Weekly Olympia report

Senate Democrats propose additional $1.1 billion to operating budget, include tax hikes

Senate Democrats passed their supplemental spending plan this week. Democrats’ plan would add approximately $1.1 billion to our state’s two-year operating budget, already at record high spending. Democrats already had started the year with a billion dollars in tax increases despite the state recently announcing an additional $1.5 billion in extraordinary revenue. Disappointingly, as Republican Senator Steve O’Ban points out, the funds Democrats allocated to combating homelessness only “scratches the surface” of addressing the crisis.

Tri-City Herald Editorial Board calls for legislators to defeat Inslee’s low carbon fuel standard

Washington’s “struggling families, farmers and business owners” would bear the burden of Jay Inslee’s low-carbon fuel standard bill, writes the Tri-City Herald Editorial Board in a new op-ed calling for legislators to defeat the plan. Prices for gas would shoot up, resulting in higher prices for goods dependent on transportation (food, clothes, services, etc). The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) estimates the low-carbon fuel standard would increase the cost of gas by up to 57 cents per gallon and diesel by 63 cents per gallon in 10 years. Yet, despite the heavy burden, Inslee’s legislation would not make a dent in resolving climate change.

Federal agencies find destroying Lower Snake River dams results in more harm than good

Federal agencies determined the destroying the Lower Snake River dams would have higher environmental and economic costs than benefits. The federal report rejects the notion of removing the dams to save threatened salmon, and the orcas who depend on them for survival. Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler has long called for science-driven solutions to solving problems related to salmon and orcas in Puget Sound. Dam-destruction – at a cost of a billion dollars – would drive up economic costs in the region, degrade air quality, and eliminate a source of clean energy. Rather, Schoesler calls for “habitat restoration, hatchery expansion and other programs that make sense for the salmon.”

Democrats block local property tax relief measures

Last year, the Washington Democrats voted to raise property taxes, increasing the local school-levy lid to $2.50 per $1,000 assessed value starting in 2020 (up from $1.50 per $1,000). Democrats chose to raise local property taxes – impacting homeowners and renters alike – despite $4 billion in new revenue in 2019. This legislative session, Republican Senator Steve O’Ban proposed legislation that would reduce the property tax burden. His legislation would have exempted the first $100,000 of a homeowner’s value from state property taxes and ”cap state spending growth at the rate of population plus inflation, with excess revenues returned to taxpayers in the form of a property-tax cut.” Unfortunately, Democrats blocked the tax relief measures despite – once again – experiencing higher than expected revenue.