From Stark

A bill that will move up the state’s primary election by two weeks is on its way to the governor after a unanimous vote of approval in the State Senate Thursday, April 14. Secretary of State Sam Reed says the bill will make it easier for  overseas voters, including members of the military, to cast their ballots.

Here’s the press release from Reed’s office:

Washington lawmakers have voted to move the state’s primary election two weeks earlier and to make it easier for our military and overseas voters to cast ballots electronically.  Secretary of State Sam Reed, who championed the legislation, hailed the Senate’s unanimous vote Thursday that sent the measure to Governor Gregoire for her signature.

The measure, Senate Bill 5171, allows service members and Washington voters abroad to return their voted ballots by fax or email, as many states do. Currently, ballots can be sent electronically to the voter, but the final voted ballot must be returned “snail mail” before the vote will be counted.

Another key feature of the bill, also aimed at serving military and overseas voters, is moving the state’s Top 2 Primary two weeks earlier in August.  That would help the state’s 39 counties meet new federal mandates that all military and overseas ballots go out at least 45 days before Election Day.  Currently the state’s relatively late primary makes it difficult for some counties to get the ballots in the mail on time. (After each primary, it takes three weeks to have results certified, followed by state certification, possible recounts or court proceedings,  and preparation of a wide array of ballots.)

Last year, the state got special federal permission to keep its 30-day advance mailout deadline, since Washington accepts military and overseas ballots for three weeks after the Election Day. That gives the state over 50 days total transit time.  However, the feds advised Washington that the 45-day pre-election deadline is important and that the state shouldn’t try to get by with annual requests for waivers.

The measure, sponsored by Sens.  Steve Hobbs, Pam Roach and others, also moves filing week earlier and revises candidate filing provisions in the event of a vacancy.

The earlier primary will begin next year.

Reed said: “We appreciate the virtually unanimous support in our Legislature for changes that will bring us into full compliance with federal law, which we have long supported.  Senator Hobbs, Rep. Chris Hurst and other key legislators were extremely helpful in moving this legislation forward.  and we thanks them.

“We have a long and proud history in this state of providing strong voter services to our military and to the many people whose jobs take them abroad or serve so well in mission and relief work.”

Washington has roughly 50,000 military and overseas voters, and the fifth highest military population in America.  We have five military installations.

From Paben

Remember the budget calculator “game” by the League of Education Voters we posted on here?

Well, the results are in, and most people chose to raise revenue, rather than cut expenses. The most common revenue-raising tactic was to eliminate the sales tax exemption for business services.

Click here to see more results on Reporter Kira Cox’s School Days blog.

From Stark:

The National Institute on Money in State Politics has provided a fascinating set of online maps that illustrate Republican gains in state legislatures across the nation.

Here’s the press release from that organization, with links to view the maps.

Helena, MT–State legislatures saw an extreme shift in power after the November 2010 elections. More than 6,100 partisan legislative seats were up for election in 45 states, and at the end of the day, 794 (13 percent) had switched party hands. Of those seats that switched, 732 went to Republicans, 46 to Democrats, and 16 to third-party candidates.

The Party Control Map, created by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, color-codes state house/assembly and senate districts by party, and also indicates if the seats changed party hands. Most of the takeover occurred in the House chambers, where 629 seats changed party hands. Republicans took 585 seats previously held by Democrats or third-party lawmakers.  By comparison, just 30 seats changed to Democratic control, and 14 changed to third parties.

Senate chambers experienced similar changes, with 147 of the 1,146 seats changing to Republican control.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan National Institute on Money in State Politics collects and analyzes campaign contribution information on state-level candidates, political party committees, and ballot committees. Explore the free, searchable database of contributions online at FollowTheMoney.org.

From Stark

A new USA Today/Gallup Poll reports that 61 percent of Americans oppose Wisconsin-style measures to strip their state’s public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

The Wisconsin bill has triggered an uproar in the Badger State, with huge throngs of protesters filling the state capitol and teachers shutting down some public schools.

Today’s questions:

Is it too easy to blame public employee unions for state and local budget woes? Didn’t our elected officials approve the pay and benefits in union contracts in negotiations with those unions? Didn’t we elect and re-elect those officials amid warnings from many quarters that state and local budgets might not be sustainable?

By Stark

In Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott Walker says he has the votes to pass a bill that would strip most public employees, including teachers, of their collective bargaining rights.  (As far as I know this is not the same as Scott Walker the port commissioner. I’ll check that later.)

In Madison, teachers responded with a sick-in that shut down the schools Wednesday. That should win the teachers’ union many new friends.

Walker says this drastic measure is the only way to address the state’s financial problems. But from this AP report, it appears that support for the measure may be waning even among Republicans.

From Paben

When a legislative committee compared whether it would be cheaper for the state Department of Natural Resources to contract out its helicoper services (used for fighting wildland fires), it found that operating its own helicopters costs less than half as much as having the private sector do it.

