Spokane's anti-discrimination ordinance for LGBTQ+ community approved
The Spokane City Council has approved an ordinance aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ community members.
The ordinance adds anti-discrimination language to city code, prevents city resources from being used to investigate someone for seeking gender-affirming care, and protects against releasing information about a person’s sex assigned at birth.
These changes largely put Spokane’s city code in line with Washington state law.
Sixty-seven people signed up to testify on the ordinance, the vast majority of whom supported the measure.
Dr. Pam Kohlmeier, an emergency physician and Spokanite, testified for the ordinance. She said one of her own children, who was transgender and nonbinary, took their own life.
"Gender-affirming care saves lives. Privacy of their medical records saves lives. Letting them compete in the sports that fit with their identity saves lives. Accepting them saves lives," she said. "We have in our city mission, the City Council mission, we protect the quality of life. If we can't save lives, what quality of life do we have?"
The measure passed with only Councilmembers Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart voting against. Bingle said he has a “live and let live” philosophy, including for people who oppose LGBTQ-plus rights.
"I want people to be able to live the way that they want to live their life in the city of Spokane I don't think you should be discriminated against," he said from the dais. "And I think that includes people who have sincerely held religious moral or ethical objections to this."
The two councilmembers suggested amendments to the ordinance including ones that would have restricted trans individuals from accessing gender-affirming care before the age of 18, from using the bathroom of their choice or playing women’s sports. All of those changes were rejected.
Local police grant bill includes provision for extended funding — through sales taxes
Local governments in Washington are on track to get a hundred million dollars in state grants for new law enforcement positions.
But first, they’ll have to raise sales taxes.
The $100 million grant fund was approved by the Washington legislature and sent to the governor over the weekend.
It will pay for new law enforcement positions over the next two years.
It also gives local governments the authority to pass a 0.1% sales tax increase to fund those positions long-term.
"The grant is a one-time appropriation. What we didn’t want to do is say, ‘Cool, we’re going to give you this one-time appropriation, and then you don’t know how you’re actually going to pay for it long-term,'" Rep. Kristine Reeves (D-Federal Way), who sponsored the legislation, said.
Cheney Republican Senator Jeff Holy was another proponent of the policy, though his version of the bill didn’t make it through the Democratic controlled legislature.
WA Dems hope smaller tax package will meet Ferguson's standards
Now that the Washington legislative session is over, it’s up to Governor Bob Ferguson to decide which of the bills that ended up on his desk he’ll sign.
Several of those bills are new or expanded taxes, which would total about $9.4 billion over four fiscal years.
The budget passed by legislative Democrats uses them in combination with spending cuts and delays to fill a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.
Ferguson previously shot down a $12-billion tax package, and he hasn’t committed to signing all of these bills.
Some of the taxes that aim to combat the operating budget deficit include a permanent increase to the state’s business and occupation tax rates, an increase to the tax rate for financial institutions that make a billion dollars a year or more, and an extra surcharge on corporations that make more than $250 million a year in revenue, which would affect about 400 entities.
Another bill would add a layer to the capital gains tax, adding another 2.9% for gains exceeding $1 million, which would hit about 900 taxpayers.
Initiative aims to increase rural community development
Nine communities are participating in a pilot initiative with Partners for Rural Washington, a nonprofit organization that works with rural communities.
The initiative is aimed to help the selected nine rural towns find the funding they need to tackle needed community developments.
Jody Opheim, executive director for the nonprofit, said that while the participation won’t automatically come with funding, each community will be provided with help to secure funding with no expense to the community.
"Our project managers will herd this process, manage this process, do follow up, make connections, facilitate and then where there isn't other technical assistance available to look for funding sources," she told SPR News. "This is very much a group effort. It's a big lift, but we've got lots of good core partners and affiliates that we will bring to that community table."
Two of the projects include Starbuck in Columbia County to replace leaking water lines and upgrade its sewer system, and Palouse in Whitman County to complete a comprehensive upgrade to its wastewater system.
Opheim estimates at least 24 months for completion of most of these projects.
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Reporting by Owen Henderson, Erik Neumann and Monica Carrillo-Casas.