Olympia weekly report

Washington State scammed out of hundreds of millions

Fraudulent unemployment claims have cost Washington State hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen funds. Out-of-state scammers used the stolen personal information of tens of thousands of Washingtonians to submit unemployment claims. Unemployment benefit claims rose from 369,000 to more than 1.6 million last week. The surge is attributed – in part – to the fraudulent claims. Scammers obtained the stolen information from previous data breaches, not from a state breach.

Inslee says many counties cannot begin Phase 2 on June 1

Jay Inslee announced that some counties will be prohibited from entering into “Phase 2” of reopening, set to begin by June 1 under his ambiguous four-part layout. That means small businesses – from barbershops and hair salons to restaurants – cannot reopen. Though Phase 2 is days away, Inslee failed to confirm which counties are impacted. Fourteen of Washington’s thirty-nine counties have received permission to begin Phase 2 of reopening. These counties are: Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, Grays Harbor, Lincoln, Lewis, Ferry, Pend Oreille, Skamania, Spokane, Stevens, Wahkiakum, and Whitman. According to statements made, it is unlikely Inslee will permit further reopening in King and Snohomish counties — and others — on June 1.

State official bet millions of taxpayer dollars on failed Chinese automotive company

Inslee appointees ordered $227.5 million worth of personal protective equipment (mostly masks) from a large Chinese automotive conglomerate that claimed it built the world’s largest face-mask factory. The order accounted for more than half of all the state’s orders of COVID-19 emergency supplies. Of course, given the Chinese company is a failed automotive producer making big promises, three-quarters of the state’s orders are behind schedule. According to the Seattle Times, the more than a million masks (N95s) that have been delivered have been denied initial approval by a federal worker safety agency. Will their be any accountability for these Democrat bureaucrat failures?

Republican lawmakers call on Inslee to convene a special session

State Republican lawmakers have asked Jay Inslee to “convene a special session of the legislature to address the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing financial crisis in the public and private sector that has resulted.” Republicans are calling for the special session to begin – with social distancing measures – shortly after the next economic forecast scheduled for June 17. Given the impending financial crisis, budget cuts must be made before new spending begins on July 1. Republican state Senator John Braun said, “When you’ve got a $7 billion potential deficit over that time period, stopping an extra billion dollars in spending (is) a big step forward.”