Washington State House Republican Communications
Key bills die as WA Legislature passes house of origin cutoff
The Seattle Times — Republicans did not seem quite as optimistic, but House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, said it was “encouraging” that Republicans played a hand in killing off bills they believed to be bad, such as legislation to reduce penalties for gun crimes, and early release for violent offenders. Republicans wanted more legislation to provide public safety and affordability, but “did not make a lot of progress in solving those problems.” “But we did make some progress in ensuring the problems didn’t get dramatically worse,” Stokesbary said. $
Ferguson loses his legislative team
Washington State Standard — Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson’s point person for working with state lawmakers has resigned. The key departure from Ferguson’s team comes as he heads into the final six weeks of his first legislative session as governor, a time when lawmakers will be focused on solving a multi-billion dollar budget gap and passing a range of major policy proposals. Legislative Director Joyce Bruce held the same position in the attorney general’s office during Ferguson’s time in that post.
THE WEEK AHEAD
THE CURRENT | A WASHINGTON HOUSE REPUBLICAN EMAIL UPDATE
BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR
- Bringing that bottle-deposit thing north of the Columbia River (The Washington Observer) $
- Washington unemployment dips but layoffs loom (Axios – Seattle)
- Layoffs, hiring freezes raise concerns about economic stability in Western Washington (KIRO TV)
- Why are eggs so expensive in Washington right now? (CascadePBS.org/The Columbian)
- WA to limit sale of lethal chemical behind 10 lawsuits against Amazon (The Seattle Times) $
CAP-AND-TRADE PROGRAM
- Watch: WA House passes bill to help farmers avoid paying CCA fuel taxes (The Center Square)
- Washington House passes farm fuel bill, rejects Farm Bureau’s proposal (Capital Press) $
CORRECTIONS & JAILS
- WA lawmakers aim to relieve strained juvenile legal system (The Seattle Times) $
- Four possible mumps cases identified at several WA prisons (KIRO TV)
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
- Five years after CHOP in Seattle, teen’s death is without answers (The Seattle Times) $
- Spokane law enforcement leaders propose new strategies, state policy changes to drive down homicides (The Spokesman-Review) $
DAMS
DRUG CRISIS
- Senate passes bill that would increase penalties for fentanyl traffickers (AP)
- Spokane leaders propose $1.5 million investment to combat the opioid crisis with settlement funds (KREM TV)
EDUCATION
- Seattle Schools reaffirms support for all students amid DEI crackdown (The Seattle Times) $
- Snohomish County schools react to education department firings (The Everett Herald) $
- Head of Tacoma private school that raised $210K to stay open answers questions about finances (The News Tribune) $
- Vancouver Public Schools is the only district in the Clark County to get a financial warning from state for 2023-24 school year (The Columbian) $
- Richland school bars substitute for concerning ‘behavior.’ Parents say it was Nazi salute (Tri-City Herald) $
- EDITORIAL: Special education students need more than an infusion of money (The Seattle Times) $
ELECTIONS
EMERGENCY POWERS
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES
- Rep. Peter Abbarno applauds House passage of HB 1990 to strengthen infrastructure resilience (The Chronicle)
- Spokane’s 911 dispatch fight heads to Senate as House passes funding bill (The Center Square)
ENVIRONMENT
- 1 million green crabs removed from Puget Sound in WA (FOX 13)
- OPINION: We need to keep plastic out of the ocean. Is a bag ban Washington’s best solution? (Todd Myers, vice president for research at the Washington Policy Center/Tri-City Herald) $
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE
- Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown (AP)
- Seattle law firm Perkins Coie drew Democrats’ cash, and Trump’s wrath (The Seattle Times) $
- EDITORIAL: Closing Seattle SBA office one more petty act of retribution (The Seattle Times) $
GUN RIGHTS
- Under the gun: Some firearms regulation bills advance, others die before key cutoff date (The Center Square)
- Lawmakers consider new permit for gun purchases as ammo tax fails to gain support (The Spokesman-Review) $
HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS
- WA schools see declines statewide in measles vaccination rates (The Seattle Times) $
- EDITORIAL: Medicaid cuts would paralyze Central Washington (Yakima Herald-Republic) $
HIGHER EDUCATION
- College in the High School soars in popularity across WA (The Seattle Times) $
- UW and WSU among universities targeted by Department of Education for ties to pro-diversity non-profit (The Spokesman-Review) $
