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Thursday, March 9

WA House votes to ban assault weapons
The state House approved an assault-weapons ban Wednesday night, advancing a measure long sought by gun control advocates that has stalled in the Legislature for years. After a couple hours of debate before a deadline for bills to pass their chamber of origin, the assault-weapons ban, House Bill 1240, made it through on a largely party-line 55-42 vote shortly before 8:30 p.m. It now heads for the state Senate for consideration. If the measure is approved by the Senate and signed into law, Washington would join nine other states that have enacted laws generally banning the sale, manufacture and transfer of assault weapons, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Gov. Jay Inslee watched the vote in the chamber and shook hands with supporters of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, clad in orange shirts and watching from the gallery. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Karen Ducey)

In surprising move, state Senate advances changes to police pursuit law
A controversial bill giving police greater ability to undertake pursuits narrowly passed the Senate on Wednesday, a stunning move pulled off less than two hours before a critical cutoff for action on the legislation. The measure, Senate Bill 5352, allows a law enforcement officer to initiate a chase with reasonable suspicion a person in a vehicle has committed or is committing a crime. It passed 26-23 with 16 Democrats and 10 Republicans pushing it across. Thirteen Democrats and 10 Republicans dissented. By beating a 5 p.m. deadline for action on a non-budget bill originating in its chamber, the Senate keeps alive a conversation on one of the session’s most divisive pieces of legislation. Continue reading at Everett Herald. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)

First-of-its-kind program helps unhoused kids in Washington state
Washington state’s eviction moratorium was set to expire the next month. In response to rising numbers of homeless youth here, state legislators passed a bill in 2016 that freed money to enable schools to identify more students as homeless and get them into stable housing — even if they aren’t viewed as homeless by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. In other parts of the country, though, the picture for homeless students is starkly different. Public schools identified 1.1 million kids as homeless in 2020-21, the most recent school year for which data was available. But roughly 85 percent of these children didn’t qualify for public housing assistance. Research continues to show the harmful impact of housing instability on kids’ learning. Continue reading at Crosscut. (Neal Morton)

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Associated Press
Washington House OKs bill requiring 10-day wait for guns (Berry)

Bellingham Herald
World’s 1st carbon-free fertilizer plant to be built in Richland, WA. Price tag is $1B
Washington’s Climate Commitment Act auction sets price for allowances

Capital Press
Washington House passes bill to sell carbon credits to reforest state land (Reeves)

Columbian
State funding for 179th street project might be delayed

Everett Herald
Will vehicle pursuit crash? Is WRAP Act done? We’ll know soon (Fey, Street)
With funds for dike repair, Stanwood steps toward reducing flood risk
In surprising move, state Senate advances changes to police pursuit law (Dhingra, Lovick)
Bill moves forward requiring safety course to buy a gun in Washington
Editorial: Best option for addiction moves more into treatment (Robinson)

News Tribune
More people are dying in crashes than 30 years ago. Are WA roads historically unsafe?
Editorial: WA should protect domestic violence survivors. But eroding records law isn’t the way (Mena)

Olympian
Here’s how WA House handled bill to scrap new airport in rural Pierce, Thurston counties (Fey)
DNR pauses proposed timber cut in Thurston County after commission weighs in
WA police a step closer to resuming pursuits under bill passed Wednesday by Senate (Dhingra, Lovick)
Assault weapon ban passed by WA House members Wednesday. Bill now heads to the Senate (Peterson)
WA House votes on mandating a 10-day waiting period for all firearms. Here are the details (Berry)

Puget Sound Business Journal
State report sounds alarm for housing production in Washington

Seattle Times
WA House votes to ban assault weapons (Farivar, Berry)

Skagit Valley Herald
Northwest Straits Foundation receives grant for eelgrass restoration
Return of Sidney ferry likely years away

Spokesman Review
Bill creating magic mushrooms regulation task forces passes the state Senate (Salomon)
Washington Senate passes police pursuit bill, increasing when law enforcement can chase (Lovick, Dhingra, Trudeau, Nobles)
State House passes bills to ban assault weapons and require background checks, safety training for gun purchases (Peterson, Senn, Berry, Farivar)

Walla Walla Union Bulletin
$100M available in grants to support Washington hospitality, lodging businesses
Walla Walla school board strategic plan tackles early literacy

Broadcast

KING 5 TV (NBC)
Bill banning assault weapons passes Washington state House
Bellevue Fire Department to purchase electric fire truck with help of grant

KIRO 7 TV (CBS)
WA House passes bill banning sale of assault weapons
House passes bill that would restart search process for new airport site in Washington (Fey)

