Once again the Inslee Administration is failing those who suffer from mental health issues, this time it is especially hurting young people who need help overcoming issues they experienced due to being kept away from in-person instruction by the governor and teachers unions. The latest mental health blunder by the state government is that it is taking an incredible amount of time for the Department of Health to provide necessary licenses to sufficiently trained clinical psychologists.  So while thousands of youths are left untreated, license applicants claim they spend months, even years, pestering state employees to move their application through the process.

This is the latest failure of our state’s mental health system under Governor Inslee. The list of failures include the state’s largest mental health facility (Western State Hospital) being so poorly managed that the federal government was forced to decertify it (costing Washington State taxpayers $53 million), the state failing to perform court-ordered competency treatments for suspected criminals which has cost state taxpayers millions in court fines, and the state hiring a “counselor” (with an annual salary of $118,000) with 22 felony convictions, who is now the prime suspect in the theft of thousands of dollars of patients’ money.  Like the homeless issue, the liberals keep wasting millions and millions of taxpayer dollars on the state mental health programs, while the problem gets worse and more people are forced to suffer.  (Click to read full Shift article)

State employees have received an email informing them that they are required to go through eight hours of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training as state taxpayers are funding the indoctrination of government employees with divisive liberal political beliefs. The email states that “’A Path Toward Equity’ is required training for Washington state agency employees.”.

Before attending the controversial day-long Critical Race Theory seminar, the state worker is forced to watch a two hour “documentary” titled “Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America.” So taxpayers are being forced to pay the salary of state employees while they are being taught a very controversial liberal political belief.  Can you imagine the outrage from Democrats if the state government forced taxpayers to educate state workers on the advantages of free enterprise, school choice, or religious freedom?  (Washington State Department of Enterprise Services)

From looking at next week’s public hearing schedule for legislative committees, Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center points out that on February 14th (next Tuesday), Democrat legislators will be celebrating Valentine’s Day by promoting their love for higher taxes. Among the tax items to be heard are:

• The Senate Local Government, Land Use & Tribal Affairs Committee will hear testimony on SB 5618to increase property taxes.
• The House Committee on Finance will hear testimony on HB 1473to impose a “wealth tax.”
• The House Committee on Finance will also hear public testimony on HJR 4205to remove the state constitution’s tax uniformity clause which will make it easier for Democrats to impose a graduated state income tax.
• The House Committee on Finance will hold a hearing on HB 1795to dramatically increase the state’s Death tax.

So while lower- and middle income workers could use a tax break to afford a dinner out with their loved one on Valentine’s Day, the Democrats will be with their true love, which is to raise taxes to pay for their continued mass expansion of state government. (Mercier Facebook post, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Washington Policy Center

KTTH Radio Host Jason Rantz argues that the Seattle-King County Public Health is essentially informing drug addicts how to conduct a  “fentanyl overdose party” by having “friends” ready to administer Narcan if an addict overdoses. The King County Sheriff’s Office says they have been informed these “parties” have taken place.  The public health department doesn’t actually call them parties, but it does provide instructions to addicts on how this can be done.

Rantz states that City of Seattle and King County policies have “emboldened addicts who know they won’t suffer legal consequences.” This has resulted in the number of overdose deaths to dramatically increase.

The “King County Fatal Overdose Dashboard” reveals that in 2022 there were 701 fentanyl overdose deaths and 519 methamphetamine overdose deaths.  And thus far in 2023 the data shows that the trend is continuing with 70 fentanyl deaths and 41 meth overdose deaths thus far this year.  By the way, isn’t it tragic that the drug overdose crisis is so prevalent that there needs to be a “Fatal Overdose Dashboard?”  (MyNorthwest and King County Fatal Overdose Dashboard)

The Biden Administration determined that sending more than $7.4 in U.S. taxpayer money to the City of Seattle was a waste of federal resources and should have been spent elsewhere. This money is connected to  the city’s very expensive and much delayed construction of an inefficient streetcar network in the Capital Hill and Downtown neighborhoods. The U.S. Department of Transportation audit of its funding found that because of endless bureaucratic delays, it should not have provided $3.8 million for a Downtown streetcar and $3.6 million for an extension of the stupid streetcar line on Capitol Hill.   How bad must it be within the City of Seattle administration that a group of federal bureaucrats currently led by the liberal Biden Administration says it wasted money sending it to the city?  (Seattle Times)

The Spokane Good Government Alliance (SGGA) praised Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward and Spokane Chief of Police Craig Meidl for advocating for state legislation which is needed to reduce crime and drug overdoses in the state’s second largest city. The SGGA praised the mayor and police chief for providing public testimony on bipartisan bills HB 1363 (to remove the Democrats’ disastrous restrictions on police pursuits) and SB 5467 (drug enforcement reform to reverse the Democrats’ 2021 legislation which basically decriminalized possession of such fatal drugs as fentanyl, methamphetamines, and heroin).

Nearly all of the state’s law enforcement agencies and hundreds of local officials have stated that it is imperative to allow officers to pursue suspected criminals if the state wants to halt the state’s skyrocketing crime rates.

Since the Democrats responded to the Washington State Supreme Court’s Blake Decision by essentially decriminalizing possession of harmful drugs, Spokane County, like nearly all Washington communities, has experienced a dramatic increase in fentanyl overdoses.  Also, the liberal drug policies have led to more people turning to crime to support their drug habit.

The SGGA’s media release also expressed the group’s disappointment in liberal Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs for his strong support of the previous legislative measures which caused the current drug and crime problem in Washington State. “It’s bad enough that Council President Beggs spends his energy making Spokane less safe, he also has the distinction of making the entire state less safe too.” (Spokane Good Government Alliance media release, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Snohomish County Sheriff video/YouTube, and Newsweek)

Washington State farmers continue to express their outrage over the Inslee Administration failure to follow the law and exempt the state’s agriculture community from the price increase caused by Governor Inslee’s expensive cap and trade legislation. As we reported last week, the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) has failed a legal requirement to provide a method to ensure farmers are not forced to pay the fuel increase caused by the governor’s policy (which thus far have added 25 cents to a gallon of gas).

Farmers have expressed their outrage to legislators and the Washington State Farm Bureau and wondering why the state never notified them that DOE failed to develop a method to protect them from the higher fuel cost.  Farm Bureau lobbyist Bre Elsey said the problem lies within a “tangled web” of regulations and requirements at the DOE. (Pacific Northwest Ag Network 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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