Public pressure over Governor Jay Inslee’s abuse of his “emergency powers” has grown loud enough that even Democrat legislators are finally showing some support to limit the length of time the governor can act without oversight from the legislative branch.   Majority Democrats, during the 2021 legislative session, would not even allow a public hearing on any of the bills Republicans proposed to limit an executive’s emergency powers so that Washington would be aligned with nearly all other states.  Public sentiment regarding the governors’ attack on democracy itself changed after the governor embarrassingly claimed that he alone “had won the Super Bowl” against COVID last July – only to see the state subsequently go through more waves of outbreaks, vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, and more government restrictions.

Democrat legislators, who are fearful of a voter revolt in November over the governor’s actions and their own failures (passage of a reckless “police reform” bill, expensive and ineffective climate policies, an unconstitutional state income tax on capital gains, and a confusing and poorly written Long-Term Care payroll tax) have decided to at least introduce legislation to curb the governor’s emergency powers.  Seven Democrats have co-sponsored SB 5909 which would limit a governor’s use of emergency powers to 90 days.  The bill is scheduled for a public hearing late next week.  You can sign up to speak or provide your written testimony by going to this page, entering “Senate State Government & Elections” and then the “01/28/22 10:30 AM” meeting and click on “SB 5909” (Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Brandi Kruse Twitter, and Senate Committee Sign Up)

There is growing attention to the Democrats’ proposal to implement a “Road Usage Charge” to make up for anticipated loss of gas tax revenue due to increased fuel performance of cars and more consumers using hybrid or electric vehicles.  Under a Road Usage Charge, Washington State drivers would be charged by the state a tax on every mile they drive, which would be obtained from drivers submitting mileage through a GPS transponder installed in their cars, taking pictures of their odometer, or other methods. There are many concerns about the measure, including how the money would be spent (would it be dedicated to highway spending only as the gas tax is, or would it pay for transit and “environmental outcomes” as some Democrats want?) and whether there would be meaningful and trustworthy privacy and security measures in place to protect drivers and their freedom of mobility. The current attempt at implementing a Road Usage Charge is found in House Bill 2026, which will receive a public hearing in the House Transportation Committee next Thursday at 3:30 PM. (Mariya Frost Twitter string and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The Washington House of Representatives voted 91 – 6 to delay the implementation of the poorly developed Long-Term Care payroll tax until July 1, 2023 (well after this November’s election).  The bill also requires that all money already collected by employers (since current law required them to start collecting the payroll tax on January 1^st) must be returned to the employee.  Republicans put forth several amendments and options, including one to allow the public to vote on the controversial program, but the majority Democrats killed each proposal (for they knew the public would overwhelmingly vote against this stupid tax scheme).  We should again note that the Republican House members have introduced their own Long-Term Care plan (HB 1913), authored by Representative Drew Stokesbary (R – Auburn), which contrasts with the Democrats’ plan by being voluntary, well-funded, and would pay benefits no matter where one retires. (AP, House Republican Caucus media release, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat criticized Governor Jay Inslee, Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Chris Reykdal, and school officials for not displaying more concern over the dramatic drop in school test scores and the number of families taking their students out of public schools.  The recently released test scores reveal a 20% drop in the number of students who met the state standards in math and a 9% drop in English.  All states, even those who did not shut down in-person instruction for most of the school year, experienced a drop in test scores. Yet, as opposed to our state leaders, these scores raised alarms in other states. Here in Washington, SPI Reykdal said he wasn’t “gonna spend a lot of energy” of the problem and Governor Inslee ignored the topic by not holding the usual campaign-style media event he schedules whenever he wants to talk about, say, climate change. (Seattle Times)

In shocking news, a Democrat legislator has offered legislation to reduce the state’s portion of the sales tax from 6.5% to 5.5%.  Senator Mona Das (D – Kent) has obviously been reading the poll number showing Democrats (especially those legislators in swing suburban districts like Das) are in serious trouble due to their support for all of Inslee’s tax increases, expensive and ineffective climate policies, and pro-criminal legislation.  With nearly $8 billion in unexpected revenue, the state can easily afford the $2 billion this tax reduction would give back to the people.  (WPC Center for Government Reform Facebook post)

Former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna said that fired Bremerton High School Football Coach Joe Kennedy has a good chance of prevailing in his lawsuit against the Bremerton School District when his case is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court later this year.  Kennedy had filed the lawsuit in 2016, stating he was wrongfully terminated because he held a post-game prayer on the field with players from both teams. Previously, federal courts had ruled against the former coach, and the Supreme Court had refused to take up the case due to technical issues. Kennedy’s attorneys have refiled the case and the court has agreed to hear arguments. McKenna stated the court appears to be sympathetic to the arguments made by Kennedy’s attorneys and he believes it will boil down to whether the justices believe the post-game prayers are truly “voluntary.” (MyNorthwest)

As expected, far-Left special interest groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legislative districts drawn up by the bi-partisan Washington State Redistricting Commission.  The special interest groups are demanding a race-focused legislative district in the Yakima Valley area that contains a majority of Hispanic registered voters that can be counted on to vote Democrat.  The same Democrat-supported special interest group, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, has filed similar lawsuits in Illinois and Texas following their redistricting process. (Tri-Cities Herald)

Governor Inslee’s State of the State speech last week was so instantly forgettable, that his campaign was forced to send an email to his contributors yesterday to remind them he had actually made one.  Remember, this is the speech where the governor claims that after nine years in office he will finally take action on issues facing our state. His campaign states in the email that he will finally take action on climate change, saving salmon, and the homeless.  We are not sure what that means, because thus far all the governor’s actions on these issues during his first nine years have either made conditions worse or have failed dramatically in meeting their promised goals. And to the governor, that’s winning the Super Bowl. (Inslee for Governor email)

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