Spokane commissioners approve new anti-camping authority for police
Spokane County sheriff’s deputies now have the authority to require people living and sleeping out in public places to move.
The county commissioners voted unanimously yesterday to change the county code after a recent U-S Supreme Court decision.
The county initially changed its law in 2019 to comply with a federal appeals court ruling that stated that local authorities couldn’t arrest people for sleeping in outdoor public spaces if there were no shelter beds available.
The Supreme Court has since reversed that decision.
Most of those who testified Tuesday supported the change.
“Everybody’s now aware that allowing public camping is actually not helping our addicted friends," said Wendy Fishburne, a Spokane marriage and family counselor. She referenced Spokane voters’ approval of Proposition 1 in 2023 to prohibit encampments near schools, parks and childcare centers.
“We want to protect our kids. We want to protect our parks. We want to protect our schools and, honestly, again, we want to protect our addicted friends from this lifestyle.”
Sheriff John Nowels said it's important that his officers have that tool if they need it, but he’s not sure his officers will need it very often.
“Our policy is that we will do everything we can to not have to use this ordinance. Frankly, we don’t have many calls for public camping," he said.
The ordinance applies only to unincorporated parts of Spokane County, not to any of the cities and towns.
Flag ban sails through ID House
Idaho House Republicans have easily passed a bill banning most flags from public buildings, including Pride flags.
Only the U.S. flag, state flags, flags for American military branches and tribal flags would be allowed to fly at government offices under the measure.
Republican Rep. Heather Scott is the bill’s lead sponsor; she says it’s about unity.
"This is about promoting America. This is about promoting Idaho, promoting our military, our POW flags – stuff that we can all agree on," the north Idaho Republican said.
Supporters pointed to the Pride flag that has flown at Boise City Hall as an example of the problem—though they say they’re not singling out a particular city or flag.
Opponents, including Republican Rep. Lori McCann, say it seems clear only the rainbow flag is objectionable and that these decisions should be left up to local elected officials.
"We are, again, overreaching our ability to tell our local cities or counties what they can and can’t do," she said.
McCann and seven other Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill, which now goes to the state Senate.
Prohibition on flavored vaped products clears House committee in Olympia
A Washington House committee has narrowly approved a bill that would ban the sale and advertising of flavored vaping products.
The vote in the House Consumer Protection and Business Committee was 8-7 as committees work to keep bills moving before a self-imposed deadline on Friday.
Snohomish County Democrat Brandy Donaghy voted for the bill to keep it moving through the system, but she said it will need to be changed to get her vote again.
“It seems like the goal here is to try to avoid marketing towards children. I think there are much better, better ways to do this than simply making something completely unavailable. I do believe it can have a negative impact on communities and business in our communities," she said.
Representatives of the vape industry say bans like this often don’t work as intended. They vowed during a committee hearing to work with legislators to devise ways to keep their products out of the hands of children, while allowing adults to use the products to wean themselves from tobacco addiction.
Bills that don’t clear their initial committees by the end of this week will likely be dead for the rest of this year’s session.
New limits for old utility poles in Spokane County
Spokane County is taking action to reduce the number of utility poles posted in county rights-of-way.
County Public Works engineer Deborah Firkins told county commissioners on Tuesday that cable companies and other utilities are putting up new poles to accommodate their needs, but they’re not removing the old poles.
“Multiple poles in the same location are not aesthetically pleasing. They can be a public hazard, causing a reduction of space for sidewalks and drainage and traffic," she said.
The commissioners voted to give utilities that install new poles up to 30 days to move lines and other equipment from the old poles. That will allow old poles to be taken down.
Companies that don’t comply will have to pay inspection fees every time county employees go to check whether the equipment has been moved.
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Reporting contributed by Doug Nadvornick and James Dawson.