Capitol  Buzz

THE CURRENT | A WASHINGTON HOUSE REPUBLICAN EMAIL UPDATE

• The 60-day legislative session is underway

VIDEO UPDATE OF THE WEEK

• Week 1 Review with House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Inslee’s proposal mandating stream buffers seen as shift to regulations (Capital Press)
• Ranchers applaud federal efforts to increase meatpacker competition (Capital Press)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Washington business groups praise SCOTUS decision staying Biden’s vaccine mandate (The Center Square)
• Trash left uncollected as Seattle-area sanitation workers join strike (The Seattle Times)
• Here’s another thing the pandemic has messed up: economic forecasts (The Washington Post/The Seattle Times)
• Exclusive: New details on Amazon’s plans for hiring 1,500 Tri-Cities workers (Tri-City Herald)

CONGRESS

• Newhouse: Ag labor issues on pause in Senate (Pacific Northwest Ag Network)
• EDITORIAL: For Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honor voting rights (The Seattle TImes)

CORONAVIRUS

• UW Virology head: Not yet to the peak of omicron in Washington state (MyNorthwest)
• Pop-up COVID test sites have ballooned as demand surges. Officials warn consumers to be cautious (The Seattle Times)
• Expect more worrisome variants after omicron, scientists say (AP/The Seattle Times)
• Providence caring for record number of COVID-19 patients, but fewer require critical care (The Daily Chronicle)
• EDITORIAL: Gratitude and frustration — lots of frustration — in the time of COVID (The Olympian)

COURTS (FEDERAL)

• Supreme Court to hear case of Bremerton coach in lawsuit over praying at games (MyNorthwest)

COURTS (STATE)

• Thousands of current and former Spokane County residents would be repaid for fines from unconstitutional drug law under new bill (The Spokesman-Review)

CRIME

• Inmates describe ‘The Hole’ as they testify in support of bill limiting solitary confinement (KING TV)
• No single cause for 2021’s surge in gunfire in Seattle. Grief, lack of answers plague families of victims (The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Courts, lawmakers should end qualified immunity (Juan Peralez/The Everett Herald)
• EDITORIAL: Seattle’s leaders must turn a corner on public safety (The Seattle Times)

DAMS

• Seattle’s ‘green’ power violates salmon’s legal rights, tribe says (KUOW Radio)

EDUCATION

• Schools struggle to stay open in omicron surge (KIRO TV)
• Superintendent struggle: COVID-19 pandemic, incivility likely to blame for exodus of school leaders, experts say (The Spokesman-Review)
• Staff shortages prompt some schools to resume remote learning (The Everett Herald)
• OPINION: 3 key changes for progressive K-12 funding (David S. Knight, assistant professor of education finance and policy at the University of Washington, and Marcena Day, J.D. candidate at the University of Washington School of Law and managing editor of the Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts/The Seattle Times)

EMERGENCY POWERS

• EDITORIAL: Good thing the Guard didn’t need to wait for the Legislature’s blessing (Yakima Herald-Republic)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Before Tonga went quiet: A Washington woman tells of texting with her sister as the tsunami surged (The Seattle Times)
• Washington experiences only slight tsunami surges from undersea eruption near Tonga (The Seattle Times)
• Packed Pacific NW trailheads, illegal parking pose problems for first responders (KOMO TV)
• There’s been a rise in behavioral health needs. East Pierce Fire is hiring an expert (Puyallup Herald/The News Tribune)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• State lawmaker proposes bill to offer people money in exchange for gas-powered yard tools (MyNorthwest)

ENVIRONMENT

• The Nooksack River is in “grave danger,” warns Whatcom scientist with numbers to back it up (The Bellingham Herald)
• OPINION: Washington must hold climate polluters accountable (Rep. David Hackney, 11th Legislative District/The Olympian)
• OPINION: Inslee’s low carbon task force is long overdue (Donald Davies, President of Magnusson Klemencic Associates/Puget Sound Business Journal)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT & THE WHITE HOUSE

• Former state AG: OSHA’s COVID vaccine mandate was too broad (MyNorthwest)

FISH

• Favorable fish findings (The Lewiston Tribune)
• Court decision is good news for Port Angeles net pen partnership (KONP Radio)

GAMBLING

• EDITORIAL: Sports gambling legislation needs adjustments (The Columbian)

HANFORD

• EDITORIAL: Hanford workers deserve easy access to workers’ comp (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

