Capitol  Buzz

AGRICULTURE & WATER

• Yakima Valley ag tourism is ripe for growth with help from D.C. (KIT Radio)
• Bill would sink Department of Ecology stockwater policy (Capital Press)
• Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit over cherry patent infringement (Capital Press)

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Washington bill proposes salary range be a requirement in job listings (KXLY)
• Bill would allow Vancouver businesses to continue getting assistance, tax credits (The Columbian)
• As omicron spreads, businesses voluntarily increase COVID precautions (FOX 13)
• During the pandemic Whatcom bankruptcy filings have tumbled to record lows. Here’s why (The Bellingham Herald)
• Washington minimum wage increase ripples through Clark County (The Columbian)
• Rising costs a headwind for commercial construction in 2022 (Puget Sound Business Journal)

CHILD CARE

• Ways to fix the child care system in Washington state (Crosscut)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Day marchers call for equity in schools, voting (The Seattle Times)
• Changes on the horizon for Whatcom nonprofit connecting Latinx families with outdoors (The Bellingham Herald)

CONGRESS

• Rep. Herrera Beutler co-sponsors police grant funding bill (The Reflector)

CORONAVIRUS

• 4th shot gives only limited defense against omicron, Israeli test finds (AP/The Oregonian)
• COLUMN: Most of Seattle area’s 200,000 unvaccinated adults say they will ‘definitely not’ get COVID shots (The Seattle Times)

CRIME

• Lawmakers introduce bill to reform solitary confinement in Washington prisons (The News Tribune)
• Child rapist lost in backlog gets max sentence nearly 20 years after Torchlight attack (MyNorthwest)

DAMS

• OPINION: Hydroelectric dams will aid in increase of much-needed power supply (Randy Suess, president of Inland Power and Light’s board of trustees/The Spokesman-Review)

EDUCATION

• In first assessment since the pandemic began, Washington student test scores drop significantly (The Seattle Times)
• Spokane schools taking closer look at school bus changes (The Spokesman-Review)
• Centralia lawmaker decries proposal to reduce in-class instruction by full day (The Daily Chronicle)
• SPS reports more COVID cases in past 2 weeks than across entire pandemic (FOX 13)
• COLUMN: As students rally for stronger school health and safety protocols, ‘let the youth speak their truth and let them be heard’ (Naomi Ishisaka/The Seattle Times)

EMERGENCY POWERS

• Corry introduces bill to reform gubernatorial emergency powers (KLCK Radio)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• DNR map shows if your home is in an area susceptible to landslides (KING TV)
• Thurston County Public Health offering free water testing for residents affected by flooding (The Daily Chronicle)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• Race to cut carbon emissions splits U.S. states on nuclear (AP/Seattle P-I)

ENVIRONMENT

• Gov. Inslee readies $600M stepped up plan to address climate change (KOMO TV)
• Bill to ramp up recycling a top priority for green coalition in 2022 Washington state legislative session (The Seattle Times)

GUN RIGHTS

• Legislators, citizens discuss two bills on firearms (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Lawmakers to consider multiple gun control proposals this session (The Spokesman-Review)

HEALTH CARE

• Inslee pauses non-emergency surgeries in Washington state (The Center Square)
• State legislature exploring new laws to address healthcare staffing (KGMI Radio)
• Washington hospitals hoping to avoid crisis standards of care (The Spokesman-Review)
• Social media chatter about WAC isolation statute (KOZI Radio)
• OPINION: Washingtonians deserve equitable access to infertility care (Christopher Herndon, assistant professor, doctor and medical director in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of Washington School of Medicine/The Seattle Times)

HIGHER EDUCATION

• Panel discussion touch of collective mental health (Daily Record)

HOMELESSNESS

• Annual homeless count could shed light on pandemic’s impact (The Everett Herald)
• Bremerton’s Jackson aiming to ‘change the game’ for serving homeless (Kitsap Sun)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Second woman sues King County, claiming deputies failed to protect her during probe of prostitution ring in 1990s (The Seattle Times)
• Bill supported by Hawkins would allow local sales tax to fund police (NCW Life Channel)
• As lawmakers and police debated new law, young father with mental illness languished in Vancouver (OPB)
• State lawmakers consider fixes to controversial police reform laws (KGMI Radio)
• Tri-City police roll out body cams after new WA law takes effect (Tri-City Herald)

LEGISLATURE

• No winners in battle over limiting free speech in Washington state (MyNorthwest)
• Zack’s Law sparks emotional testimony during first hearing (The Reflector)
• Local lawmaker wants informed Yakima voters (KIT Radio)
• Reps. Goehner and Steele legislative update – Week One (KOZI Radio)
• COLUMN: Ports and potties, and a delay in long-term-care payroll tax (Jerry Cornfield/The Everett Herald)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• State lawmakers aim to dismantle ‘NIMBY at its core’ by ending community councils (MyNorthwest)
• 34 seek seats on Chelan-Douglas health board (The Wenatchee World)

LONG-TERM CARE

• Long-term care tax: Dems push delay, Republicans push repeal and replace (The Center Square)
• COLUMN: Time to replace state’s ill-thought long-term care law (Don Brunell/The Reflector)

MEDIA

• Meet Crosscut’s new Indigenous affairs reporter (Crosscut)

MENTAL HEALTH

• Psychiatric care facility planned in Clark County runs into neighborhood opposition (OPB)
• Commissioners to tackle mental health funding (KWHT)

POLITICS

ELECTIONS

• Inslee, Washington Democrats push election bills, as they weigh threats to democracy (The Seattle TImes)

NATIONAL

• COLUMN: Gov. Inslee could be in ‘early stages of another presidential run,’ political watchdog theorizes (Dori Monson/MyNorthwest)

RURAL BROADBAND

• Nisqually Tribe works to extend broadband services to unserved areas, including near Rochester and Littlerock (The Daily Chronicle)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Jay Inslee executive order could restore some affirmative action policies in Washington state government (The Seattle Times)

TRANSPORTATION

• Robot trucks raising self-driving safety stakes (The Seattle Times)
• Reversible lane between SR 520 and I-5 under construction (MyNorthwest)
• Light rail won’t save downtown Bellevue from heavy traffic, analyst says (Puget Sound Business Journal)
• Senators: Lewis, South Thurston County bridges to benefit from $605 million federal investment (The Daily Chronicle)
• EDITORIAL: Prioritize fixing I-5’s ailing Ship Canal Bridge (The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: Legislature must make transportation a priority (The Columbian)

TRIBAL ISSUES

• House bills target crisis of missing Indigenous people in Washington state (The Seattle Times)