Once again the Inslee Administration is failing those who suffer from mental illness, this time it is negatively impacting the state’s young people who suffered greatly when the governor (and teachers’ unions) kept students away from in-person learning for longer than nearly every state in the country during the pandemic.  The latest mental health blunder by the state government is that it is taking an incredible amount of time for the state to provide necessary licenses to sufficiently trained clinical psychologists.

Applicants complain they spend months, even years, constantly pestering state employees to move their paperwork through the process. That means Democrats are making it more difficult for many young people seeking treatment for mental difficulties, as they are forced to wait for appointments because there are not enough state-licensed psychologists to meet with them.

The Washington State Department of Health responded to the state’s latest mental health-related failure by claiming it is understaffed to process the nearly 400 applications which are currently pending.  Thus, while the state government budget has more than doubled in size during Governor Jay Inslee’s first decade in office, it is evident the governor and Democrat legislators have never made helping those with mental illness a priority.

Among the many mental health related failures of the Inslee Administration are:

• Federal government decertifying Western State Hospital (the state’s largest mental health facility) due to poor administration (which cost taxpayers $53 million).
• Similar problems at Eastern State Hospital, the state’s other mental hospital.
• Failure to provide court-ordered treatment to criminal suspects, resulting in the state being levied millions of dollars in court fines and hundreds of mentally ill inmates suffering in local jails (and crime victims nervous about criminal suspects being set free by the courts);
• The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families forcing children in the foster care system with mental difficulties to sleep in cars, offices, and hotels.
• Not providing adequate protection of staff at Western State Hospital, resulting in several lawsuits from staff members who were physically attacked by patients.
• Failure by administrators to follow state health and safety guidelines resulting in numerous COVID outbreaks at state mental health facilities.
• Western State Hospital hiring an individual with 22 felony convictions (and more pending) to be paid an annual salary of $41,600 as a patient counselor. His pay soon skyrocketed to $118,000. And he is currently the prime suspect in the theft of thousands of dollars from hospital patients.

So while the governor went to Twitter at the start of the new year to claim that “important strides” were made on state issues, not even he could keep a straight face by including “mental illness” as one of those issues. (Seattle Times, News Tribune, Crosscut, KING5 News,  Shift, and Twitter)

Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center says the Democrats’ bill for property tax relief is actually a “trojan horse” containing language removing constitutional protections which could lead to “discriminatory tax policy, including a graduated (state) income tax.”   The bills (SJR 8206 and its House companion legislation HJR 4205) are they latest deceptive gimmick attempted by the Democrats so they can take more money from taxpayers to fund their greedy mass expansion of state government.

The Democrats’ bill contains a constitutional amendment which makes it easier for lawmakers to provide tax relief to state residents.  While this is positive, the Democrats use the same bill to stealthily alter the constitution to “repeal the uniformity clause in the constitution that requires property to be taxed the same.”  According to Mercier the legislation “opens the door to not only a graduated (state) income tax and wealth tax, but also a split roll and other types of discriminatory tax policy that treats taxpayers and property differently instead of uniformly.”

Not surprisingly the Senate version was co-sponsored by higher taxes and bigger-government enthusiast Senator Noel Frame (D – Seattle). At a recent hearing on the Democrats’ legislation the senator admitted that the included language could lead to a graduated (state) income tax, but the public shouldn’t worry about that because no one is currently proposing that type of tax.

As you can imagine, nearly everyone is skeptical of Senator Frame’s assurances, considering she spends nearly all of her time in Olympia scheming new methods for the state government to take more of our money and has been a leader in the Democrats’ actions to impose a state income tax. (Washington Policy Center, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and TVW broadcast of Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing, 15:00 minute mark)

Due to public pressure and a lawsuit filed by a government watchdog group, Democrat legislators have changed how they use the questionable tactic of claiming “legislative privilege” to redact (i.e.  hide part of) documents sought in public records requests.  The Democrats started using the term “legislative privilege” last year in their latest attempt to keep secrets from the public on such matters as the redistricting commission and legislation creating the state income tax on capital gains.  Documents, communications, and calendars sought by private citizens and by the media through public records requests were often heavily redacted, allowing Democrats to keep secret much of the information sought by those who made the requests.

