“Democrats have been in full control of the state Capitol for less than three months, and quickly they are proving they are not the party of transparency and open government.” We certainly agree with the editorial board over at The Seattle Times on this one. “House leaders and Inslee should reject these measures as an assault on government transparency.” (The Seattle Times)

Democrats are appeasing their union friends with their latest moves in Olympia – and it is completely unacceptable. Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia) said, “This isn’t a judgment about whether [home care workers] should be in the union or not be in the union. We think it should be their choice…The Supreme Court said they have a choice,” but SB 6199 is an attempt to take away that choice. (Smarter Government Washington)

Someone call John Conlee, Gov. Inslee stole his rose-colored glasses (yes, we love ’80s country references). Inslee is claiming that farmers are warming up to his carbon tax idea. Despite the Farm Bureau saying, “Almost across the board, farmers and ranchers are experiencing painfully low commodity prices and (a carbon tax) just creates more costs,” Inslee left Eastern Washington spouting the opposite rhetoric. “I can’t overstate how optimistic I am about this because there are so many open minds to this idea, particularly in the business community…Look, we have never had businesses in the state of Washington engage in a dialogue about how to reduce carbon pollution. This is like a revolution,” he said. (Capital Press)

Sound Transit is offering homeowners in Bellevue’s Surrey Downs neighborhood $300 as compensation for building the light rail line through their neighborhood. Homeowners in the neighborhood signed a contract in the 1950s that promised, “there shall be no noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odors, heat or glare produced as a result of the home occupation which would exceed that normally produced by a single residence.” Of course, as usual, Sound Transit believes itself to be above the standards set by existing laws and sees $300 as plenty of compensation for destroying the peaceful environment of the neighborhood. (MyNorthwest)

Seattle has more electric ride-share bikes than any other city in the nation, with LimeBike adding more than 500 Lime-E models in the city. We’re sure Jay Inslee will be including this fact, with some Inslee-isms and about 18 superlatives, to his talking points soon. (MyNorthwest)

The most ridiculous non-answer of the week goes to Seattle Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who responded to a question regarding the legality of a closed-door meeting with Amazon executives with, “That is such a wonderful question to ask…What I’m hopeful is that we have this conversation, establish relationships, then bring these meetings back here to City Hall.” So…was it violating the Open Public Meetings Act or nah? (MyNorthwest)

Snohomish County is installing a control system that coordinates traffic signals in hopes of improving flow. “It’s almost like putting a traffic engineer on every corner,” said Paul Coffelt, traffic engineer for Lynnwood. (The Everett Herald)

An Othello rancher left millions to benefit Eastern Washington when he passed away last month. William Crosetto’s legacy includes his $5.1 million estate and two, separate $1 million endowments to help “support everything from rural health care to Spokane homeless services to protecting sage grouse habitat.” (The Spokesman-Review)

Requiring training for long-term care providers on the needs of the LGBTQ population | ESB 5700 | 29-18-0-2 vote

Establishing the prevailing rate of wage based on collective bargaining agreements or other methods if collective bargaining agreements are not available | SSB 5493 | 32-15-0-2 vote

Concerning the collective bargaining rights of the professional personnel of port districts | ESB 6230 | 29-18-0-2 vote

Concerning diversion of juvenile offenses | ESSB 6550 | 35-11-1-2 vote

Concerning prescription drug insurance continuity of care | SSB 6147            | 38-9-0-2 vote

Establishing the Washington state economic growth commission | 2SSB 6236 | 30-17-0-2 vote

Enacting the employee reproductive choice act | SSB 6102           | 26-21-0-2 vote

Concerning the electrification of transportation | ESSB 6187 | 39-8-0-2 vote

Addressing compliance with apprenticeship utilization requirements | 3SSB 5576 | 39-8-0-2 vote

Regarding prior authorization | ESSB 6157 | 42-4-0-3 vote

Helping foster and homeless youth complete apprenticeships | 2SSB 6274 | 35-12-0-2 vote

Concerning the collection of youth voter registration sign up information | 2SESHB 1513 | 52-46-0-0 vote

Authorizing membership in the Washington public safety employees’ retirement system… | SHB 1558 | 89-9-0-0

Creating an office of the corrections ombuds  | E2SHB 1889 | 76-21-0-1 vote

Regulating opioid medications at educational institutions | 2SHB 2390 | 79-19-0-0 vote

Establishing the working families’ child care access and affordability through regional employers act | E2SHB 2396 | 84-13-0-1 vote

Improving access to mental health services for children and youth | E2SHB 2779 | 84-14-0-0 vote

Expanding the provision of trauma-informed child care | EHB 2861 | 70-27-0-1 vote

Concerning civil legal aid | SHB 2308 | 86-12-0-0 vote

Expanding the classes of persons who may provide informed consent for certain patients who are not competent to consent | ESHB 2541 | 84-14-0-0 vote

Eliminating lunch copays for students who qualify for reduced-price lunches | SHB 2712 | 59-39-0-0 vote

Establishing a reporting process for the department of natural resources regarding certain marbled murrelet habitat information | HB 2285 | 54-43-0-1 vote

Concerning procedures in order to automatically register citizens to vote | HB 2595 | 58-40-0-0 vote

Concerning the deduction of union dues and fees | HB 2751 | 58-40-0-0 vote

Updating health benefit exchange statutes | HB 2516 | 58-40-0-0 vote

Adding part-time employees to state civil service | HB 2669 | 52-45-0-1 vote

Concerning the use of perfluorinated chemicals in food packaging | HB 2658 | 52-45-0-1 vote

Protecting taxpayers by providing for accountability and transparency in government contracting | HB 1851 | 52-45-0-1 vote

Concerning authorizations of proposals for emergency medical care and service levies | HB 2627 | 63-34-0-1 vote

Concerning public hospital district health and wellness promotion activities and superintendent appointment and removal | HB 2539 | 58-39-0-1 vote

Education (House)

Expanding statewide career and technical education course equivalency options | SB 6133

Removing concurrent enrollment requirement of algebra II for AP computer science courses to be counted as equivalent to high school mathematics | SB 6136

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