LATEST BLOGS
HB 1589's ban on natural gas adds "more resources" to solve problems created by the CO2 tax
Bad policy leads to new bad policy that attempts to fix the problems created by the original bad policy.
That is the story behind HB 1589, signed by Governor Inslee, which transitions Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) natural gas customers to all-electric over the course of many years.
Read the entire blogWA Supreme Court provides license relief for disadvantaged law students. But other workers are out of luck.
The Washington State Supreme Court wants people to know the state cares about reducing government rules that “disproportionately and unnecessarily [block] marginalized groups.”
The Court recently announced that it would provide “alternative pathways to lawyer licensure” because the existing bar exam prevents a disproportionate number from receiving law licenses. Law students can still pass the bar exam to become licensed – although the required score has been reduced – but there are now other options. There is an alternative called the NextGen bar exam and an apprenticeship path.
But if you are poor, or an immigrant, or from a disadvantaged community and want relief from Washington’s excessive occupational licensing requirements in any other job sector, you are out of luck.
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‘Bipartisan’ is in the eye of the beholder
A press release from Senate Democrats paints a picture of bipartisanship that isn't complete. The release said about 81% of the bills that passed in the session that ended earlier this month earned 31 or more votes from Republicans. (Know that I haven’t checked the numbers and that this percentage is from a corrected release that followed an original version that had different percentages.)
Regardless of exact numbers, it is true that a majority of bills had at least one Republican signed on, earning the legislation the “bipartisan” label. But what the original and corrected releases don’t say is that only bills heard and voted on can pass in the first place. Democratic leadership ignores many bills it dislikes or doesn’t move them onto a floor vote. That improves the percentage of “bipartisan” bills that pass.
Read the entire blogWPC IN THE NEWS
WPC CALENDAR
Washington Policy On The Go - April 9
State of the Free Market
