Public safety sales tax to be decided in November
Voters in the city of Spokane will decide whether to increase the city sales tax by a tenth of a percent to pay for public safety.
The city council voted 5-2 last night to put the measure on the November ballot.
Rather than the previously proposed — and then scrapped — property tax levy, this measure would use a point-one percent sales tax to generate revenue for agencies like the Fire and Police Departments, Municipal Court and the Office of the Police Ombudsman.
Councilmember Paul Dillon co-sponsored the resolution to add the sales tax proposal to the ballot.
“We've heard a lot of feedback that the previous levy was too burdensome to residents, and this does cover a lot of the kind of short gaps that we need," he told SPR News before the meeting. "But it will continue to be an uphill battle in how we look at these revenue options.”
Dillon said that the city currently faces a $25 million shortfall and that spending cuts can’t be the only method for balancing the budget.
Councilman Michael Cathcart voted against, saying the city should be specific in telling voters how they would spend the proceeds from the tax.
“My concerns are that we are essentially giving carte blanche ability to this council, this mayor, future councils, future mayors — and I’m not trying to call out any one group or anything, but that’s a lot of trust you have to have in a lot of people you don’t even know and probably won’t for some time," he said during the meeting. "To me that’s not good governance. That’s just not the way we should be doing this.”
The tax would not be applicable to items such as food and prescription drugs. If the measure is approved, it would go into effect early next year.
Avista explains extreme wildfire power plan to state regulators
If a wildfire is bearing down on a populated area this summer, you may see Avista activate a new plan it unveiled earlier this year.
Avista’s public safety power shutoff plan is an extreme measure meant to stop trees and other vegetation from coming into contact with energized lines and starting fires. At times when the fire risk is high, Avista will temporarily stop feeding electricity to targeted areas.
These types of plans are becoming more common. Yesterday, representatives for Puget Sound Energy and Avista briefed state utility regulators.
“We’re looking at fuel conditions, what the fuels are, wind, relative humidity, location, potential consequence, ignition consequence, so it’s a pretty complex set of information that comes in," said Vern Malensky, Avista’s director of electrical engineering and program director for wildfire resiliency.
He said Avista has not yet needed to go into full shutoff mode, but when it does, communication to the affected areas will be vital.
“The act of de-energizing the line is simple from a utility perspective, but how do you prepare communities and customers to understand this?" he said. "We do have a list of our top circuits, but this is an option across our entire service territory. And, as part of our PSPS plan, we have a formal communications process that begins when we first detect the potential for extreme risk and that continues all the way through.”
Malensky says the utility began its wildfire outreach process early this year, especially to customers who live in areas where urban and rural areas meet. He says Avista has been conducting telephone town hall meetings where customers could ask questions and trying to communicate more with customers who speak Spanish and Russian.
Washington Democrats decide which presidential candidate to support
Many of Washington’s elected Democrats have already endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president – but they’re not the ones who will determine the party's nominee. Around a hundred delegates from across the state will help officially nominate a candidate next month at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Yaz Kader is a delegate from the Seattle area. He thinks Harris will win, and as a Palestinian-American, that gives him some hope.
"She seems to be a little bit more empathetic towards the Palestinian cause...a little bit," he said.
Kader is heavily involved in the Gaza ceasefire movement; Harris called for a ceasefire in March.
Kader hopes she will take a firmer stance against civilian casualties, and he and others hope to push her on a weapons embargo to Israel – putting conditions on U.S. military aid.
At the Jefferson County Democrats’ fundraiser in Port Townsend on Sunday, Attorney General Bob Ferguson led a round of applause for Joe Biden before endorsing Harris.
In the audience was Alex Morgan, a Biden-Harris delegate from the 6th Congressional District. He said he thinks he’ll vote for Harris, but wants to talk to as many Democrats in his district as possible first.
"So far, everyone is really excited about the Vice President's candidacy – I want to make sure I continue to do my job of representing them to the convention," he said.
Cantwell introduces AI content regulation
New federal legislation could mean new guidelines for AI-generated content and protecting original work by creators.
The new bill, nicknamed the COPIED Act, would create federal guidelines for authenticating and detecting what content is created with artificial intelligence.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, who represents Washington state, introduced the legislation. She said the new rules would require new cybersecurity measures to be developed that would prevent tampering with original content.
“The copy act will also put creators including local journalists, artists and musicians back in control of their content with a watermark process that I think is very much needed,” Cantwell said.
The legislation would also allow content owners to sue platforms who use their content without permission.
Riverside Park looks to expand
A community open house is planned for this evening on a proposal to expand Riverside State Park northwest of Spokane. Called the Glen-Tana property, it would add 1,000 acres to the park.
“What we heard was an interest in people having access to recreate on the site with mindfulness for environmental protection and respect for cultural heritage of the site,” Parks Planner Gen Dial said.
The land, which lies just east of Riverside State Park, was purchased by the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy from a family that had owned it for over 100 years.
State Parks will use input form tonight’s open house to complete a management plan for the property.
If funding can be found, Parks would work with The Spokane Tribe of Indians to acquire portions of the land.
The public is invited to drop by tonight’s open house from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Hive, 2904 East Sprague Avenue.
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Stories contributed by Owen Henderson, Doug Nadvornick, Scott Greenstone, Lauren Paterson and Tom Lee.