UH-1 Huey

The department spent $2.2 million in 2009 on the program. The helicopter was used in east Whatcom County that year to fight fires.

The agency announced today that it’ll save money by getting rid of its four AH-1 Cobra helicopters and buying two UH-1 Huey helicopters. They estimate it’ll save at least $300,000 a year. The recommendation to do so came from Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee report.

“Data collected for the study on usage in recent fire seasons suggest that a six-helicopter fleet would allow DNR to protect people and forests from wildfires just as well as the current eight-helicopter configuration,” according to the DNR.

The new Hueys will be paid by a federal grant, and there won’t be any cost to the state. But reducing the number and standardizing them all will save the agency money. The new helicopters should be ready for this firefighting season, but the state it going to get a deal in place with the feds where it could get extra helicopters, if they’re needed. (more…)

From Paben

A bill in the Senate would eliminate the state printer, something that former Democratic Rep. Kelli Linville tried to do when she was in the House. Republican Vincent Buys, who beat Linville last November, said he also wants to eliminate the state printer.

This new bill, SB 5523, would eliminate the Department of Printing. The Public Printer, as the department is also known, was established in 1854. The bill directs the closure of the department and the sale of all of its equipment.

Rep. Buys

During the election, Linville said closing it was something she said she’d wanted to do for a long time. She accused Buys of parroting her idea for the campaign. Click here to see the bill report for the bill she sponsored last Legislative session that didn’t pass. Click here to see the bill report for it.

Linville

At this point, it doesn’t appear there’s a companion bill in the House that would eliminate the printer.

Click here to go to the state printer’s website.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on this bill at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 3.

From Paben

I just posted at Traffic Talk about how Eyman and his allies are using initiatives to fight red-light cameras in other cities as well, including Monroe, Longview and Wenatchee. Also, I look at three bills in the state House that would restrict the cameras.

It’s traffic related, and it’s politics, hence the cross posting.

What do you think of the bills? Eyman calls the one by Democratic Rep. Connie Ladenburg “useless.” What do you think of that?

From Paben

You wouldn’t have to get an air-quality permit for letting poo rot to create energy, under a proposed bill.

OK, I’ll be serious, although that is a crude representation of the idea.

The House environment committee today held a hearing on a bill, HB 1070, which would exempt some anaerobic digester facilities from needing permit approval under the federal Clean Air Act. To avoid needing a permit, the facilities would still need to fit within certain parameters ensuring they don’t have a rmajor environmental impact.

We have a couple of these digesters in the county. They work by letting bacteria eat manure and sewage in an oxygenless environment. That creates methane, which can be used to produce electricity.

The bill, recognizing that the facilities serve a public good, would exempt them from air-quality permitting if they are an anaerobic digester that processes at least 50 percent livestock manure by volume or an engine or flare powered by fuel from an anaerobic digester that processes at least 50 percent livestock manure by volume qualifies for an exemption from the AOP program if:

• The facility has a combined aggregate heat input of less than 10 million British thermal units of energy per hour; and
• The facility’s sulfur emissions is 0.1 percent or less of its total emissions.

Rep. Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon, is one of the sponsors of this bill.

Following is our last article on a new digester in the north county: (more…)

From Paben

A potential initiative this fall would make it a gross misdemeanor for anybody to confine hens in small cages, or to knowingly sell any eggs for human consumption that are from hens in those conditions.

Backers still have to gather signatures (the Secretary of State’s Office recommends 320,000 signatures) to get the initiative to the ballot. They also have three different versions of this being reviewed. They’ll get to decide which version to circulate for signatures.

Click here to see the first version that’s being reviewed by the state’s code reviser.

It’s a pretty wide-sweeping initiative. It makes it a gross misdemeanor for somebody to confine an egg-laying hen “in a manner that prevents the hen from turning around freely, lying down, standing up, or fully extending her wings.” It also prevents caging them “in a case that is stacked or otherwise placed on top of or below another cage confining one of more egg-laying hens.”

But, in my mind, the biggest impact will come from this section of the proposed law:

“A person shall now knowingly sell or offer for sale any shell egg for human consumption that is the product of an egg-laying hen confined in a manner contrary to the prohibitions of subsection (1) of this section.”

To me, that means all the grocery stores in the state would have to ensure that the eggs they sell, even if from large factory farms in the Midwest, come from hens that are caged in this manner.

The initiative says the law won’t go into effect until 2018.

They have until July 8 to submit 241,153 valid signatures from registered votes.

What do you think? Would you sign a petition like this? How many of you currently buy cage-free eggs from vegetarian-fed hens?

From Paben

A bill in Olympia would prevent the government from taking private land for economic-development efforts.

