Liberal career politician Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has issued a rule that will result in higher insurance premium costs for auto, homeowner and renter insurance for many Washington State residents – and he is not concerned by this.  After courts shut down the six-term commissioner’s previous effort last year to prohibit insurance companies from using credit ratings as one of many factors in determining insurance rates, the 78-year-old Democrat yesterday issued his latest rule which does the same thing.  The prohibition will go into effect on March 4^th and will stay on the books until three years after the end of both federal and state pandemic financial protections.  Senate Republican Leader John Braun (Centralia) quickly pointed out that this move will dramatically increase many Washington State residents’ insurance premiums and will severely impact those on fixed incomes.  Senator Braun said, “They’re now being placed in an untenable position where they aren’t getting more income and they’re seeing increase in rates of hundreds of dollars.” And Democrat politicians like Kreidler are just fine with that. (AP/Seattle Times)

Republican legislators continue their effort to restore basic principles of democracy to state government by ending Governor Jay Inslee’s 704 days of unprecedented one-man rule of the state through his abuse of the state’s emergency powers laws.  On Monday afternoon, majority Democrats in the state House finally allowed a public hearing on one of many Republican proposals (HB 1772) to amend the state’s inadequate emergency authority laws. The bill was introduced by Representative Chris Corry (R – Yakima) and would limit the governor’s emergency authority to 60 days, which is similar to laws in nearly all other states. After that period, the legislature would need to approve extending the time period or return to their constitutional role of having legislative oversight on a governor’s actions.

Representative Corry opened the House Committee on State Government and Tribal Relations’ hearing on the bill (which had more then 5,000 members of the public signing in their support of the bill, while only about 100 opposed) with a five-minute statement on why the legislature should pass the legislation.  Representative Corry stated to his fellow legislators, “Article 1, Section 1 of our constitution states ‘All political power is inherent in the people.’ In order to fulfill that and honor our oaths as representatives we should be party and part of those (state orders related to the pandemic) discussions.”  (House Republican Caucus media release, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, YouTube video of Representative Corry’s presentation, and Washington State Constitution)

Nine-term Democrat State Representative Mike Sells (Everett) announced his retirement from the legislature. The former head of the Everett Education Association (teachers’ union) is currently the Chair of the House Labor and Workplace Standards Committee.  House Republican Leader JT Wilcox tweeted that Representative Sells 38^th Legislative District was “made competitive by redistricting” and stated Republican Mark James immediately filed to run for the seat. (JT Wilcox Twitter and Mark James Campaign)

Senator Simon Sefzik (R – Ferndale) introduced legislation to provide $600,000 in short term financial assistance to Whatcom County agricultural producers impacted by last November’s floods. This money is to help farmers and ranchers with payroll, utilities, rent, and other short-term expenses.  As the senator stated in his recent Shift Newsmaker Interview, this proposal (SB 5936) is on top of his other legislation (SB 5937) to provide local governments with $85 million in long-term assistance from the state.  (KGMI Radio, Shift Newsmaker Interview, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) is speaking out strongly against two bills proposed by Democrats seeking to have more government control over labor policies at the state’s hospitals.  The WSHA states that HB 1868 and the nearly identical SB 5751 would significantly increase the cost of patient care.  Registered Nurse June Altares stated that if the legislation were passed they “will make many of the care delays we’ve seen during the pandemic, a permanent feature in Washington State.”  The bills would place the Washington State Department of Labor and Industry in charge of hospital staffing levels and determining when employee breaks would be mandated.  (YakTriNews and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The negative impact of liberal public safety policies is revealed in the King County Prosecuting Attorney Office (KCPAO) 2021 Firearm Violence report.  The just-released report shows that after liberals on the Seattle City Council defunded the city’s police department and after Democrats in the Washington State Legislature passed hastily drafted “police reform” measures, the number of gun victims in the state’s largest county has risen an incredible 80% since 2019. And news stories from this past weekend clearly demonstrate that the trend is continuing into 2022.  Liberals claimed they made these reckless and irresponsible public safety decisions in the name of “social equity,” yet the report shows that an overwhelming majority of the victims were people of color.

The data in the KCPAO report shows that there were 460 victims of firearm crimes in King County during 2021.  This was up from 255 in 2019, and 337 in 2020.  It also reveals that in 2021, 81% of the victims were people of color.  In viewing the map of where the shootings took place, an overwhelming majority occurred in lower income neighborhoods.  Thus the results of liberal “reform” measures made to reward the liberal activists who rioted in Seattle has resulted in more people of color, living and working in low-income neighborhoods, becoming victims of violent crimes. While liberal politicians want to blame this on guns, the fact is that the guns have always been there.  The variable which has changed is the soft-on-crime and anti-police policies enacted by liberal politicians. (King County Prosecuting Attorney Office 2021 Firearm Violence report and Seattle Times)

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat expressed his frustration with new Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell over his failure to reveal how his office will handle the current explosion in crimes in the city.  Westneat mentioned the King County Prosecuting Attorney Office report (see above story) which revealed the dramatic increase in firearm crimes in Seattle.  He also reported that aggravated assaults have risen 66.5% in the past two years in the city and the police department has lost 350 cops in the past 18 months due to “attrition and political dysfunction.”  This has resulted in the smallest police force in Seattle since the 1980s.

Westneat compared Mayor Harrell’s “give us a chance” passive actions to the aggressive performance of the new mayor of New York City, who has already released his plan to reduce violence in his city. We will note Mayor Harrell was on the Seattle City Council for 12 years, and many of his top staff members have been involved in local government for most of their careers.  The mayor’s office knows the issues and they know the players.  As Westneat concluded his article, “we are waiting.” (Seattle Times)

Boeing has begun to rehire workers after two years of layoffs, but the company does not expect to reach its 2019 employment level in Washington State due to the negative business environment unnecessarily created by Governor Inslee.  A Boeing spokesperson stated that the company is currently advertising for 5,000 jobs in Washington.  In 2019, the company employed approximately 72,000 workers in the state, but it is now down to near 56,000 due to manufacturing layoffs caused by the near collapse of the travel industry and setbacks in Max production following catastrophic crashes.  Employment losses in Washington were more severe than those in other states, mostly due to Governor Inslee’s repeatedly creating a negative environment for the major employer.  Remember in March 2019, the governor went on national TV during his (thankfully brief) failed presidential campaign and selfishly equated the state’s largest employer to muggers and blackmailers, all in a failed attempt to obtain support from anti-business liberal activists. (Everett Herald and KUOW/NPR)

Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic stated he is pleased that a Democrat effort to reduce penalties of those convicted in ‘drive-by” shootings has died in committee.  The bill (HB 1692) sponsored by Representative Tarra Simmons (D – Bremerton) would have removed the “aggravated factor” in the sentencing of those convicted in drive-by shootings.  Prosecutor Brusic stated that the representative was wrong to argue the increased punishment was targeting black individuals and he said it was used approximately five times in Yakima County against those involved in gang activities.  He said, in his jurisdiction, this is nearly always Hispanic individuals. (KIT Radio and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

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