More than 5300 individuals registered to testify in favor of limiting the governor’s emergency powers during a Monday hearing in front of the House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee.  The bill by Representative Chris Corry (R – Yakima) to restore sanity to state government was certainly popular, as only 118 people signed in to oppose the bill. This aligns with similar numbers signing in to testify last Friday in favor of several emergency powers reform bills in front of the Senate State Government and Elections Committee.

Representative Corry’s legislation (HB 1772) would limit the governor’s emergency powers to 60 days and would allow the legislature to override the governor’s emergency orders.  This would make Washington State’s emergency power laws similar to nearly all other states, instead of ours being one of the outliers which allows a governor to undemocratically rule with no time limitations.  Representative Corry said that it “has become very clear (during the pandemic) that we are lacking in needed checks and balances and legislative oversight and input on those powers. We’re actually one of only a few states that don’t have any checks or oversight on emergency powers. House Bill 1772 is really designed to restore those checks and balances.” (MyNorthwest and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

As Republican legislators continue to respond for constituent demands for actual changes to the state’s emergency powers laws, the Democrats’ legislative leadership is bashing their fellow Democrats’ reform effort by stating it is meaningless.  If one reads to the end of today’s Seattle Times article on emergency power reform bills, the real meat of the story is buried there. That’s where Democrat House Speaker Laurie Jinkins pointed out that the so-called reform bill (SB 5909) introduced by Senator Emily Randall (D – Bremerton) would not alter Governor Jay Inslee’s on-going abuse of emergency powers at all. That’s because the Democrats’ legislative majority has enabled the governor to undemocratically rule the state for the last 703 days, and the Democrats are just fine with that.

Speaker Jinkins stated that Senator Randall’s bill would only allow the legislature to end the governor’s emergency powers with a simple majority vote. Currently, bills to end the governor’s emergency authority require a two-thirds majority to override a likely governor veto.  Also, where Republican reform places a limit on the number of days (30, 60, or 90) a governor can rule the state through emergency powers, Randall’s legislation has no time limit.

Thus even Speaker Jinkins recognizes that Senator Randall introduced her bill so that she can mislead voters that she attempted to reign in the governor’s powers.  Democrat Senate leadership allowed a public hearing on Senator Randall’s bill (even though most who testified preferred Republican reform bills) because she is one of the most vulnerable Democrats’ to lose in 2022. Energetic campaigner Representative Jesse Young (R – Gig Harbor) announced last year he is challenging Senator Randall in next November’s elections. (Seattle Times, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Shift Newsmaker Interview)

Governor Inslee’s Employment Security Department (yes, the same agency that allowed foreign criminals to steal more than $650 million due to relaxing security measures in 2020) shocked legislators in mid-January by informing them that the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave insurance program was paying out more than it was taking in for nearly nine months. As the result, the program was drawing down reserve accounts to the point that an automatic rate increase was about to kick in.  To protect workers from having to pay higher premiums, Senate Republicans have introduced SB 5959 to provide enough funding to keep the program solvent until 2028 without increasing payments. The Republican legislation would place $125 million a year collected from cannabis sales into the Family and Medical Leave account for the next six years.  Bill sponsor Senator Lynda Wilson (R – Vancouver) said, “There seems to be bipartisan agreement on refilling the account to prevent a rate increase this year, but only Republicans are offering a responsible, long-term solution that would do better by the workers and the families of our state.”