The U.S. and state constitutions give government the authority to take, with “just compensation,” private land for “public use.” It’s frequently used by governments for road purposes (widenings, installing turn lanes, etc … ). But it’s used for other purposes as well.

A new bill, which was requested by Attorney General Rob McKenna, would prohibit state and local governments from taking property and transferring it to a private entity as part of an economic-development effort.

This became a bigger public concern after the U.S. Supreme Court in Kelo v. City of New London, ruled that the city of New London, in Connecticut, could condemn private property and transfer it to developers to build offices, a hotel, parking, a conference center and other commercial uses. It was land near where a pharmaceutical company planned to locate, but the land wasn’t considered “blighted.”

The court ruled that the city could do that because it was considered a “public use,” because of the new economic activity and taxes yielded.

It also drew outrage from many around the country.

Bellingham has used condemnation to help revitalize the corner of Holly Street and Railroad Avenue in downtown. The building that hold’s Bob’s Burgers and Brew used to be called the Bellingham Inn. The city filed a lawsuit to condemn against the building owners, claiming that criminal activity was going on there. In the end, the city agreed to put $400,000 in drug-forfeiture money toward improvements, it waived some development fees and granted a 10-year property tax reduction as part of a settlement.

Under state law, what constitutes “public use” has evolved over the years. Here is a little on that history, according to a bill report for this new legislation:

• In 1959, the state Supreme Court blocked a port district from condemning property and transferring it to a private party to help create an industrial development district. The court said it wasn’t “really” a public use, and that wanting to ensure somebody else’s property is used to a “higher and better economic use” doesn’t mean it’s for a public use.

• In 1963, on the other hand, the court, the court upheld the condemnation of property as part of an urban renewal plan. In that case, the property had been declared “blighted,” and that was important.

• In 1981, the court stopped the city of Seattle from condemning property to enhance the Westlake shopping center area. Some of the property was going to be transferred to a developer, and the court decided the planned use of the property was mostly going to be for private use. A few years later, however, the court said it was OK for the city to condemn property near the shopping center for parks uses, even though that benefited the center.

• In 1998, the court allows private property to be condemned to allow an expansion of the state convention and trade center. Part of the property was going to be transferred to a private party to build a parking garage, but the court ruled that the parking garage was incidental to the public use of the center.

In short, case law suggests that governments can’t take private property for wholly private development, even if it revitalizes and area, but it may be permissible if private use is incidental to a larger, wholly public use.

It would change state law to ban public entities from taking property for economic-development uses, and it states that they can only take property for “public uses.” Public uses include anything with the possession, occupation or enjoyment of the general public or by a public agency. It can also be done utilities purposes. Lastly, it can be done if it eliminates a direct threat to public health and safety caused by the property, or it takes a public nuisance, uninhabitable structure or abandoned property.

The bill doesn’t apply to port districts’ activities, which are often aimed at economic development.

“The public benefits of economic development, including an increase in tax base, tax revenues, employment and general economic health, may not constitute a public use,” according to the bill report, prepared by the House’s Office of Program Research.

Twenty four Representatives have sponsored the bill, but none represent the 40th or 42nd districts, which encompass most of Whatcom County.

A public hearing was held on the bill this morning by the House’s Judiciary Committee. A companion bill, SB 5077, is in the Senate. It’s scheduled for a hearing by the Senate’s Committee on Government Operations and Tribal Relations and Elections. Fifteen Senators are sponsoring that bill, but none from the 40th or 42nd.

Click here to see the House bill report.

Click here to see the Senate’s bill report.

Here is an article we wrote in 2002 if you’re curious on more of the history of the city’s decision to sue the owners of the former Bellingham Inn:

City votes to condemn motel site
BY EMILY WEINER
THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

The Bellingham City Council voted unanimously Monday to condemn the property on the corner of West Holly Street and Railroad Avenue occupied by Bellingham Inn because criminal activity that police and owners have been unable to stop makes the motel a blight on the surrounding neighborhood.

The city will go to court to acquire the property, at the same time continuing to negotiate with the property owners. The council action authorized the city to buy the property, at fair market value, using a loan from the city’s Sewer Fund, which would be repaid from parking revenues.

Mayor Mark Asmundson said the city wants to see the motel site and adjoining properties redeveloped, mostly by the private sector, with a big chunk of the block used for parking. Asmundson said that parking could be in the core of the block, wrapped by residential, commercial and office development facing Railroad Avenue, East Holly Street and North State Street.

The block could be redeveloped without tearing down The Royal, at 208 E. Holly St., Asmundson said. The city has been talking with various property owners on the block.

State law lets a city condemn a property that “constitutes blight on the surrounding neighborhood” if the mayor determines it constitutes a threat to the public health, safety or welfare and the structure has been associated with illegal drug activity during the previous 12 months.

