A new tree for Cal Anderson (Image: Department of Enterprise Services)
The state’s Department of Enterprise Services has replaced the memorial and tree for Senator Cal Anderson at its location along Cherry Lane in Olympia.
Earlier this month, a department crew unceremoniously chopped down the dying Kwanzan Cherry tree and removed the memorial dedicated to Anderson, the state’s first openly gay state legislator and namesake for the Capitol Hill park.
After outcry from public officials and LGBTQ organizations, Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the tree and memorial replaced. A new tree has now been planted. Continue reading →
Washington legislators are back at work in Olympia starting this week to pound out a new state drug possession law.
Gov. Jay Inslee called the special session after failed attempts during the regular legislative session to reach a compromise on overhauling how Washington handles drug possession, substance abuse, and addiction. A 2021 Washington Supreme Court ruling struck down the state’s felony drug possession statute. Continue reading →
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Gov. Inslee at the opening of Capitol Hill Station in 2016
Gov. Jay Inslee announced Monday he will not seek a fourth term to lead Washington state setting off what is expected to be a wide open race for this office in 2024.
“Serving the people as governor of Washington state has been my greatest honor,” Inslee said in a statement. “During a decade of dynamic change, we’ve made Washington a beacon for progress for the nation. I’m ready to pass the torch.”
Inslee, 72, became only the second Washington state governor to serve three consecutive terms when he was reelected in 2020. Inslee announcement comes a week after Joe Biden, 80, announced he will, indeed, seek reelection in 2024.
The race is now on for which Democrat candidate for Washington governor will join Biden on the 2024 ballot.
In his statement, Inslee highlighted the economic growth of Washington under his leadership since he took office in 2013. Continue reading →
Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law Tuesday a ban on most sales of assault-style weapons across Washington — including the deadly AR-15.
“Today Washington state is putting the gun industry in its place and improving the health, safety and lives of our residents,” Inslee said in a statement.
The new restrictions include a 10-day waiting period on purchases, and new training requirements. There is also a provision that would allow the state attorney general to sue gun manufacturers or dealers under public nuisance laws.
Under the new law, current owners of the weapons will be able to keep them and gun dealers who already have them in stock will be allowed to sell out what they have. There is also an exception for the military, and for service members who may own such a weapon and move to the state.
“The new laws put Washington in the ranks of states with the strongest gun control measures in the nation,” the New York Times reports.
Pro-gun groups including the NRA have already filed suit.
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A view from the 8th floor of the under construction Heartwood development, an affordable mass-timber apartment building from Community Roots Housing at 14th and Union (Image: atelierjones)
The mass timber Heartwood’s central stairs (Image: atelierjones)
Housing, and how to make more of it across the state, has been the driving theme in Olympia’s 2023 session. While some proposals fell flat, others including what amounts to an end to single-family zoning, pushed through and look likely to become law. There were, of course, dozens of other laws passed this session, and a budget is still pending.
The Legislature is set to adjourn April 23. In a budget year, like this one, whether or not a given bill is dead is tougher to pin down. There are a number of cutoff dates built into the system, and in theory, a bill needs to meet those dates, which typically involve being passed by either the senate or house. If it doesn’t meet the date, it won’t become law. However, if a bill has budget implications, then it can be revived even if it missed the dates. And since virtually everything has some budget implication, virtually everything can be brought back.
With that in mind, these are where many efforts stand as of the writing of this story, but, some things that seem dead make yet be revived, we won’t know for sure until adjournment. For details about any of the bills in the story, go here, and enter the bill number.
Keep in mind the session is not over. If you see something up in the air that you find compelling, now is the time to contact your legislators, state Reps. Nicole Macri and Frank Chopp, and state Sen. Jamie Pedersen.
(Image: seattle.gov)
HOUSING Washington needs about 1 million new homes by 2044, according to the state Dept. of Commerce. To open up options for more housing, the Legislature has decided to, essentially, end single-family zoning as we know it across much of the state with HB 1110. Cities with populations more than 25,000 will need to allow for at least duplexes on every lot. Cities with populations of greater than 75,000 will need to allow at least four houses on every lot. Some of the space is to be set aside for affordable housing. There are some exceptions and fine print surrounding environmentally critical areas and other specially designated areas. Cities will also be required to allow at least six of nine so-called middle housing types. These are all varieties of more density than single-family, without going full blown apartment building. The state defines them as: duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, fiveplexes, sixplexes, townhouses, stacked flats, courtyard apartments, and cottage housing. All this adds up to lots of potential infill development in the coming years.
