Paul Schell, Greg Nickels, Mike McGinn, Ed Murray, and Jenny Durkan – have either been rejected by the voters or have chosen not to run for re-election due to circumstances.  Whoever wins the race this November, there is a good chance the city’s ultra-liberal activists will have them tossed on to the ash heap of history by the time 2025 rolls around. (Seattle Times)

Money slashed from the Seattle Police Department’s budget appears to be making many liberal consultants very wealthy.  In one of the first progress reports on the city’s efforts to fund community groups after the Seattle City Council caved into rioters’ demands by hastily slashing the police department’s budget, the results thus far have been disappointing.   The city allocated $3 million to determine how the city should spend the $30 million it has set aside for “community safety projects.”  After five months, this has resulted in paying “more than 100 community-based researchers to conduct surveys and interviews, produce photography projects, and host podcasts that address themes of public safety and community health.”   PublicCola states, “the concrete details of the participatory budgeting process are still hazy.” As we can expect after liberal politicians receive generous financial support from public employee unions after they wastefully increase the number of government employees, we can expect these “100 community-based researchers” to support the politicians who gave them taxpayer money.  Why use public money to actually protect the public (when crime rates are rising), when liberal politicians can use it to buy votes? (PublicCola)

Lewis County restaurants were thrilled to be finally open again after they were included in Governor Inslee’s arbitrary reopening announcement.  Despite their optimism of being able to serve customers indoors again (albeit with a profit-limiting 25% capacity limit), many are fearful that the unscientific governor will reverse his decision and close them again in the near future. (Centralia Chronicle)

The Washington State Farm Bureau and the Washington Farm Labor Association have filed a lawsuit against the Inslee Administration, over the latest set of arbitrary rules the state has imposed on the agriculture community during the COVID-19 pandemic.  President of the Franklin County Farm Bureau James Alford said, “The problem is that when you read the rules that are written, they weren’t written by anyone with an agriculture background.”  Farmers are concerned that some of the regulations are not realistic.  For example, one regulation states that workers need to be within 20 minutes of emergency medical services, and within one hour of a hospital with a ventilator.  By their nature, many farms are remote and much further away from more urban areas that have these amenities.  If this regulation were followed, many family farms would not be able to operate in 2021. (Tri-City Herald)

The Yakima School District will begin a hybrid schedule, which includes in-person instruction, beginning March 1^st.  Yakima County health officials strongly support the decision and stated, “the significant effect remote learning has had on families, parents, and educators” calls for alternatives to the current unsuccessful remote learning method. Starting on March 1^st, kindergarten through second grade, sixth grade, and ninth grade students (the youngest at each school level) will return part-time in split-shifts.  The remaining students are scheduled to return two weeks later, on March 15th.  (Yakima Herald)

The normally liberal pokesman-Review columnist Shawn Vestal writes, “Suzi LeVine’s record as commissioner of the Employment Security Department (ESD) would not have made you bet on a call-up to the big leagues.” Vestal recalls the many failures of LeVine’s management of the dysfunctional ESD, and wonders how the Biden Administration would reward her poor performance by putting her in charge of federal programs with a multi-billion dollar budgets at the Department of Labor..  The unstated reason why Suzi LeVine is granted this privilege by the Jay Inslee’s of the world who hire her is because she raises big money for Democrat campaigns.  (Spokesman-Review)

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