Democrats in Olympia release their respective state budgets
Democratic leaders in the Washington House and Senate yesterday released their respective versions of state budgets for the next four years.
Each proposal calls for about $6 billion dollars in cuts or delayed spending and several billion in new revenue. Both proposals would impose taxes on stocks, bonds and other financial assets held by the state’s most wealthy residents.
The Senate version does not include $100 million for new police hiring. That proposal by Sen. Jeff Holy (R-Cheney) is supported by Governor Bob Ferguson. The House version includes some of it, said Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon.
“Fifty million dollars in funding over four years for criminal justice purposes and another 50 million over four years in the community reinvestment program, which aims to target upstream investments to reduce inequality and prevent crime," he said.
Fitzgibbon said Holy's request is worthy but that the demand for funding is high. During yesterday's press conference, he read off a long list of new programs that were slated to begin receiving funding this year or next, but which the House Democratic budget delays for a few more years.
The House and Senate Democratic budget proposals are not identical, but there are many similarities. Both mix spending cuts and targeted new or increased taxes to balance their proposals.
Fitzgibbon says he and his colleagues have shared notes with Ferguson’s office to see where their respective ideas overlap.
"We did not have a proposal from Governor Ferguson that closed the entire deficit, but we appreciated the suggestions that he did provide. Our caucus has been clear since the fall that a balanced approach was the approach that we supported," he said.
Besides the taxes proposed for the state's wealthiest residents, the House also would allow local governments looking to raise more money the ability to boost property taxes up to three percent a year without a vote by the people. The state currently allows a one-percent annual increase.
Legislative Republicans believe the budget can be balanced without raising any taxes.
The House and Senate are expected to approve their respective budgets over the next week or two, then use them to start negotiating a final budget over the next month.
Downtown Spokane could get taller — but maybe not immediately
The Spokane City Council has voted to remove the height limits for downtown buildings.
The council unanimously approved an interim ordinance meant to give developers another incentive to build housing in the core.
District 1 Councilmember Jonathan Bingle said he believes the vote sends a message that Spokane is open to new housing ideas.
"I think Spokane is in this interesting moment in history where it’s like are we going to continue to see ourselves as a sleepy, poverty-ridden town," Bingle said during Monday night's meeting. "Are we going to embrace the fact that we’re a top 100 city in the United States?”
District 3 Councilmember Kitty Klitzke agreed that the change will be positive, but she acknowledged that the council has heard some concerns from residents, which she said the city has already looked into.
"This change does not take away the shading protections for Peaceful Valley neighborhood," she said from the dais. "And some folks did comment, continuing with concerns about shade in Riverfront Park. The only time — if we remember that past study that was done — the only time that there's really any significant shading in Riverfront Park from potential towers there is in the wintertime where we have an ice ribbon. And considering the unpredictable weather we have in wintertime, it's probably a good thing to have shading on that ice ribbon in the wintertime.
"So I think we've looked into all of the concerns raised by citizens, and we still think that this is an overall win for the city."
City Planning Director Spencer Gardner told SPR News he doesn’t think the new ordinance will immediately spark a lot of new projects.
But Bingle said he thinks there’s interest to develop property in the downtown core if the market conditions are right.
ID public defense spending plan continues slow progress
Idaho’s embattled public defense office officially has a budget.
The Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee yesterday [Mon] approved an extra $32 million to help the agency hire another 18 attorneys.
"Public defense is an essential government service and we have to pay for it, and we’re committed to doing that," Rep. Dustin Manwaring (R-Pocatello) said.
Idaho took over providing public defense from the counties last October.
It’s since been sued by the ACLU for not upholding its constitutional responsibilities, with attorneys allegedly not showing up for hearings all across the state.
Rep. Steve Miller (R-Fairfield) said giving the office more money won’t solve those problems.
"I think our job here is to do the best job we can at providing effective and efficient spending and I don’t believe it has been done,” Miller said.
The budget still needs approval from the House and Senate.
Supreme Court denial effectively ends federal climate lawsuit brought by teens
A lawsuit brought by 21 young people against the U.S. government over climate change has come to an end, a decade after it was filed.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the last effort to get the case to trial in a Eugene federal courtroom.
Juliana v. United States was filed in Eugene in 2015.
It sought to hold the government accountable for its fossil fuel policies. The argument was that climate change violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.
Julia Olson is the founder and co-executive director of Our Children’s Trust, which brought the lawsuit. She said even though it never got to trial, the case made a difference.
“It ignited this global movement and really changed the legal paradigm around reexamining children’s most fundamental rights in the context of their greatest threat today,” she told KLCC. “And that is the climate crisis.”
Olson said Our Children’s Trust works at the state, federal and international level. Since the Juliana case, she said, they’ve had success in other similar cases. Held v. State of Montana went to trial in the summer of 2023.
“They won a constitutional ruling that said that their state was violating their fundamental rights to life and health and safety and dignity and their right to a clean and healthful environment by promoting fossil fuels and ignoring climate change,” she said.
Olson said that decision was recently upheld by the Montana Supreme Court.
Within the last year, the state of Hawaii settled in a case that was filed there.
Olson said they will try again and bring a new climate case against the federal government. She says Our Children’s Trust is preparing a case that’s rooted in the principles of the Juliana case.
“That case is tying into new legal developments at the federal level that are happening,” Olson said. “And making clear that the federal government today is committed to infringing the rights of young people and promoting fossil fuel energy. And that case will get heard and the evidence will be presented and we will hold the federal government accountable for that wrongdoing.”
Many of the plaintiffs in the federal case are from Oregon, including the named plaintiff, Kelsey Juliana of Eugene.
In a news release, plaintiff Miko Vergun from Beaverton shared this statement:
“Ultimately, we didn’t get the decision we wanted today, but we’ve had many wins along the way,” Vergun said. “For almost ten years, we’ve stood up for the rights of present and future generations, demanding a world where we can not only survive, but thrive. We’ve faced extreme resistance by the federal government, yet we’ve never wavered in our resolve. All great movements have faced obstacles, but what sets them apart is the perseverance of the people behind them. We’ve shown the world that young people will not be ignored, and I’m incredibly proud of the impact Juliana v. United States has made."
Olson said the fight isn’t over, pointing to actions by the current Trump administration.
“Now is not a time to sit back," she said. "Now is a time to stand up and not be scared, but to embrace democracy and be there with our youth, because they are going to live with all of this.”
A climate case against the State of Oregon ended up being dismissed.
But Olson said her organization is working on legislation to to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in Oregon’s State Constitution.
Washington leads in support of the arts, but lags behind in spending for the arts
Washingtonians who live in areas with more arts and culture programming are more likely to benefit from better economic opportunities. That's according to a report from a Washington nonprofit, ArtsFund, which grants money to arts organizations.
Michael Greer, the CEO of ArtsFund, points to a partnership between a community college and a performing arts hall in Port Angeles as an example of how arts organizations are contributing to the local economy.
"Field Arts and Event Hall is partnering with Peninsula college in order to provide training for young people in the region," he told KNKX public radio. "And we think that other anecdotal evidence like that is providing better economic opportunities."
He said that training involves carpentry and electrical work, which is useful for building sets for plays and lighting theaters.
Authors of the report say areas in Washington state with more arts organizations lead to an increase in spending. This was determined by looking at census data and tax revenue from hotel stays.
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Reporting by Doug Nadvornick, Owen Henderson, James Dawson, Rachel McDonald and Freddy Monares.