KOMO 4 TV (ABC)
Senate hearing scheduled Thursday for bill that would tax wealthy Washingtonians (Frame)

KNKX Public Radio
WA lawmakers address critical shortage of forensic pathologists

KUOW Public Radio
How WA food banks are handling a hunger cliff

KXLY (ABC)
WA Senate votes to lift some restrictions on police pursuits; now moves to House

Web

Cascadia Daily News
Whatcom County reaches agreement on Cherry Point expansion

Crosscut
First-of-its-kind program helps unhoused kids in Washington State (Fey)
Three years in, five Washingtonians a day are still dying of COVID

MyNorthwest
WSP cracking down on ‘move over, slow down’ law
Three-decade high in WA teachers leaving profession as burnout soars
Online sexual, reproductive health care now available in Washington

Wednesday, March 8

Commissioner Franz & Rep. Chapman: Allow sale of credits for carbon stored in WA-owned lands
Since we became a state in 1889, Washington has used our working forests and farms and other public lands to build up and support our communities. These lands have produced billions of dollars of revenue that have built our schools, hospitals, universities, fire stations, libraries and even our Capitol dome itself. But we no longer live in 1889, and the model by which we manage our public lands needs to be updated to reflect the tremendous advances we have made in understanding the full value of our forests, farms and aquatic lands. Indeed, these lands provide the most valuable tools we have to address the challenges climate change poses for everyone in our state. And it’s past time we capitalize on that value to increase revenues for our schools and communities, reduce costs to taxpayers, and improve the health of our forests, farms and aquatic lands. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Washington State Department of Natural Resources)

State Senate passes safe staffing standard, in compromise between hospitals, unions
Hospitals may soon have to follow safe staffing standards, including staff-patient ratios, if a bill that passed the state Senate on Tuesday becomes law. The bill reflects a compromise between hospitals and nurse unions across the state that have long disagreed over the best way to address workforce shortages. Nurses have pushed for staff-to-patient ratios, while hospitals have said they don’t have the staff to follow the ratios. The proposal, which passed the state Senate 35-15, is one of many being discussed in the Legislature this year to help address workforce shortages in health care. Continue reading at Spokesman Review. (David Ryder)

WA bill aims to increase access to Death with Dignity Act
In 2008, Washington voters passed the Death with Dignity Act, a measure allowing terminally ill patients to seek physician-guided assistance with ending their lives. Under the current law, only physicians can carry out a dying patient’s request. A proposed bill making its way through Olympia, ESSB 5179, would allow nurse practitioners to become more involved in the process. Washington is among nine states, along with the District of Columbia, that have enacted a death with dignity statute. Continue reading at KUOW. (Charles Lenhart)

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Aberdeen Daily World
County testing “ombud” model to help veterans

Axios
Black homeowners gain less ground in Seattle than elsewhere

Capital Press
Washington’s first cap-and-trade auction collects more than forecast

Columbian
Clark County gains 1,600 jobs in January
Editorial: State must continue to protect abortion rights

Everett Herald
State eyes $300M haul from first-ever carbon emission auction
A handshake, a deal then hospital staffing bill emerges from Senate (Mullet, Robinson, Riccelli)
Mental health evaluation delays preceded Lake Stevens police killing
A presidential visit and a Blake bill passes in the Senate (Liias, Robinson)

The Facts Newspaper
Washington state receives $163.4 million to fund innovative small business loan programs

Kent Reporter
State of the County: Constantine discusses homelessness, environment, cameras for deputies

News Tribune
‘He wanted to die.’ Pierce County deputy lawfully shot armed 70-year-old, prosecutor says
Tacoma motel row on Hosmer next to I-5 could see another property turned into apartments
Opinion: I’m a renter in Puyallup. But without help, I won’t be able to afford it for long

New York Times
Five Women Sue Texas Over the State’s Abortion Ban
The Abortion Pill Fight

Olympian
Cold cases involving Indigenous people would get special team under WA legislation (Reeves)
Olympia elementary school closures on the table due to budget deficit, officials say

Peninsula Daily News
Bridge closures prompt Port Townsend letter
Proposal aims to keep power on during extreme heat (Mena)

Puget Sound Business Journal
WA House passes bill nixing single-family zones in much of the state (Bateman)
Homeownership gap between Black, white Americans continues to widen
Constantine proposes redeveloping King County’s Seattle campus

Seattle Times
Seattle is now building more ADUs than single houses (Gregerson, Senn)
Rep. Chapman & Commissioner Franz: Allow sale of credits for carbon stored in WA-owned lands

Skagit Valley Herald
Skagit County considers changes to homeless aid application program
Sauk-Suiattle lawsuit against Seattle City Light headed back to trial court