- UW among over 50 universities under investigation as part of Trump’s anti-DEI crackdown (KUOW Radio)
- WWU confronts antisemitic graffiti on campus, addresses concerns over free speech crackdown (The Bellingham Herald) $
- OPINION: I’m a DEI hire. Here’s why I’m fighting for these programs (Charlie Collins, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Washington Bothell/The Seattle Times) $
HOMELESSNESS
- Can Spokane’s shelter network program help alleviate homelessness? (Cascade PBS)
- Should Safe Stays stay? Vancouver officials, advocates for the homeless debate whether communities should be permanent (The Columbian) $
HOUSING
- Fate of bill to cap rent increases now rests on fine-tuning in Washington Senate (Washington State Standard)
- In Session: Senate leader says with changes, rent stabilization bill could pass (KING TV)
- Rally against rent gouging in WA (FOX 13)
- WA’s homeownership rates trail national averages despite gains (The Seattle Times) $
- Equity-sharing experiment part of new affordable-housing project in Tacoma. Can it work? (The News Tribune) $
IMMIGRATION
- Trump administration deports hundreds of immigrants even as a judge orders their removals be stopped (AP)
- ‘A wake-up call’: Fear of immigration enforcement leads to attendance declines in some NCW schools (The Wenatchee World) $
- Seattle metro grows faster than U.S., driven by foreign immigration (Axios – Seattle)
- OPINION: On executive orders and immigration (LaDon Linde, Yakima County Commissioner/Yakima Herald-Republic) $
LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Pullman police department announces acting leadership roles amidst investigation into chief (KNDO/KNDU)
- COLUMN: In a police staffing crisis and gunfire epidemic, Seattle turns to video cameras. But there are few guardrails (Alex Fryer/The Seattle Times) $
LEGISLATURE
- The houses of origin have spoken (The Washington Observer) $
- Big private money in your backyard (The Washington Observer) $
- Washington’s nickname ‘The Evergreen State’ nears official adoption status (KNDO/KNDU)
- Washington lawmaker shares terrifying moments learning his son shot in drive-by (The Center Square)
- Walla Walla Rep. Skyler Rude resigns from state LGBTQ Commission (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin) $
- Kennewick senator’s bill pushes for faster climate data reporting in Washington (KNDO/KNDU)
- OPINION: Late nights, high stakes and the battle to protect Washington’s future (Rep. Peter Abbarno/The Chronicle)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
- Former deputy mayor, niece to Bruce Harrell, slams cruel, sexist Seattle Mayor’s office (MyNorthwest)
- Lynnwood City Council eyes path forward at contentious meeting (The Everett Herald) $
MEDIA
MENTAL HEALTH
MILITARY & VETERANS
- Veterans rally at Washington state Capitol against federal job cuts (KING TV)
- OPINION: Stop slashing VA workforce; our veterans deserve better (Kamala Jain, physician for 25 years in the Department of Veterans Affairs and a clinical professor of general internal medicine at UW Medicine/The Seattle Times) $
OPEN GOVERNMENT
OPERATING BUDGET
- Republican Senator says WA can balance budget without tax increases or teacher salary cuts (MyNorthwest)
- Dolly Parton’s ‘Imagination Library’ at risk of being cut in WA (FOX 13)
- OPINION: Republicans disrupt budget conversation with no-new-taxes, no-cuts plan (Sen. John Braun/The Chronicle)
OTHER STATES
- Rejected by Washington, federal workers find open arms in state governments (The New York Times/The Seattle Times) $
- ‘They dropped us’: Idaho homeowners face insurance crisis as wildfire risks intensify (KREM TV)
SOCIAL MEDIA
SPORTS
STATE GOVERNMENT
- Top staffer for Ferguson abruptly resigns (NW News Network)
- Ferguson’s legislative director quits in governor’s office shake-up (The Seattle Times) $
- Barring a referendum, WA elected leaders will receive hefty pay hikes in July (Washington State Standard)
TAXES
TRANSPORTATION
- Washington highways among the worst in the nation, per report (MyNorthwest)
- Plans recommends $3.2 million in seismic work on Deception Pass Bridge (Whidbey News-Times) $
- Everett responds to higher traffic deaths with ‘Vision Zero’ goal (The Everett Herald) $
- Seattle-area transit ridership keeps climbing, especially in one city (The Seattle Times) $
- OPINION: Want to park in Seattle? That’ll cost you $335 a month. Thanks, Democrats! (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)
WILDLIFE
- Two Bellevue coyotes killed by state after nipping children (KUOW Radio)
- Butterfly populations have declined, but ecologists say they’re resilient (KNKX Radio)
Stories that are behind a paywall are denoted with a $ symbol, allowing readers to identify content that requires a subscription to access in full.