Law enforcement agencies across Washington State are continuing to exercise caution in pursuing and apprehending suspected criminals thanks to the radical police “reform” laws that were passed by the Democrats during the 2021 legislative session. The primary restriction in the new laws, which Democrats passed to reward the violence conducted by their liberal supporters, is that “probable cause” must now exist for officers to pursue or detain suspects, which is significantly more restrictive than the previous level of “reasonable suspicion.”

Republican legislators continue to call for a special session to repair damage caused by the language in the Democrats’ bill. When asked why the legislature can’t wait until the start of the regular session in January to fix the bill, Senator Chris Gildon (R-Puyallup) said, “We can wait until then, but people are going to be suffering while criminals are thriving.” (Note, Shift will be discussing the police reform legislation with Senator Gildon in an interview which will be posted tomorrow.)

Meanwhile, Democrat lawmakers continue to ignore the problems they have created with their misguided legislation. Representative Jesse Johnson (D – Federal Way) said Republican lawmakers and law enforcement concerns about criminal suspects not being pursued are “blown out of proportion.” Representative Johnson then went on to dismiss the legal advice law enforcement agencies have received from their departments’ attorneys in how to the new laws apply to their officers’ conduct.

Representative Johnson and Representative Roger Goodman (D – Kirkland) are often credited as the key architects of the hastily written and passed legislation, and who refused to consider many legitimate concerns which both law enforcement officials and Republicans expressed, instead, the Democrats guided by those who led last summer’s violent riots in Seattle during the development of the bill. (KOMO News)

Recent analysis from the Washington Policy Center refutes the liberal claims that local governments are wasting their time passing motions to prohibit local income taxes since there are no current efforts to encourage local governments to adopt income taxes.   The liberal angst comes after the cities of Battle Ground and Yakima took steps recently to ban income taxes in their municipalities. The analysis from Jason Mercier reveals that liberals made similar comments during the legislative debate in 2017, when Republican lawmakers proposed such a ban at the state level. Democrats argued the ban was not needed because no one was planning to propose a state income tax.

Well, surprise, surprise, surprise! As we all know, the Democrats forgot about their previous claims and passed a state income tax on capital gains during the 2021 legislative session.  Further, internal emails prove Democrat legislators want to use the passage of this tax to open the door for the courts to ignore decades of legal precedent and allow a full-fledged state income tax without a vote of the people. (Washington Policy Center, Battle Ground City Council materials,  Yakima Herald, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Major Washington State businesses are reacting differently to recent increases in COVID infections caused primarily by the more infectious delta variant. Redmond-based Microsoft recently announced that all employees, vendors, and guests in its United States facilities will be required to be fully vaccinated. This is similar to policies adopted by Google and Facebook.  Meanwhile, Amazon is not requiring its employees to be vaccinated, instead it has chosen to push back to January the date when employees need to return to the office. Previously, Amazonians were scheduled to return in early September. No word on how many small businesses that were dependent on Amazon employees for their business will be able to survive another six months of reduced income. (Seattle Times)

Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best expressed her disappointment in Seattle’s political leaders for failing to present a public safety plan though it’s been a full year since they caved into liberal rioters’ demands to “defund” the police department.  In a Seattle Times op-ed, Chief Best describes how “lives and livelihoods depend” on elected officials developing “common sense solutions” on how to protect citizens from criminal activities.  Best wrote that city leaders “must abandon truly baffling ideas” like Councilmember Lisa Herbold’s plan to allow poverty, drug addiction, and mental health problems to become a legitimate defense for many misdemeanor offenses  (which Best states is “like allowing theft without consequence”).

The former police chief said other cities have implemented plans which Seattle should consider.  She also pointed out that the public is supportive of leaders who prioritize public safety, as a shown by former police officer Eric Adams’ victory in a crowded Democrat primary for New York City mayor, after running on a platform of “safety, safety, safety.”  Once again Carmen Best provides worthy advice for Seattle’s elected officials to consider. One hopes that this time they listen to her, for since the last time they didn’t, more than 260 police officers left the department and murder rates skyrocketed. But, more likely, Councilmember Herbold’s soft-on-crime priorities will be favored by the far-Left council. (Seattle Times and KUOW)

A King County judge states that the violence and criminal behavior in Seattle are worse than what she experienced growing up in Bogota, Columbia, during the height of the drug cartels in the 1980’s.  Superior Court Judge Mafe Rabul made these comments just before the reporter (Q13’s Hana Kim) who was interviewing her was hit with an object (later identified as a cauliflower chunk) thrown by a man yelling obscenities. Judge Rabul went on to assert the problem lies with Seattle’s liberal elected officials. “The city council and the mayor’s office, they don’t care about safety, they don’t care.” (Q13 News)

King County Councilman Reagan Dunn had a strong showing in the primary election despite his three Democrat opponents raising a record-breaking $340,000+ for their races.  Dunn earned almost 57% of the vote, while his closest opponent netted just 21%. The latest Public Disclosure Commission reports show that primary losers Chris Franco raised more than $107,000 and Ubax Gaardheere raised more than $105,000, while Dunn’s now-identified general election opponent Kim-Khanh Van raised over $126,000.

Dunn’s campaign contends this is a record amount “spent against an incumbent for any county council or commissioner’s primary race in Washington State history.”  Records show that Dunn’s contributors donated approximately $300,000, and that he has about $130,000 cash-on-hand heading into the general election, while his opponent has a little more than $12,000. (Dunn media release and Washington State Public Disclosure Commission)

Two young entrepreneurs are “creating waves” in Seattle with their floating lemonade stand on Lake Union.  Kate and Quinn Carter used a loan (not a handout) from their father to construct the stand they use to sell lemonade and other cold treats to boaters and paddleboarders on the lake.  The 8- and 11-year-old sisters then use the funds to assist other entrepreneurs by providing loans through Kiva.org (a very worthy organization), donate to their favorite animal charity, and buy stocks for themselves. (Seattle Times and Kiva website)

The town of Steilacoom (Pierce County) has banned short term rentals (such as Airbnb) on properties where the owner is not living on site.  In a 5-0 vote, the town’s city council supported Steilacoom joining Leavenworth as the only Washington communities which have prohibited owners from renting out their homes to those who stay less than 30 days. (News Tribune)

Eastern Washington wheat farmers continue to be upset by the failure of the Inslee Administration to declare an emergency drought declaration last month, even while at the same time imposing a burn ban due to the dry conditions. In early July, Inslee’s Department of Ecology denied a request from the wheat growers for the governor to declare an emergency due to drought conditions.  Such a declaration would have brought much needed relief to wheat and other grain growers (many of whom have since seen their crops wilt in the heat).

Yet, days after denying the farmers, the state imposed a burn ban in Eastern Washington.  At that time, Pam Lewison of the Washington Policy Center wrote a much-read op-ed in which she stated, “If we have enough of a drought condition to provide a burn ban that is related to the drought conditions that are causing the subsequent wildfires, then certainly we have enough of a drought condition to declare an emergency for our wheat growers.” (PNW AG Network and Washington Policy Center)

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