Lefties strain to say electing Sound Transit‘s board is a bad thing

Given how much of your tax dollars Sound Transit spends, some legislators think voters should directly elect its board. That sounds like a pretty reasonable idea to most people (our state constitution says all political power is inherent in the people, after all). At a committee hearing Wednesday, “transit advocates” strained to argue that letting voters choose Sound Transit’s board is actually a bad thing. (Shift WA)

A staffer from the office of Sen. Patty Murray (D) is accused of anti-Semitism. Journalist Sarah Stern said, “My colleague and I, who, thank God, was in the meeting and taking contemporaneous notes heard [staffer Jake Cornett] say, quote, ‘we don’t care about anti-Semitism in this office…We care about transgenders, we care about blacks, we care about Hispanics, we care about gays, we care about lesbians, we care about the disabled, we don’t care about anti-Semitism in this office.'” (MyNorthwest)

New Washington State Republican Party chairman Caleb Heimlich has confidence in the GOP’s future growth. “The party is in a strong position which gives me a lot of confidence going forward. If you look back over the last four years we’ve flipped nine seats that were previously held by Democrats,” he told 770 KTTH’s Jason Rantz. “We’ve got a city government that wants to tax soda while they’re trying to promote heroin use by pushing safe injection sites…There are voters in Seattle that I think are not Republicans, even an independent voter can say this is getting absurd.” (MyNorthwest)

“[I] didn’t recall seeing milepost 18 or the 30 mph advance speed sign,” the engineer in charge of the Amtrak train that derailed and landed on I-5 near DuPont in December told the National Transportation Safety Board. He said he knew about the curve and had intended on slowing down before reaching it, but explained that he was looking down at track bulletins and when he looked back up he “sensed that the train was becoming airborne.” (MyNorthwest)

Farmworkers filed a federal lawsuit against a Whatcom County blueberry farm. The 600 Mexican workers say they were forced to work “unless they were on their death bed,” and the farm subjected them to threats, intimidation and even violated federal laws to protect workers against human trafficking. (The Seattle Times)

Southwest Airlines will join two other airlines in operating out of Paine Field in Everett, starting this fall. “We’ve wanted to grow in the Seattle metro market for quite some time. But Sea-Tac airport is constrained. Paine Field will be a wonderful alternative for our customers,” Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said. (The Seattle Times)

An SUV drove off of the Anacortes ferry dock yesterday, plunging into frigid Puget Sound waters shortly after the driver paid her ferry toll. When a tow truck was able to recover the vehicle, the driver was pronounced dead. (The Seattle Times)

Despite its guaranteed-to-be-inaccurate result, King County conducted its homeless-person count early this morning. Hundreds of volunteers do what amounts to a head count on the streets – a snapshot from one early morning out of the year. (The Seattle Times)

Two or more Hanford workers were exposed to radioactive contamination, according to results from a Dept. of Energy study that analyzed 91 workers after air samples near the Plutonium Finishing Plant were shown to have airborne radioactive contamination not found by the monitoring devices in place. (Tri-City Herald)

WSU is offering its student financial services website in Spanish. Around 14 percent of the undergraduate student population at the state university is Hispanic. (The Spokesman-Review)

Aligning eligibility for the college bound scholarship program with the state need grant program | SB 5074 | passed Senate 38-11-0-0, headed to House committees | The bill would make Washington students living in the country illegally eligible for the Opportunity Scholarship. “We want to send a different signal [to Congress], that out here we think differently,” Sen. David Frockt (D-Seattle) said of the bill’s symbolic importance. (The Seattle Times)

Restricting the practice of conversion therapy | SB 5722 | passed Senate 32-16-0-1, now in House committees |”[Conversion therapy] is torture, and it should not take place in Washington state,” Sen. Marko Liias (D-Lynnwood) said. (The Seattle Times)

Concerning the collection of a motor vehicle excise tax approved by voters of a regional transit authority in 2016 | EHB 2201 | passed House 60-37-0-1, moving to Senate committees | “Here we are trying to make something that we don’t really like suck marginally less,” Rep. Morgan Irwin (R-Enumclaw) said. “I wish it went further.” The proposal would result in a refund on qualifying portions of overpaid Sound Transit car tab taxes from last year. (The Lens)

Addressing the establishment of an individual health insurance market claims-based reinsurance program | SB 6062 | “Effectively what we are being asked is for policy holders to pony up yet another $200 million to establish a reinsurance program. We hope that the federal government…will somehow magically give us $50 million to help offset the cost for the reinsurance program. If not, that’s okay, we will pass that back onto the policy holders again,” Patrick Connor, Washington State Director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses said regarding his concerns with the legislation. (The Lens)

Restoring the fair treatment of underserved groups in public employment, education, and contracting | SB 6406 | This bill would repeal voter-approved I-200 and again allow government to implement affirmative action and racial preferences.

State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections (Senate)

Exempting public employee dates of birth from public disclosure requirements | SB 6079

Concerning dates and timelines associated with the operation of the state primary and elections | SB 6193

Concerning contributions from political committees to other political committees | SB 5108

Concerning powers to waive statutory obligations or limitations during a state of emergency | SB 6006

Early Learning & Human Services (House)

Expanding eligibility for the early childhood education and assistance program | HB 2659

Concerning additional enrichment levy amounts to fund early learning programs | HB 2898

Concerning the handling of child forensic interview and child interview digital recordings | HB 2700

State Government, Elections & Information Technology (House)

Providing options for local governments to adopt alternative voting procedures | HB 2746

Exempting information relating to the regulation of explosives from public disclosure | HB 2774

Health Care & Wellness (House)

Concerning hospital notification of availability of sexual assault evidence kit collection | HB 2585

Concerning bone marrow donation information provided to driver’s license and identicard applicants | HB 2557

Concerning nonresident pharmacies | HB 2688

Concerning electronic communication of prescription information | HB 2689

Business & Financial Services (House)

Concerning diaper changing stations at restaurants | HB 2758

Addressing joint self-insurance programs for property and liability risks | HB 2843

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