Pguppy

While the people of Washington and most lawmakers breathlessly await the outcome of closed-door budget negotiations (a process clothed in "sanctity," according to Governor Inslee), Senator Michael Baumgartner has introduced a bill that would promote fairness and social justice for every working person in the state.

Within a day of Governor Kitzhaber of Oregon saying he would not permit new highway bridge construction across the Columbia River unless Washington taxpayers agree to put up an extra $450 million toward a light rail route, Sound Transit's light rail system claimed another victim in Seattle. A Mariners fan died of his injuries Tuesday after being hit by a Sound Transit train near Safeco Field.

Representative Reuven Carlyle’s (D-Seattle) bill to help children in state foster care finish their education continues to advance in Olympia, passing the House and now under consideration in the Senate. This commonsense idea has broad bipartisan support. The bill passed the House March 8th by a vote of 86 to 12.

Although many Democrats and Republicans support Rep. Gary Condotta’s training wage bill (HB 1150) our state’s powerful unions strongly oppose giving young workers access to job opportunities through a temporary training wage.

Seattle Weekly reports House budget Chairman Rep. Ross Hunter is considering a state takeover of schools that are denying children access to a quality public education. I admire Rep. Hunter’s concern for children trapped in failing public schools, and his willingness to do something about it, but I think this proposal moves in the wrong direction.

King County faces serious budget pressures, and county residents already pay the highest taxes in the state. So people are wondering why King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn chose this moment to introduce a proposal (K.C.C. 3.16.050) that could increase county costs by expanding mandatory binding arbitration to more public-sector unions.

Seattle Times liberal columnist Danny Westneat is upset that Washington Policy Center agrees with national experts that the Obamacare law’s mandate tax is one of the largest tax increases in U.S. history.