Spokesman Review
Spokane International Airport receives $15 million grant to help expansion
Bill to limit single-family housing in Washington picks up steam with House passage (Bateman)
State Senate passes safe staffing standard, in compromise between hospitals, unions (Mullet, Riccelli)
Column: Probe details extensive communications, favors between police chief and business group

Suburban Times
Bronoske bill to require AEDs for lineworkers passes House (Bronoske)

Yakima Herald-Republic
Program aims to make college acceptance process easier in Washington
Editorial: State’s taking a wrong turn with misguided public records legislation

Broadcast

KING 5 TV (NBC)
More University of Washington students are in need of food assistance
For workers on H-1B visas and their families, more tech layoffs threaten a future in the United States

KIRO 7 TV (CBS)
Bill to amend police pursuit bill on life support; must pass legislative session by Wednesday
WA House passes bill to aid in protection of domestic violence victims

KNKX Public Radio
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warns inflation fight will be long and bumpy

KUOW Public Radio
WA bill aims to increase access to Death with Dignity Act

KXLY (ABC)
From Camp Hope to the classroom
Washington’s unemployment report for January released

Q13 TV (FOX)
Washington House passes bill that would legalize duplexes, fourplexes (Bateman)

Tuesday, March 7

Rep. Doglio & Sen. Conway: WA Legislature can protect warehouse workers when employers won’t
In 2020, 23.9 out of every 100 workers in Amazon’s DuPont distribution center in Pierce County fell victim to a serious injury. Let us say that again. Nearly a quarter of all workers at the warehouse were injured seriously. That’s one of the highest injury rates in the country. Those injuries range from carpal tunnel to back sprains to more debilitating musculoskeletal disorders from doing strenuous tasks and repetitive motions for hours. These are our friends, family members and neighbors living in our state. They should not experience life-threatening injuries, constant pain, and punishing health care costs just for trying to make a decent wage and provide for their families. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Ted S. Warren)

Rep. Leavitt: Washington election workers still face violent threats. We need to protect them
The belligerent threats against Washington’s state elections director in fall of 2020 still shock the system. A state official — a constituent of Rep. Leavitt — had publicly challenged lies about elections, and as a result had their personal information put on a website, which had a photo of the official’s face in crosshairs. In the two years since, the situation on the ground for election workers has gotten no easier. Successful elections depend on professional, experienced staff who understand the nuances of this important process. The Legislature is now considering Rep. Leavitt’s bill, House Bill 1241, which sends a strong message that the major issue of harassment of election officials is completely unacceptable. Continue reading at News Tribune. (Peter Haley)

WA House passes bill banning single-family zoning
The Washington state House of Representatives late Monday passed a bill that would legalize duplexes and fourplexes in almost every neighborhood of every city in Washington, potentially bringing an end to local zoning rules that limit large swaths of cities to only single-family homes. The bill (HB 1110) passed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan 75-21 vote. It aims to increase housing supply and density in cities across the state without increasing sprawl. Supporters say that increasing housing supply is critical to easing the housing crisis that has seen home prices and homelessness climb throughout the state. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Ken Lambert)

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Axios
Ferry glitches show fragility of service restoration plan

Columbian
Service providers, survivors say human trafficking underreported in Clark County
Vancouver Police Department launches body-worn cameras program
How will state’s Climate Commitment Act affect Clark County?

Everett Herald
In Olympia, Finnish president makes case for NATO, strong ties with WA (Liias)

News Tribune
Tacoma low-income housing waiting list opens soon. Here’s when and how to apply
WA law would protect residents with unpaid utility bills during heat advisory. Here’s how (Mena)
Rep. Mari Leavitt: Washington election workers still face violent threats. We need to protect them
Opinion: Washington has a history of racist housing policies. This would help right the wrong

Northwest Asian Weekly
WA state could get a Chinese American Heritage month — Local community groups working on making January the official month (Santos)

Peninsula Daily News
Bills out of committee
Legislative page from Sequim (Tharinger)
Wrestling grant billed named for late Sequim firefighter (Van De Wege)

Seattle Times
Is Washington a rich state? That depends where you look
WA House passes bill banning single-family zoning (Bateman, Senn)
Rep. Doglio and Sen. Conway: Legislature can protect warehouse workers when employers won’t

Spokesman Review
Washington Senate passes bill making drug possession a gross misdemeanor (Robinson, Frame, Salomon)
Opinion: A permanent Clean Energy Fund would unlock Washington’s full innovation potential

Broadcast

KIRO 7 TV (CBS)
Washington State Senate passes bill removing penalties for retired nurses returning to workforce (Cleveland)

