New law could increase ease of manufactured home sales
Residents of a north Spokane manufactured home park on Tuesday celebrated the signing of a law that will bring more affordable homes to their community.
Takesa Village in Mead, a resident-owned cooperative, is working with a non-profit, Village Co-Housing Works, to add more manufactured homes. The non-profit buys them and installs them in Takesa.
Until now, the state limited the group to selling only four homes a year because it considers them mobile homes.
If it sells more than four, the non-profit would qualify as a vehicle dealership and have to buy a costly business license.
The new law allows non-profits and others to buy and sell up to a dozen manufactured homes a year if it sells them at cost to low-income buyers.
"It's a hand-up, not a hand-out," state Rep. Mike Volz (R-Cheney), who sponsored the bill, said. "It's a pathway to private home ownership with some help in the beginning, but it's not free or subsidized housing.
"It's a way you can build equity and get value in the pride of ownership. And it's organic. Like I said, it's community-based needs. So, I think that was a winner."
Sarah Olson from Village Co-housing Works said her non-profit plans to buy two more homes this year for Takesa.
The community allows them to be installed at no cost, but charges $380 a month for each land plot, much like a homeowners’ association fee.
BIAW, state AG file to reinstate I-2066
The legal battle over an initiative that sought to slow Washington’s shift away from natural gas is continuing.
The state attorney general’s office and the Building Industry Association of Washington filed an appeal Tuesday to the State Supreme Court.
"We’re confident the Washington State Supreme Court will reject this constitutional challenge as the frivolous claim it is," BIAW Executive Vice President Greg Land said.
The groups are seeking to overturn a King County judge’s ruling that Initiative 2066 violated the single subject rule for citizen initiatives.
BIAW argues the initiative’s provisions all relate to preserving the choice to use and access natural gas as an energy source.
Opponents like conservation groups say the measure is too wide-ranging and combines multiple policy changes to state energy code.
Idaho officials continue work on new wolf depredation rules
Idaho ranchers whose livestock might’ve been killed by wolves or grizzly bears will soon be able to apply for reimbursement through a state fund.
The money would come from the Depredation of Livestock and Prevention Fund lawmakers established in 2024, which currently only covers confirmed or probable predator kills.
Earlier this year, legislators amended that law to cover possible predator kills in which investigators can’t confirm a predator is to blame.
“We see the carcass has been partially eaten with tracks around it of either wolves or grizzlies or both, but we did not see the murder. We simply have the evidence of the loss,” said Rep. Jerald Raymond (R-Menan), who sponsored the latest update in House Bill 82.
Raymond said during a committee hearing in February animals that go missing still won’t be included under the program.
“There has to be a visible confirmation that that animal died and has been partially consumed by a predator,” he said.
Raymond’s bill unanimously cleared the Idaho Senate, but earned 14 no votes in the House – nearly entirely from conservatives.
Possible predator kills would only be paid out after claims are collected for confirmed and probable predator kill cases.
Legislators set aside $225,000 for the fund in the current fiscal year.
Idaho Department of Agriculture officials are finalizing these new rules this summer.
On Tuesday, the group proposed bumping up the amount the depredation fund would cover for livestock injured by predators. If approved, ranchers could get 75% of their vet bill covered instead of the current 70%.
Officials will hold one more meeting to take input on the proposal July 17 in Boise.
Funding reduction could mean WA library job cuts, less access to collections
The Washington Secretary of State’s Office might have to lay off over 40 employees from the state library because of reduced funding.
That could mean less access to the state’s historical materials.
The Washington State Library in Tumwater holds things you don’t see every day — like a nutshell that holds a book the size of a walnut about Lewis and Clark’s expedition to the west.
But soon, the public might lose access to these things.
"There are many things in this collection that do not exist anywhere else," state librarian Sara Jones said. "So when they're not available to people, they're simply not available.”
When lawmakers passed the state budget this month, they did not include the six point seven million dollars requested for the library. And, the federal government has reduced library funding.
That means the state library will likely have to lay off staff. They’ve told 47 employees that they could lose their jobs. With fewer staff, Jones says they’ll be focusing on maintaining the resources they have — behind closed doors.
NW fault line may be smaller than previously thought
Seismologists have been warning the Pacific Northwest is due to be struck by a major earthquake.
This quake will likely produce a tsunami that could strike the Washington-Oregon coast.
But new research from the University of Washington finds a major fault known as a megasplay isn't as extensive as previously thought.
This fault branches off of the Cascadia subduction zone.
When this type of fault ruptures during a quake it can cause tsunamis to strike the coast faster.
Since this fault isn’t as big as once believed, Harold Tobin, the director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, said some coastal communities may have more time to evacuate before a giant wave strikes.
"This makes it a bit more likely that some places will have a little more warning time that some of the worst case planning scenarios have given so far. That’s the good news part," Tobin said. "The bad news part is it doesn’t mean the tsunami is necessarily any smaller."
According to a press release from the University of Washington, these findings do not decrease the risk of future earthquakes or tsunamis posed to the region.
Another recent study found that when the next major earthquake occurs, land along the Washington coast line could sink about six feet.
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Reporting by Doug Nadvornick, Owen Henderson, James Dawson, Lauren Gallup and Mitch Borden.