Council OKs sunset measure for sales tax proposal
The Spokane city council has authorized changes to Mayor Lisa Brown’s community safety sales tax proposal.
If voters approve the ballot initiative, the ordinance now sets the last day of 2035 as the end of the tenth-of-a-cent sales tax, at which point a city council could choose whether to have voters decide to renew the tax or not.
It also establishes a dedicated community safety fund for revenue from that tax.
Speaking to SPR News before the vote, Councilmember and ordinance co-sponsor Paul Dillon said the measure is meant to add some guardrails to the money raised by the tax.
“A lot of the feedback that we did get was making sure there's more accountability measures, which this ordinance does that," he said. "I think it really does accomplish that and helps build trust for how the money will be spent, as well as — I think — clearly outlining the end date for the ballot measure.”
Councilmembers Michael Cathcart, another co-sponsor, and Jonathan Bingle were vocally opposed, citing concerns about a lack of specificity for how the funds generated by the tax could be spent.
“It's no different than if you don't create the fund. This is just — it's smoke and mirrors. It's a shell game if you don't define it and specifically define it," he told SPR News before the meeting. "And so I have no interest in participating in some sort of smoke and mirrors game with the taxpayers.”
During the meeting, Dillon countered that language in the ordinance that lists the police, municipal courts, police ombuds and fire department as the places the money should be spent does provide that specificity.
The ordinance was approved five to two, with Bingle and Cathcart voting against.
UW researcher talks potential cancer vaccines
Vaccines intended to protect people from cancer are making progress, according to a University of Washington researcher.
Vaccines for polio, diphtheria and many other diseases have been in use for dozens of years, while cancer vaccines are only emerging. Nora Disis, director of the UW Medicine Cancer Vaccine Institute, said the process has just been slower.
She said researchers have discovered many things about how cancers operate, including the proteins that cancer cells create. One or two cancer vaccines have been approved for use. Several to protect people who have had cancer or who may be especially vulnerable to it are far along in the development pipeline.
“We can literally tailor-make a vaccine for almost any type of cancer and that’s been a big breakthrough,” Disis told SPR News.
Disis will discuss potential cancer vaccines Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Hemmingson Center on the Gonzaga University campus. For the general public, her talk will also be live-streamed. Contact the UW School of Medicine to register to attend, either in person or online.
Grant money helps Spokane County cities streamline building permit processes
Spokane and Airway Heights are among the recipients of state Commerce Department grants aimed at making building permits easier to issue and process.
Spokane will get $375,000 to help move its permit processing from a paper-based filing system to a digital one.
Tami Palmquist, the city’s Development Services Center Director, said the funding came at just the right time to work in concert with a new permitting and licensing system.
“We are thrilled to report that we were able to align the grant deliverables with the objectives already established in our project scope,” Palmquist said in a statement. “We feel incredibly fortunate to have these two initiatives align so well, and we are eager to move forward with this important work.”
Airway Heights is receiving $187,500 to help speed up its permit review process. In agreeing to accept the money, the city committed to issue final decisions on residential permit applications within 45 business days or 90 calendar days.
The two cities were among 16 in Washington to get portions of the grant money. The total sum announced Monday was $3 million. The program’s overarching goal is to reduce the time it takes to get residential construction underway, shortening the lag for increasing the state’s housing supply.
State fines plastic producers for not using enough recycled content
Washington ecology officials fined 35 businesses for breaking plastic-recycling laws.
Ecology said the fines are the first to be issued under a 2021 state law that requires companies to put small amounts of recycled plastic in their products – 10 percent for plastic bottles and 15 percent for trash bags.
Out of 128 businesses covered by the law, 93 complied last year. Recycled plastic made up about one-fourth of the trash bags and beverage containers produced in Washington.
Three companies got the biggest fines, of at least $50,000 each: Clorox, Talking Rain, and Ocean Spray. Other companies fined under the law include Trader Joe’s, Albertsons, Kroger, Del Monte and Kraft-Heinz. Any companies that received fines have a month to appeal.
The Ecology Department said more products and more companies will fall under the recycled-content law’s purview by 2036.
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Reporting was contributed by Owen Henderson, Doug Nadvornick, Brandon Hollingsworth and John Ryan.