The Democrats who control the legislature have spent the first 51 days of a 60-day legislative session not acting on any of the six citizen initiatives that were certified for their action. What the state constitution dictates should be their top non-financial priority has been treated by legislative liberals as mere afterthoughts – until today, when Initiative 2111 to ban state and local income taxes received a hearing.

The Democrats knew better than to put up a public fight over their cherished state income tax and rolled over when it came to the public comments – as over 90% of the 7,000 people who signed in for the hearing supported I-2111. You can read on to see what the people want here… House Republican Caucus.

As mentioned above, Democrats finally relented to the will of the people (somewhat) and yielded time on their busy calendars for public hearings on half of the citizen initiatives submitted to their legislature for action. If you missed today’s income tax hearing, two more citizen measures are on tap tomorrow, when I-2081, the Parents Bill of Rights, will be heard at 8:00 a.m. and I-2113, to restore sanity to police pursuits laws, following at 9:00.

It’s not too late to watch a hearing, testify, or just register your opinion at the links below. Let the Democrats feel what freedom feels like… House Republican Caucus.

• I-2081 | Establishing a Parents’ Bill of Rights
  • Public hearing on Wednesday, February 28, at 8:00 a.m. | House Hearing Room A
  • House Education Committee joint with Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee
  • Sign up to testify | Submit written testimony
  • Watch on TVW
• I-2113 | Restoring vehicular pursuits
  • Public hearing on Wednesday, February 28, at 9:00 a.m. | Senate Hearing Room 4
  • House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee joint with Senate Law and Justice Committee
  • Sign up to testify | Submit written testimony
  • Watch on TVW

It’s always dangerous to say something is truly dead in Olympia while the legislature is still in session, but once again, the experts have said rent control is dead for this session, so we’ll believe them.  After all, it is the Seattle Times writing that despite “a dramatic series of twists and turns throughout this year’s short legislative session, a proposal to cap annual rent increases is likely dead after the Senate Ways and Means Committee decided not to take action on it Monday.”

You can read on to see how reporters could tell the bill was dying on the vine when prominent Democrats stopped talking about it here… Seattle Times.

It has been a couple of years since the news broke that the Ferry Cathlamet had crashed into the West Seattle ferry dock, costing state taxpayers what KING 5 reports became “nearly $7 million. Calculations by the KING 5 Investigators show the boat missed approximately 10,000 sailings” as a further consequence of what is now being billed as ferry system error as much as the ultimate human error at fault.

The lengthy investigation shows that state “records show in the months and years leading up to the crash, co-workers and ferry managers expressed concerns about Capt. Dave Cole’s ability to safely pilot ferries across Puget Sound.” Those warnings led to no actions taken against the troubled captain, and “Cole declined to be interviewed, but his attorney said his client should be remembered for piloting thousands of safe trips for the state.”

So basically, the good captain is asking that his record be judged the same as Governor Jay Inslee’s management of the ferry system – remember all those sailings that did happen, not the ones where I crashed the boat. You can read on to see how that argument might work for the Democrats here… KING 5.

High-profile crime continues to plague the state, making the rest of us watch the reality of the Democrats’ pro-crime policies play out on the news every night. And, the Puget Sound region’s homelessness “emergency” is deep into year 8 with no improvement in sight. And these two features of all-Democrat governance often collide.

So, Shift will leave with little comment on this KING 5 story that ”two people are injured after being shot at an encampment near the Cedar River Dog Park in Renton early Tuesday morning.” You can read on to see that “one of the victims has identified the suspect, and detectives are actively searching for them.”… KING 5.

House Republican Deputy Leader Mike Steele of the 12th Legislative District joined us for last week’s Newsmaker Interview. Rep. Steele delved into the notable achievements and disappointments of the ongoing 2024 legislative session. He highlighted the bipartisan success in crafting the supplemental capital budget, emphasizing its crucial role in driving economic development across our state. He discussed the successful opposition to concerning bills, including those related to voting rights for incarcerated felons. Rep. Steele also provided insights into his legislation (House Bill 2307) to offer additional tax credits to Main Street businesses. Read more.

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