The rest of the media will catch up on this story tomorrow since it broke in the wee hours of the morning when Democrats were counting on nobody paying attention. But since the Washington Observer was there, we learned that “the House narrowly voted to send Gov. Jay Inslee one of his priority bills for the session, a controversial measure aimed at helping Puget Sound Energy transition its customers from gas to electricity.”

By “transition,” the Democrats intend for PSE to be able to ban natural gas hookups for new customers while billing the rest of their customers for the privilege of “helping” PSE make guaranteed profit. Perhaps that’s why the bill only passed 50-45, “the narrowest possible margin. The ‘no’ votes included a handful of Democrats in vulnerable seats.”

The Democrats’ “transition” means poor ratepayers will be “helping” the foreign-owned utility through higher gas andelectric bills, which will skyrocket if this new law withstands constitutional challenge. You can read on to see how realists point out that “it’s a sweetheart deal for PSE that will drive up costs for ratepayers and saddle consumers with high costs for transitioning from gas to electric appliances.”… Washington Observer.

Governor Jay Inslee had been hoping that the carbon tax whistleblower scandal, which broke over the holidays, would not see the new year.  Unfortunately for him, KING 5 is staying with the story, highlighting that Scott Smith, “the former state economist, filed a lawsuit against his former employer, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), the governor’s office and its budget wing, the Office of Financial Management (OFM).”

In case you’d forgotten the story, after “35 years working as a public sector economist, Smith said his career was ruined for his refusal to lie about how a new state policy, according to his mathematical calculations in early 2023, would jack up prices at the pump by 45 to 50 cents per gallon.” He ran into trouble when he ignored suggestions “that ‘managementwould prefer’ he not include cap-and-trade prices in his report,” since he used “6^th grade math” to show prices would go up, contrary to what the governor had been promising everybody.

You can read on to see Smith had been hoping to reach an agreement with the state, but now the “state has 20 days to respond to the suit.” … KING 5.

The legislative session has squeezed redistricting from the news, but that will end Friday when a “hearing before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington should help define the future of a legislative district in the Yakima Valley.” This hearing, according to Northwest Public Broadcasting, “is the latest chapter following the 2022 lawsuit that challenged Washington’s redistricting map to preserve the Latino vote in the Yakima Valley,” and the Democrat lawsuit is a thinly veiled attack on Republican State Senator Nikki Torres, the first Latina ever elected in Eastern Washington.

Democrats don’t want voters to notice that this appears to be the first case in our nation’s history where the Voting Rights Act is being used as a legal excuse to draw a minority officeholder out of the district they were elected to represent because of their partisan affiliation. But now Democrats may have to pay attention to the case again because the “Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Nation sent a letter to the State Attorney General’s Office, mentioning ‘none of the remedial maps represent the Yakama Nation’s interests to the same degree as the current 14th Legislative District’,” putting a major Democrat donor at odds with the effort to have the court remove Sen. Torres from her district. Northwest Public Broadcasting.

The far-Left activists who run the Democrat Party in Washington state are seeking their turn on the national stage as the next collection of lefties to reject “Genocide Joe” in a presidential primary. That’s the perspective coming from Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat, who can’t believe that “President Joe Biden isn’t good enough, especially for his support for Israel’s military actions, so some left-wing groups and at least one big labor union are rallying voters to vote‘uncommitted’ instead” in next week’s balloting.

And this is not a feel-good rally, as one leader says the “primary is a rare opportunity to tell Genocide Joe how you feel.” And that’s what most bothers writers like Westneat, who points out that “What’s happening to Democrats now is coming from inside the house,” not from those dastardly Republicans… Seattle Times.

You may have neighbors closer than you thought possible, regardless of where you live, thanks to Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s new housing plan. That’s the news coming from Crosscut that the “City of Seattle’s new comprehensive plan for the next 20 years of growth calls for expanding the boundaries of dense neighborhoods and designating new areas of the city for population growth.”

You will have to decide for yourselves if Seattle bureaucrats can be trusted when they say that the “city’s new proposal is not a wholesale departure from the urban village strategy, but an evolution.” Read on to see if a neighborhood you know might be “evolving” badly, though remember there is plenty of “Seattle Process” remaining, as the “city must solicit public feedback, finalize the plan and do further impact analysis before it goes to the City Council for final approval.” … Crosscut.

Shift will leave this Washington State Standard story with little comment other than to note that if Democrats were beinggood bosses, their employees wouldn’t need a union. And, it’s worth noting that the Democrats are demanding an overtime exemption from their workers for their busy season, sort of like the one which they laugh at when requested by farmers, as legislators would “bar bargaining on hours of work during a legislative session. The House extends the ban to work during the 60 calendar days before a session and the 20 days afterward. … Washington State Standard.

Please consider making a contribution to ensure Shift continues to provide daily updates on the shenanigans of the liberal establishment.

Forward this to a friend.  It helps us grow our community and serve you better.

You can also follow SHIFTWA on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter.

If you feel we missed something that should be covered, email us at [email protected].