After many members of the media complained and a lawsuit was filed by the Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG), Democrat Senate Leader Andy Billig (Spokane) has changed the process for how Senate Democrats decide whether or not to use “legislative privilege.” Of course, Senator Billig is part of the problem, only seeking to protect his colleagues from taking responsibility for their actions.

In the initial months of the Democrats’ latest attempt to avoid transparency, Senator Billig’s office decided what was to be redacted.  After the complaints and lawsuit, the majority leader has now decided to let individual members decide if they want the requested documents to be redacted.  So while the Democrats still use “legislative privilege”, it is now known which Democrat legislator made the  decision to hide their information from the public.  This is not exactly a model of transparency, but it is likely the best the public will see from the Democrats until the courts decide on WCOG’s lawsuit challenging the questionable legality of this Democrat secrecy scheme.  (Crosscut, The Olympian, and Washington Coalition for Open Government)

A new report from the Puget Sound Auto Theft Task Force reveals that an average of 81 cars were stolen every day during December in Pierce and King counties.  It turns out 1,603 cars were stolen in King County and 909 were taken in Pierce County during the month.  And initial figures for January show the trend is continuing upwards. This crime wave is impacting comprehensive auto insurance costs for all Washington State drivers, as auto theft rates have skyrocketed since the Democrats irresponsibly passed their restrictions on police pursuits during the 2021 legislative session.

Despite nearly all local law enforcement agencies blaming this disastrous policy for the sharp increase in auto thefts and other crimes, Democrat Senator Manka Dhingra (Redmond) has led the Democrats’ efforts to block the repeal of this law.  So if you are upset about being a victim of car theft or if you can’t afford the higher premiums on your auto insurance, we encourage you to email Senator Dhingra, because evidently she is unaware of the pain and frustration her support for criminals is causing. (MyNorthwest, Q13 Fox News, and Senator Dhingra’s email)

The Pierce County Council voted unanimously to ask the state Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC) to remove two sites in Pierce County from the list of locations for a new regional airport.  The two rural locations in Pierce County the CACC is currently considering are near the communities of Roy and Graham.  A site in East Thurston County is also under consideration, as is the possible expansion of Paine Field in Everett.  In supporting the resolution, Pierce County Council Chair Ryan Mello stated, “I’m certain there are other ways to grapple with our transportation challenges without ruining the rural environment.” (News Tribune)

Evidently the wealthy urban environmental groups which control Governor Inslee don’t support the bi-partisan agreement on a new riparian buffer bill to help the environment, as the governor’s staff member was the only one to testify against the legislation in a committee hearing on Tuesday.  The latest buffer bill (HB 1720)  establishes a voluntary program where farmers are paid by the state to develop larger buffer zones around streams on their property.  This proposal would actually help the environment, which the governor claims is always his priority.

This bill was the result of many stakeholders coming together to develop a solution after the governor attempted to force an expensive mandatory program onto farmers in 2022.  That bill, developed in secret with urban environmental groups, was so extreme that not even a Democrat-controlled legislature could vote it out of committee. The governor introduced another buffer bill this year, and it too failed to receive support.

Some legislators are concerned that the governor’s extreme views on this issue could hamper the state’s ability to reach this compromise solution.  Representative Mike Chapman (D – Port Angeles) who chairs the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, and was one of the architects of the bill, stated the governor could well veto the legislation.   (Capital Press, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Washington Policy Center)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with second-term Representative Peter Abbarno (R – Centralia), who was promoted to House Republican Assistant Floor Leader prior to the start of the 2023 legislative session.  Representative Abbarno is an attorney and former Centralia City Councilmember. He is married to public school teacher and is the father of two children.

Representative Abbarno shared his thoughts on a wide variety of issues that are being discussed by current legislators. He is the co-sponsor of a much-needed bill to reform the emergency powers of the governor. He highlighted Republican proposals to help lower- and middle- class families with permanent tax breaks. He opposed a Democrat voting measure that prioritizes criminals’ voting rights and another bill that eliminates the public’s voice on tax measures by eliminating Advisory Votes (which was originally enacted by citizen initiative in 2009). Representative Abbarno also provided his views on the state’s housing crisis, school choice legislation, and how some Democrats refuse to repeal their disastrous police pursuit restrictions which have made our state a more comfortable place to be a criminal. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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