There are many open-government advocates concerned that a bizarre end-of-session ruling by Democrat Washington State Lt. Governor Denny Heck (as the presiding officer of the Washington State Senate, might bring even less transparency to a legislative process that doesn’t allow Democrats to do everything they want, regardless of long-standing rules. Lt. Governor Heck decided to allow bills, which had previously being killed (or failed to receive a required public hearing), to suddenly be added to legislation at the last minute.  During the closing hours of the 2022 legislative session, the lt. governor ruled that language from a previously killed bill (HB 1157 on tax incentives for housing) could be added to another piece of unrelated legislation (HB 1099 on climate measures) during the conference committee process.

This was bizarre because conference committees are supposed to work out differences in legislation that has passed, and include members of the House and Senate to work out those differences. The conference committee version of the bill then needs to pass both chambers, without additional amendments.

As could be expected, Republicans, led by Senator Shelly Short (R – Addy), strongly objected to Lt. Governor Heck’s partisan, precedent-breaking decision which could lead to all sorts of legislative shenanigans in the future. That is in part because Lt. Governor Heck’s ruling appears to be in conflict with legislative rules against “logrolling” (i.e. including unrelated items onto other bills to take advantage of their momentum).

While the conference committee version of HB 1099 passed the Senate along party lines, the House Democrat leadership failed to bring it up for a vote for the end of the session because it was not “progressive” enough.  Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center writes about the dangers of the precedent which LG Heck’s decision could lead: “This entire process proves yet again why no bill (even ones from prior years) is truly dead until Sine Die. With the Lt. Governor’s ruling on HB 1099 allowing text to be cut and pasted from another bill, I fear Pandora’s box for anti-transparent conference committee report games to be played is now wide-open.” (Washington Policy Center and Washington Legislative Bill Summary)

While it is hardly worth noting that 8^th Congressional District U.S. Representative Kim Schrier was among the nine Democrat members of Congress who tested positive for COVID following a Democrat-only retreat last week in Philadelphia, we do so to illustrate to our divisive governor that his fellow Democrats also bear responsibility for the continuing spread of the virus.   From the start of the pandemic, Governor Jay Inslee has refused to be a true leader by uniting Washington State residents to coordinate a response to the outbreak and has instead decided to use every occasion possible to be divisive (as he did just two weeks ago when he dodged a question about why he and legislative Democrats refused to end his two-year-plus of undemocratic abuse of emergency powers).

We somehow doubt that the governor will ever mention the fact that when his party’s congressional members got together for their annual retreat, they apparently failed to follow health and safety guidelines since so many members left the retreat infected with COVID.   Governor Inslee always seems to forget these many instances when Democrats and liberal activists have carelessly gathered which have resulted in the spreading of the virus, including the sharp spike seen in King County following the violent 2020 riots in Seattle by liberal activists. (Seattle Times/New York Times, Shift, and Washington Policy Center)

Representative Jacquelin Maycumber (R – Republic) writes in a Wenatchee World op-ed that due to recent Democrat actions the cost of food grown by Washington’s agricultural community will soon rise even higher.  Representative Maycumber explains that the Democrats’ 2022 transportation budget raised fees and taxes, and the price of fuel will soon increase even further (some estimates are as high as a dollar a gallon) when the Democrats’ Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and their cap-and-tax scheme are implemented.  These laws, passed with only Democrat votes, will only increase the cost of farming in Washington and will result in even higher food prices. This will make it even tougher for low-and middle- income households to meet their expenses.

When Democrats had the opportunity to support any of the number of tax relief bills put forth by Republican legislators to help Washington State residents, the “progressives” chose to ignore those who are financially suffering and instead chose to use nearly all of the $15 billion in the unexpected state revenue surplus to selfishly increase the size and cost of state government – and give that money to their special interest donors. (Wenatchee World)

Those of us at Shift are sadden by the passing of Bob Williams, a former five-term Republican Washington State legislator from Longview, the 1988 Republican candidate for governor, and the founder of the Freedom Foundation, where he was one of the first to warn of the growing influence of government employee unions.  Bob was one of the nicest men in politics and his expertise on budgetary matters is legendary.  Before founding the (Washington) Freedom Foundation he was also involved in the early development of what is now the Washington Policy Center. (Freedom Foundation media release)

The City of Seattle is attempting to remove homeless encampments, crime, and drug use out of downtown Seattle, yet it just appears to be resurfacing in the city’s residential neighborhoods.  Business employers in the Crown Hill neighborhood (Northwest Seattle) met with Seattle Police Department officials over the sharp increase in crime and homeless encampments in their community.  There is currently a large and sprawling homeless encampment surrounding the Safeway at the corner of 85^th Avenue and 15^th Street. Local merchants claim there has been a significant increase in the amount of crime and violent behavior in recent weeks. Unfortunately, because of “progressive” public safety policies, law enforcement throughout the city is short staffed and unable to respond to all incidents. (KOMO News)

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WSFW) is seeking public input over new rules guiding when and how the state can use lethal methods to stop wolves from attacking livestock.  The proposed guidelines state that “to authorize lethal removal of wolves, the WDFW director (or WDFW staff designee) would need to confirm an owner of domestic animals has proactively implemented appropriate non-lethal conflict deterrence measures.” This means that state government is putting the burden of proof on the farmer/rancher to demonstrate that they attempted to prevent the wolves from having access to their livestock before the WDFW will authorize the use of lethal removal of the attacking wolf.  The proposed language is very ambiguous as to what length the rancher/farmer needs to go to before the WDFW will grant approval.  For those seeking to comment on the proposed guidelines, please click on any of the links. (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife portal)

Play in the second round of Shift’s Olympia Madness Tournament as our readers determine which Democrat proposal was the worst of the 2022 legislative session.  We have four bad ideas left for you to choose from.  In the “Fakes and Failures” side of the bracket, “Failing to reform the Long-Term Care Payroll Tax” and “Attempting to pass fake emergency powers reform” still remain. On the “Taxing and Spending” side you get to choose between “Doubling the State Budget in One Decade” and “Refusing to Pass Tax Relief” as to which was the worst policy push by Democrats. Play today and send the link to your friends. (Shift’s 2022 Olympia Madness)

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