KNKX Public Radio
Finland’s president addresses WA Legislature on historic visit

KUOW Public Radio
Racist covenants excluded many from homeownership. WA lawmakers seek to remedy ‘decades of direct harms’ (Peterson, Taylor)
Washington’s next drug law could let accused choose treatment, services over jail time

Q13 TV (FOX)
‘Our streets are so unsafe now’; Bill addressing illegal street racing passes Washington Senate (Lovick)

Web

Cascadia Daily News
Whatcom’s tree stands named by ‘deadheads’ at DNR

Crosscut
Washington state considers banning over-the-counter rape kits

MyNorthwest
New Amtrak departure increases daily trips across Cascadia region

Monday, March 6

Washington lawmakers are trying to protect out-of-state abortion patients. Here’s what you need to know:
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, Democrats in Washington have made it a priority to protect access to abortion. As other states, like neighboring Idaho, begin passing laws to restrict abortion access, the Washington Legislature this year is looking at a number of ways to increase protections for providers and patients. One idea: shielding patients who travel for an abortion or gender-affirming care from criminal investigations in other states. “If other states are going to be creative and aggressive in restricting abortion, we will be creative and aggressive in fighting back,” sponsor Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bremerton, said during a floor debate. Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho saw a 25% increase of abortion patients this January compared to January of last year. The number of patients coming from Idaho, where an abortion ban went into effect in August, increased by 75% in the last year. Continue reading at Spokesman Review. (Jim Camden)

Bill passes to require landlords to substantiate damage claims to retain deposits
House Bill 1074 is sponsored by Rep. My-Linh Thai, D-Bellevue, and was passed with a 57-40 vote. It will now head for the Senate. The bill does several things, including extending the timeline landlords have to provide documentation showing that they are right in retaining all or part of a tenant’s deposit. That timeline would be extended from 21 days to 30 days. Additionally, landlords must provide documents or receipts to substantiate damage costs withheld from a tenant’s deposit. It also prohibits landlords from keeping a deposit in certain instances, such as normal wear and tear, or replacement of fixtures, appliances and equipment if the condition of those items was not documented during the tenant’s move-in. Thai said in a press statement released after the bill passage. “As a landlord myself, this is about setting a precedent for landlords to stop charging tenants thousands of dollars in uncorroborated damages.” Continue reading at The Olympian. (Getty Images)

Comment: Justice requires change in how we view juveniles’ pasts
As a former elected county prosecutor and longtime child advocate, I have seen the evolution of our response to the public safety needs of our community over the years, particularly when it comes to kids and the law. Past progress aside, there is more to be done to advance justice for our community’s children. Democrats in the legislature — and any brave Republicans willing to join them — should embrace an opportunity for truly transformative change in juvenile justice policy by ending a particularly harmful and outdated vestige of the “tough on crime” era. House Bill 1324 would retroactively and prospectively stop the practice of automatically sentencing adults to longer sentences because of crimes they committed as children. Convictions for the most heinous crimes — crimes where a juvenile is convicted in adult court or for sexual assault adjudications in juvenile court — would still count against an adult defendant. HB 1324 should become law. The current policy is neither based on evidence, nor in the interests of justice. Continue reading at Everett Herald.

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Aberdeen Daily World
Building for the future: Westport Marina planning overhaul to docks

Axios
Bills aim to protect abortion patients who travel to Washington (Hansen, Slatter)

Columbia Basin Herald
Bill to create crisis relief centers passes WA Senate Wednesday (Dhingra)

Columbian
Sen. Maria Cantwell: CHIPS and Science Act is good investment in Southwest Washington

The Daily News
Blaze scorches portion of Vancouver homeless camp ‘The Swamps’

Everett Herald
State to lift mask mandate for health care facilities April 3
Hazing penalties, firearm lawsuits and what happened to home grows (Kloba)
Comment: Justice requires change in how we view juveniles’ pasts
Comment: Housing shouldn’t come at cost of city zoning control
Editorial: Clean Air Agency plan sets path to breathing easier

News Tribune
Ex-Puyallup cop charged with rape also connected to out-of-state sexual assault report
Pierce County leaders demand commuter options from Sound Transit for light-rail delay
Editorial: Well-meaning WA bill goes too far and gives abusers a way to hide from the public (Mena)
Editorial: Just feed the kids already. It’s time for WA schools to stop failing our children (Nobles)

Olympian
WA lawmakers have until Wednesday to pass bills from house of origin. Here’s what passed so far (Taylor, Robinson, Cleveland, Pedersen, Shavers, Simmons, Frame, Lekanoff)
Get ready to lose an hour of sleep, WA. Daylight saving time starts soon. Here’s when
Climate change among top concerns for Thurston county residents, survey shows
Thurston County diversity plans still pending two years after declaring racism a crisis
Bill passes to require landlords to substantiate damage claims to retain deposits (Thai)