HEALTH CARE

• ‘Health care workers are at their breaking points’: Coalition pushes state lawmakers for solutions (MyNorthwest)
• As staffing crisis worsens in hospitals, legislators look to implement safe staffing standard (The Spokesman-Review)
• OPINION: My colleagues and my hospital are in crisis (Dennis Goulet, board-certified OB/GYN practicing with The Everett Clinic and on the medical staff at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett/The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Attempts to remove one viral stigma feeds another (Sue Lani Madsen/The Spokesman-Review)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• WSU expecting to seek 6th straight tuition hike as enrollment declines are predicted to continue this fall (KQQQ Radio)

HOMELESSNESS

• Woodland Park homeless encampment is Harrell’s first target, but shelter issues may stymie him (The Seattle Times)
• Legislation aims for more accurate count of homeless (The Columbian)

HOUSING

• Affordable housing shortage puts many workers on the doorstep of a crisis (Puget Sound Business Journal)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Lawmakers aim to adjust and refine police accountability laws passed during 2021 session (KIRO TV)
• Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputies began wearing body cameras at beginning of the year (The Spokesman-Review)
• BLOG: Rep. Mosbrucker: “Democrats went too far with their anti-police bills.” (Shift)
• COLUMN: New equity policy bars Seattle Police from some traffic stops, opens door to more car theft (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

LEGISLATURE

• Legislature considers bill to ban fur farms, production, sale in Washington (MyNorthwest)
• Gun control, transportation, housing among Seattle leaders’ wish list for state Legislature (The Seattle Times)
• 22-year-old senator says priority is flood relief for Whatcom County (KING TV)
• Legislators discuss state holidays, data, environment-friendly products (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Goehner sees challenges in plan to tweak laws this legislative session (KPQ Radio)
• COLUMN: Gov. Inslee’s bill to punish lying politicians may be asking for trouble (Dave Ross/MyNorthwest)

LGBTQ

• COVID’s invisible toll on Seattle’s trans community (The Seattle Times)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• EDITORIAL: Marcus Whitman statue talks a good sign (Walla Walla Union-Bulletin)

LONG-TERM CARE

• BLOG: Reps expect debate over long-term care to land next week (Brennen Kauffman/The Daily News)
• EDITORIAL: Fix WA Cares and let it resume its important work (The Everett Herald)

MEDIA

• Indigenous news outlets, nonprofits drive deeper coverage (AP/The Seattle Times)
• FOX 13 Seattle launches weeknight 6pm newscast (Fox 13 News)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Washington one of few states to fund new suicide hotline (KOMO TV)

OTHER STATES

• Governors turn to budgets to guard against climate change (AP/The Seattle Times)
• Pediatric COVID cases rise in Oregon (AP/The Columbian)
• Oregon House Democrats nominate Dan Rayfield of Corvallis to be speaker (The Oregonian)
• 2021 was a record year for homicides in Portland (OPB)

POLITICS

ELECTIONS

• BLOG: Claims of widespread illegal voter registration and fraud dismissed – again (Jim Camden/The Spokesman-Review)

STATE

• In his new book, former Washington Gov. Daniel J. Evans recalls an era of turbulence, political scandals and the influence of the trailblazing ‘Action Team’ (The Seattle Times)
• COLUMN: Politicians in Washington state are going on a censorship jag (Danny Westneat/The Seattle Times)

RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• Biden appoints new Washington Rural Development Director (KXLY)

TAXES

• Tax-free weekend would come to Wash. State with this proposed bill (KOMO TV)

TRANSPORTATION

• Sens. Warnick and King criticize response to Kittitas County offer to help clear snow on state highways (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Mountain passes offer better way across the state, but this winter has been different (The Spokesman-Review)
• County, state road crews come to an impasse in Upper County (Daily Record)
• Washington state to receive $121M in federal funding to repair bridges (KCPQ TV)
• COLUMN: No vax mandate? No thanks. WA rejects offer to help plow snow (Dave Ettl/KIT Radio)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• Proposed Washington bill would create alert system for missing indigenous people (KXLY)

WILDFIRE PREVENTION & RESPONSE

• OPINION: Our response to the next fire season started four years ago (Hilary Franz, Washington’s commissioner of public lands/The Spokesman-Review)

WILDLIFE

• State makes discovery about Asian giant hornets eradicated in 2021 (MyNorthwest)
• Unconfirmed Seattle cougar sighting is no reason for alarm, experts say (Crosscut)