This does not mean, however, the bulldozers are going to start rumbling toward the big old houses in North Capitol Hill, let alone the rest of the city. Just because a type of building is allowed does not mean it is required. Homeowners can continue to live in their existing houses. They can tear down an existing house and replace it with another single family house if they so desire. This simply mean they would have the option of tearing down the single-family house, and replacing it with more units. In land use circles, the general expectation is that over time, most properties are eventually are built out to the highest density levels permitted and practical, though it can take a generation of more before it actually happens. Continue reading →
Stevens Elementary has stood on Capitol Hill since 1906 (Image: Seattle Public Schools)
Changes in state funding and a forecast for a continued near-term drop in enrollment has Seattle Public Schools scrambling to cover a $131 million budget deficit for the coming school year with continued financial shortfalls on the way.
None of the district’s campuses will be closed immediately but “consolidation” is on the table for the 2024/2025 school year, district officials told families this week.
According to the district, officials have started planning for a system of “well-resourced schools” with SPS cutting its lowest enrolled, most challenged campuses, “developing a system of schools with sufficient enrollment to have a broad spectrum of resource and educational choices.”
The closure process will focus on “inclusionary practices and services” and “be guided by Racial Equity Analysis Tool to assess impacts,” the district says.
To address the more immediate deficit, SuperintendentBrent Jones is preparing for layoffs including a reduction in the number of assistant principals in the district. Continue reading →
The annual town hall meeting to help constituents catch up and hold our state representatives accountable on issues including gun control, traffic safety, mental health and school funding, homelessness, and housing affordability will take place next week.
This year’s 43rd District town hall is scheduled for Saturday, March 11th at First Hill’s First Baptist Church. Continue reading →
New laws will mean changes in everything from employment to voting in Seattle and Washington State in 2023. Here is a look at some of the big changes going into effect with the new year.
In Seattle, the city will have new borders in 2023 for how it elects its city council after last year’s redistricting process. Changes for District 3 include carving off a small area of the Central District south of I-90 into South Seattle’s District 2 and shifting the highrise-zoned swath of First Hill along I-5 into downtown’s District 7. D3, meanwhile, will gain areas of Eastlake that had been in District 4. An August primary and November’s general election will be the first test of the new lines. Officials haven’t yet said when Seattle’s switch to ranked choice voting approved last year will be put in place.
Seattle’s minimum wage for large employers will rise to $18.69 an hour — up 8% from last year. The increase is required by Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance and is tied to the Consumer Price Index inflation rate for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton area. Outside Seattle, Washington now has the highest state minimum wage in the country at $15.74 an hour. Continue reading →
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We may be breathing in the last smoky days of 2022 on Capitol Hill but get used to them. Seattle is seeing more unhealthy air than ever — and state fire suppression efforts don’t prioritize air quality.
Meanwhile, as much as the smoke and haze is a concern, Seattle also now has too many days when the bad air has nothing to do with wind currents and burning forests in places like Skykomish.
Recent measurements from IQAir show Seattle logging more than twice the allowable number of days with unhealthy air, according to US Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.
Those bad air days fall into two categories — half of them, IQAir says, are due to particulate matter in the air from events like longer, more intense wildfires.
The Washington Department of Natural Resources which manages state fire suppression efforts including controlled forest burning says the response to the Bolt Creek Fire which has dragged on due to a historically dry October is by the books despite the wildfire’s impact on air quality around the more densely populated areas of Puget Sound.
A DNR spokesperson tells CHS the response strategy comes down to suppressing a fire in a remote area where homes and property around Skykomish are not threatened. Continue reading →
The state of emergency was enacted in early 2020 when we were still getting used to face masks
(Image: Washington State Department of Health)
Just under 1,000 days and after what will be more than 14,000 deaths from the virus in the state, Washington’s COVID-19 state of emergency will end October 31st.
“We’ve come a long way the past two years in developing the tools that allow us to adapt and live with COVID-19,” Governor Jay Inslee said in Thursday’s announcement as his administration credited the response for Washington’s relatively low death rate during the waves of outbreaks. “Ending this order does not mean we take it less seriously or will lose focus on how this virus has changed the way we live. We will continue our commitments to the public’s well-being, but simply through different tools that are now more appropriate for the era we’ve entered.”
Through the pandemic, Capitol HIll residents and businesses lived through new restrictions and requirements including social distancing, mask, and vaccination mandates as officials tried to fine tune the public response to slowing the spread of the virus.
Many elements of the emergency have already ended or been canceled but the lifting of the February 2020 declaration will bring a new milestone in emerging from the pandemic across the state with the end of requirements like vaccination mandates for state workers.
It will also more fully unhinge a complicated framework of legal structures and policies ranging from counties, to cities, to institutions like schools and hospitals, to private businesses that have built rules and requirements around the official emergency status.