For those keeping track, this is the third state program administered by Governor Inslee’ ESD which has faced a severe financial crisis during the past two years.  First the state’s unemployment benefits were the target of one of the largest thefts in American history after the governor’s own ESD appointee approved reducing security measures to reduce workload. Then it was announced last year that the now delayed Long-Term Care payroll tax was dramatically underfunding the state’s Washington Cares program. And now the ESD kept from legislators the fact that the Paid Family and Medical Leave program is also running out of money.  In most private sector jobs, such major problems would cause many people to lose their jobs.  But within the Inslee Administration it means those responsible will likely soon be promoted to the Biden Administration.  (Washington Senate Caucus media release and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Despite public school enrollment decreasing by more than 41,500 students during the past two years, Governor Inslee and the Democrats want taxpayers to continue to pay school districts to instruct students who are not there.  Because the state’s public schools were not prepared for the distance learning Gov. Inslee mandated for the first months/years of the pandemic and because teachers unions placed unreasonable demands on school districts before they would return to in-person instructions last year, enrollment data reveals that public schools are instructing 41,582 fewer students today then they were during the 2019-2020 school year. Since this has occurred as the state’s population has grown, the real figure of the number of students who are seeking education alternatives to public school is likely closer to 50,000.

Since school districts receive funding based on enrollment figures, approximately $900 million is not scheduled to be sent to the school districts this year.  This loss of funding will reduce headcount for the number of teachers and other union employees. To make sure his major campaign donors at the Washington Education Association and other government employee unions keep receiving dues, Governor Inslee has proposed in his supplemental budget to send most of the saved money back to the districts so they can hire more union workers in our state’s schools.

So, the Democrats on the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education passed Senator Lisa Wellman’s (D – Mercer Island) legislation (SB 5563) to send $500 million to school districts to teach students who are not there. Chair Wellman is well known for doing whatever the teachers’ unions want. The bill is now before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which will need to pass it before next week before sending it to the House.

Both Governor Inslee’s and Senator Wellman’s actions prove again that their top education priority is not to provide a quality education to students, but it is to make sure education workers’ unions bank accounts are full of dues so they can return the favor with campaign contributions next campaign.  (Crosscut, Washington State Public School Enrollment data, Washington Legislative Bill Summary, and Washington Policy Center)

Liberal organizations, led by the King County Department of Public Defense, are demanding that King County stop booking criminals who are suspected of failing to register as a sex offender, first- and second-degree motor vehicle theft, residential burglary, and even those with fugitive warrants.  This is the latest attempt by liberal activists and Democrat politicians to use the threat of COVID infection as an excuse to make Washington State a more comfortable place to be a criminal.

Apparently liberal activists want to remove any deterrent for criminals to steal cars.  Currently, if a criminal steals a car, the Democrats’ “police reform” bill passed by the 2021 legislature prevents officers from pursuing the vehicle under most circumstances.  If somehow the criminal is arrested, this latest proposal would forbid the car thief from being booked into jail.  And why would sex offenders register with authorities if they will not be sent to jail when they refuse to do so?  We will be watching to see if the liberals who control the King County Council are willing to go along with this proposal, especially at a time when violent crime rates are skyrocketing in the county.  (MyNorthwest and Seattle Times)

A women recently arrested for setting numerous house fires in Tacoma is an example of a felon who the Democrats have restored the right to vote, despite not completing her sentence for previous convictions.  A 42-year-old women was arrested on Friday as a suspect in 18 separate arsons which occurred on January 25^th and 26^th.  The women had been convicted in 2012 for burglary and sentenced to three months in jail and to pay $1,400 in restitutions.  The woman has yet to pay the claim and the Pierce County Prosecutors Office has sent her case to collections.

Despite not fulfilling her legal obligations, the Democrats’ SB 5086 sponsored by Senator Patty Kuderer (D – Bellevue) and HB 1078 sponsored by Representative Tarra Simmons (D – Bremerton) restored this felon’s voting rights when it was passed during the 2021 Legislative Session.  Gee, thanks. (News Tribune and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Yet another solar panel farm is being proposed for Southwest Washington.  Portland’s Aurora Solar has announced its intention to construct a 150-megawatt facility on 2,600 acres on current agricultural lands, which are a few miles south of Clarkston along the Idaho border. If approved by Asotin County, Aurora Solar said it plans to be operational by the end of 2024. (Lewiston Tribune)

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