Shift won’t spend too much time on the specifics, but the cheering you hear from Olympia is the sound of victory – as the Democrats running the state House and Senate finally gave into reality and are approving three citizen initiatives each submitted with over 420,000 voter signatures last year. The passage of these three laws is truly worth celebrating, if only for today.

Insiders saw this policy victory coming, as the liberal blog Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) previewed the majority party’s surrender over the weekend, preparing party faithful for the blasphemy that “the Democratic-run Washington State Legislature is poised to do something unusual: vote to adopt a set of three right wing initiatives into law.”

It turns out the liberal plan, according to NPI, is to pass the three initiatives that don’t immediately take money away from them, and “by adopting I‑2081 (parental rights), I‑2111 (no state income tax), and I‑2113 (allow police pursuits) into law now, the Democratic Legislature guarantees that it can amend these measures in 2025 or 2026, whereas if any were to pass this November, they would require a two-thirds vote of both chambers to change.” Read on to see how the cynical legislative Democrats know they can’t beat these ideas at the polls, so they hope voters will return enough of the liberal legislators to do more damage in Olympia next year… Northwest Progressive Institute.

There are plenty of storylines coming out about how the Democrats in the state legislature are reversing their ground and finally approving citizen initiatives, which last month they were describing as devastating to our democracy. Such is the political courage – and consistency – of the majority party’s leaders.

The voting chart below from today’s Senate vote on Initiative 2113, which would restore police rights to pursue suspected criminals who currently drive away free, shows the names of the remaining Democrats in the state who support the rights of criminals over those of victims. One of them, State Senator Manka Dhingra, is even running to be the state’s top cop based on her anti-police attitude. Remember them.

One of the certainties of this election year is that Democrats will try to scare voters into voting for things they otherwise would not support. It worked for Joe Biden and Jay Inslee, and the liberals hope their winning through fear strategy continues to work – starting with threatening to take things away from voters that they don’t even have yet!

That’s the story from Crosscut, writing about the latest lunacy from State Senator Marko Liias, lamenting that “(I)f the Climate Commitment Act (carbon tax) is repealed, the need to fund ferries doesn’t go away. We’d have to cut other spending because these new vessels are critical to the fleet.” That’s right, the Democrats, who have starved the ferry system of funding for decades and lately insist that the only acceptable boats are much more expensive electric ones, are now crying because they might have to make budget choices using the record amount of tax dollars being generated by Washington taxpayers. Read more about how even this massive revenue windfall is not enough for the Democrats to care about the ferry system if voters don’t reject what they tell them to… Crosscut.

Shift has written plenty about in-over-his-head Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and how he accidentally failed-up into his current position. Now we want to update you on one of the mini-scandals that Secretary Hobbs is “managing,” namely using a foreign company to monitor Washington citizens and their political beliefs, as Center Square is reporting that an “artificial intelligence company working on behalf of the Washington Secretary of State’s Office to track election and voter ‘misinformation’ flagged factually accurate stories on noncitizens voting that were published by The Center Square.”

You can read on (and maybe get added to one of Secretary Hobbs’ lists) to see how regular citizens are also getting caught in Secretary Hobbs’ rather wide “misinformation” net looking for “for ‘harmful narratives’ regarding Washington’s elections or voting”… Shift, Center Square.

Shift has unfortunately highlighted the tragic spread of homelessness across Washington state since it was declared an emergency over eight years ago by the then-leaders of Seattle and King County. The latest example of this spread comes from the Kitsap Sun, which reports on the demise of the “Hospital Hill encampment, once a functional congregation for successful camper and outreach service relationships, (which) offered a taste of what an enclosed and regulated campground could look like.”

In case that bureaucratic-speak slipped by you, that’s a reporter regurgitating the language of the homelessness industrial complex to get you to accept people camping on public property. Unfortunately for the reporter and the campers, the story points out that as happens in places without rules, the campsite devolved as “trash accumulated, (and) more illegal activities began infiltrating the camp. Drug use became more noticeable, there were people arriving with felony warrants, and a woman was punched in the face,” and more here… Kitsap Sun.

This is the time of the session when a few legislators make public their plans not to keep returning to Olympia. Often these announcements go with little comment as the legislators in question have accomplished so little in office.

That’s not the case with former Republican House Leader J.T. Wilcox, who is stepping down after 14 years of representing South Puget Sound’s Second District. That’s why Shift commends this piece from the Chronicle to you, which highlights the reasoning behind Rep. Wilcox’s decision, including that “(S)ome political activists are more concerned about theatrics in politics and less concerned about results.”… Chronicle.

GOP House Floor Leader Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber (7th LD) joined us for this week’s newsmaker interview. Rep. Maycumber highlighted successes and disappointments of the 2024 legislative session. She also expanded on her advocacy for property tax relief and her perspective on the challenges faced by law enforcement due to anti-police policies. Finally, she outlined her commitment to empowering parents in education and shared aspirations for her run for U.S. Congress in the 5th Congressional District. Read more.

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