Capitol  Buzz

BUSINESS, ECONOMY & LABOR

• Employer demand and worker anxiety help fuel WA job growth (The Seattle Times)
• Starbucks union greets new CEO Narasimhan with Seattle protest, strike (Bloomberg/The Seattle Times)

COMMUNITY & FAMILY ISSUES

• EDITORIAL: Listen to moms and don’t cut WIC dairy (Capital Press)

CONGRESS

• Cantwell grills Norfolk Southern CEO, highlights Washington derailment in rail safety hearing (The Spokesman-Review)

CRIME

• Bill targets use of pill presses to make counterfeit drugs (Columbia Basin Herald)
• Fighting domestic violence in realtime (KNWN Radio)

DAMS

• Going natural: Farms grow native plants for Klamath River dam removal (Capital Press)

EARLY LEARNING

• Experts in Clark County say post-pandemic learning losses hit preschoolers (The Columbian)

EDUCATION

• Clark County schools to receive payouts as part of Juul lawsuit (The Columbian)
• Equity issues at North Thurston schools among topics raised at Black community forum (The Olympian)

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & SERVICES

• Oso community marks 9-year anniversary of deadly landslide (MyNorthwest)

ENERGY & UTILITIES

• BP selects Whatcom County for $1.5 billion investment for these projects (The Bellingham Herald)

FOOD SAFETY & SECURITY

• Frozen organic strawberries and a tropical fruit blend recalled because of Hepatitis A risk (Snoqualmie Valley Record)

GAMBLING

• Washington bill would legalize ‘betting’ for nonprofit shooting contests (The Center Square)

GUN RIGHTS

• Washington bill to ban sale of assault weapons goes to Senate (KREM TV)
• COLUMN: Washington Reps. on the left are clueless about guns (Frank Cooper/KONA Radio)

HEALTH CARE & HOSPITALS

• WA hospitals lost $2 billion in 2022. A plan to up Medicaid rates could help (The Seattle Times)
• Washington hospitals lost more than $2.1 billion in 2022, officials say (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Temp nurses cost hospitals big during pandemic. Lawmakers seek limits (Kaiser Health News/The Seattle Times)
• Insulin cost-cap bill moves toward Inslee’s signature (NCW Life Channel)

HOMELESSNESS

• Kirkland OKs agreement to use La Quinta for housing homeless people (The Seattle Times)
• Here’s what we know about a controversial housing village approved by Pierce County (The News Tribune)
• COLUMN: Pierce County just passed a new tax and funded a homeless village. That’s a big deal (Matt Driscoll/The News Tribune)

HOUSING

• Small landlords share concerns about recent housing laws with Seattle City Council committee (KING TV)

INVASIVE SPECIES

• Spring killing: Smaller-than-a-penny Japanese beetle looms large for Northwest agriculture (NW News Network)

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Robbery suspect wounds Everett officer before being killed (AP)
• Law enforcement push legislators to roll back restrictions on police pursuits before session ends (KING TV)
• Rep. Reed: Police pursuit reform legislation based on ‘massive misinformation campaign’ (The Center Square)
• Eviction notices one of most dangerous jobs a police officer faces (MyNorthwest)
• Benton sheriff visits Olympia, lobbies for police pursuit, drug arrest reform (KONA Radio)

LEGISLATURE

• Domestic violence survivors could be shielded under new bill. Some say the bill goes too far (The News Tribune)
• Washington passes ‘Kimberly Bender’s Law’ to raise penalties for sexually abusive jail guards (KING TV)
• Momentum grows for creating Washington ‘bias incident’ hotline that could pay alleged victims with tax money (FOX 13)
• Three bills by Waters pass Senate committee (KIHR Radio)
• Freshman lawmakers of color in WA have a tough road. One let us come along (KNKX Radio)
• Lewis County commissioners speak out against proposed state legislation (The Chronicle)
• COLUMN: Pursuing pursuits, erasing advisory votes and spending battles begin (Jerry Cornfield/Everett Herald)
• COLUMN: Dem bill cuts English reading and writing requirement for public safety jobs (Jason Rantz/MyNorthwest)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• Auditors flag half of Washington counties over COVID-19 aid (Crosscut)
• Regional sports complex bill still moving forward in Olympia (KPQ Radio)
• OPINION: Expand on the successes of Tacoma’s guaranteed income pilot (Victoria Woodards, mayor of Tacoma, and Ryan Mello, chair of the Pierce County Council/The Seattle Times)

MENTAL HEALTH

• King County partners with Ballmer group to fund youth mental health expansions (The Center Square)
• The state is funding a behavioral health facility in rural Stevens County, and the small town’s residents are in an ‘uproar’ (The Inlander)

MILITARY & VETERANS

• More than 7,100 veterans hired since Rep. Gina Mosbrucker’s ‘YesVets’ program began in 2016 (KLCK Radio)

OPEN GOVERNMENT

• COLUMN: Good luck, California Journalism Preservation Act; farewell Olympia press corps houses (Brier Dudley/The Seattle Times)
• EDITORIAL: Misguided WA bill to close public records won’t ensure promised protections (The Seattle Times)

OPERATING BUDGET

• Hike taxes vs. ‘still an increase’: Think tanks war over WA revenue forecast (The Center Square)

OTHER STATES

• ‘My right to feel safe is at jeopardy’: Oregon gun control bills highlight tension between curbing gun violence, protecting gun rights (The Oregonian)
• Bill to create a commission overseeing health care in Oregon jails has died (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
• Most people of color can’t afford to live in Portland, report finds (Oregon Public Broadcasting)

SCHOOL SAFETY

• 14-year-old student allegedly attacks teacher at Alderwood Middle School (MyNorthwest)
• Frontier Middle School student beaten by classmate required facial reconstruction surgery (KING TV)
• 7-year-old with special needs has PTSD after restraints used at school, WA lawsuit says (The Bellingham Herald)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• TikTok CEO appears before Congress over security fears (AP/FOX 13)

STATE GOVERNMENT

• Washington’s outdoor workforce may have new heat exposure protections under proposed rule change (KREM TV)

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

• Washington lawmakers lean into addiction treatment as reduced drug possession penalties are set to expire (The Inlander)
• Yakima joins state settlement agreement with opioid pharmacies, manufacturers (Yakima Herald-Republic)
• Firefighters: Narcan is a temporary fix, not a ‘cure-all’ for drug overdoses in Yakima County (KAPP/KVEW)

TAXES

• A Washington state bill proposes hitting the very, very, very rich with a new type of tax — but is it legal? (The Inlander)

TRANSPORTATION

• Lawmakers taking hard look at where ferries are built (MyNorthwest)
• Legislators eye proposals that could see new state ferries built outside Washington (Kitsap Sun)
• Safety device, human error derailed Anacortes train, federal officials say (KUOW Radio)
• EDITORIAL: State needs quicker route for its new ferries (The Everett Herald)
• EDITORIAL: BNSF Railway’s high profit, low performance (Capital Press)