Puget Sound Business Journal
Business leaders back minimum wage hike, but there’s a catch

Seattle Medium
Seattle Public Schools Considers Layoffs, Consolidation Amid $131M Budget Deficit
Washington State Receives $163.4 Million To Fund Innovative Small Business Loan Programs

Seattle Times
New bill would help Washington nurses get treatment for PTSD (Cleveland)
WA Senate votes to raise penalty for drug possession, support treatment (Nobles, Robinson)
Seattle bears a disproportionate burden of homelessness spending. But do people come here because of it?

Skagit Valley Herald
Skagit County farmers face pressures from all directions

Spokesman Review
Washington lawmakers are trying to protect out-of-state abortion patients. Here’s what you need to know (Hansen, Farivar)

Yakima Herald-Republic
Parts of Yakima Valley included in state’s expanded air monitoring initiative

Broadcast

KING 5 TV (NBC)
Washingtonians weigh in on recent efforts to limit insulin costs (Keiser)
In Session: Drug possession bill passes, students make opinions clear on multiple bills
Why Japanese internment camp survivors want site preserved
Here are the bills that passed in Washington’s House this weekend (Slatter, Donaghy, Fey, Fitzgibbon)

KIRO 7 TV (CBS)
Bill passed WA Senate that would improve police communication on missing, murdered Indigenous women

KOMO 4 TV (ABC)
Bill aiming to support children ‘stuck’ in Washington hospitals passes through House (Callan)

KXLY (ABC)
Three Washington airports get $37 million in federal grants for renovations
‘It felt like a punishment,’ Families hopeful for Washington bill expanding childcare eligibility (Wilson)

NW Public Radio
New commercial airport site search in WA would get do-over under bill moving through legislature
Struggling Northwest kelp forests sending out an SOS. Help is coming

Web

Cascadia Daily News
Anacortes-to-B.C. ferry delayed until 2030 (Lovelett, Lekanoff, Ramel)

Crosscut
New UW study says human-services workers are underpaid by 37%

Friday, March 3

Finnish president to address Washington Legislature on Monday
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö will visit Olympia on Monday, his first stop in a five-day tour across the United States. During a short visit, Niinistö will meet with Gov. Jay Inslee and give an address to a joint session of the state Legislature. Inslee and other representatives from Washington businesses and local governments visited Finland during a trade mission to the Nordic countries in September, which focused on energy, technology, sustainability and climate change. Inslee will receive Niinistö at the Capitol on Monday morning, after which the president will give a joint address to the Legislature and deliver remarks with Inslee to members of the media. Inslee and Niinistö will again discuss the two governments’ partnership on technological research, port modernization, clean energy and sustainable forestry, according to the governor’s office. Continue reading at Spokesman Review. (Office of the Governor)

3 years since the pandemic wrecked attendance, kids still aren’t showing up to school
Before the pandemic, about 8 million U.S. students were considered chronically absent, according to the research group Attendance Works. That’s when a student misses 10% or more of the school year. By spring 2022, that number had doubled to around 16 million. Federal attendance data only comes out annually, so it’s hard to get a full picture of where things stand at this point in the school year, but Hedy Chang, the executive director of Attendance Works, says she hasn’t seen the kind of recovery she’d hoped for. Students who are chronically absent are at higher risk of falling behind, scoring lower on standardized tests and even dropping out. And as often happens in education, students who struggle with attendance are also more likely to live in poverty, be children of color or have disabilities. Chang worries the kids missing out on school are the same ones who need it the most. Continue reading at KNKX. (Jon Cherry)

Washington needs more than 50K new homes a year to keep up with population growth
A new report from the Washington State Department of Commerce found that the state needs to add 1.1 million homes over the next 20 years to keep up with expected population growth. That averages out to more than 50,000 new units a year and Commerce said half of those homes need to be affordable for low-income residents. State lawmakers are hoping to address the state’s housing shortage during the current Legislative session. More than a dozen bills have been introduced that lawmakers say will help reduce barriers to housing of all types. House Bill 1110 aims to expand middle housing by lifting local zoning laws that ban multi-dwelling homes like duplexes and townhouses. Senate Bill 5466 could create more housing near transportation centers. “As we continue to invest in transportation services across the state, it’s important that more of our neighbors are connected to the routes that will make their commutes easier,” said Sen. Marko Liias (D-Everett), who sponsored the bill. Continue reading at KOMO4. (KOMO Photo)