Todd Ramsay, deputy chief for operations of the Bellingham Police Department, described extensive drug activity at the motel and submitted a list of 104 incidents where officers responded to Bellingham Inn in the past year. He compared the inn to 11 other motels, including the Shangri-La on Holly Street and several along Samish Way. Ramsay said although the motels are of a similar size, Bellingham Inn had:

- The highest number of reports.
- Drug-related activity 38 percent higher than the runner-ups, Aloha Motel and Bay City Motor Inn.
- Overdoses 40 percent higher than runner-up Aloha Motel.
- The only investigation of a death believed to be from an overdose.

Ramsay, Asmundson and others who testified about crime at Bellingham Inn said the design of the motel, with each room opening to the outside, made it impossible for its management to maintain security.

During the council’s public comment period, the Rev. Dick Christensen, pastor of Faith Lutheran Church and a member of the coalition that has been serving free coffee and sandwiches downtown for the past two years, said the ordinance to condemn the inn had “social cleansing written all over it.” He asked the council to vote no.

“The question before the council is whether this will be a city for only some self-designated ‘nice’ people, ” he said. “If so, what will happen to those of us who are not so ‘nice?’ ”

Council members said the intent is to protect all Bellingham residents, rich and poor, from being victimized by crime. Asmundson said that the city isn’t trying to chase out anyone, except for criminals.

“The condemnation removes conditions none of us would tolerate in the residential districts we live in, ” said Asmundson. “The people who live downtown shouldn’t have to tolerate it either.”

Parking issues

Travis Holland, owner of Horseshoe Cafe, at 113 E. Holly St, spoke against the condemnation at a committee meeting earlier in the day, saying the condemnation was being used to avoid a public discussion of development of a parking garage.

During the evening meeting’s public comment period, Holland opposed the other parking-related item passed by the council Monday: an appropriation of up to $70,000 from the parking fund reserve account for technical help in putting together a new rate and fine structure, evaluating a possible acquisition and preparing a marketing plan.

Holland called the spending wasted, and made nine alternative proposals, including creating an “adopt-a-meter” program so business owners could pay for customer parking, waiving first offenses and exploring why “every city our size in the state of Washington except us have removed their parking meters.”

Asmundson said the city would use part of the $70,000 to look at technologies to make the parking system more welcoming to shoppers while punishing people who misuse it. He said one possible technology identifies abusers of the parking system and another prints out a card with the time a meter expires, making it easier for shoppers to avoid overstaying.

“The goal is not to punish a person inadvertently in the space too long, ” he said.

In coming months, the city will bring a set of parking-system recommendations to the council.

From Stark:

In this lengthy analysis for the Seattle Times, Andrew Garber reports on the newfound budget-cutting zeal of Gov. Chris Gregoire as she tries to close the state budget gap while arguing with fellow Democrats about what must be done.

Her comments on the education system are perhaps the most interesting. She complains that she added huge amounts of money to the education system but saw little or no results.

“I came in here determined to make the system work better,” Gregoire says. ” To invest more money. I put a lot more money into K-12. But then you sit there and say, ‘Why have I not been able to get the result I set out to achieve?’ ”

Later in the article, she accuses education interest groups of putting their own welfare ahead of students:

“No matter how hard you try to make change, there are always those who want to protect something or another,” she said. “I’ll use education because I think it’s a perfect example. Do they want to protect it because it’s right for the kids? Do they even think about whether it’s right for the kids?”

From Paben

A bill in Olympia will establish a pilot program through which farmer’s markets around the state will be able to offer free samples of beer and wine.

Currently, makers and distributors of beer and wine can sell apply for special permission from the Washington Liquor Control Board to sell booze at farmers markets, but free samples aren’t allowed. I learned this a couple of years ago when I asked an employee at Honeymoon for a sample of a mead (I think it was the blueberry one that I was curious about) at the Bellingham farmers market, and he told me they legally can’t do that.

SB 5029 would have the board conduct a pilot project at 10 different markets to see how allowing free samples goes. It’ll occur between July 1 and Sept. 30 of this year. Presumably, if people aren’t vomiting on themselves and starting fights, the Legislature would consider making this permanent.

That seems unlikely, unless two ounces of beer or wine get you wasted. The pilot project has these requirements, according to the bill report:

• Samples must be 2 ounces or less, up to a total of 4 ounces, and no more than one sample of any single brand may be provided to a customer during one visit;
• A winery or microbrewery must have food available or must be adjacent to a vendor offering food;
• A winery or microbrewery may advertise the sampling only in their designated location at the farmers market;
• Customers must remain in the designated location while sampling beer or wine;
• Employees of both wineries and microbreweries who are involved in sampling activities must complete a Board approved limited alcohol server training program that addresses only those subjects reasonably related to the sampling activities, or a class 12 or class 13 alcohol server permit.

Click here to see more in the bill report.

The Senate’s Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee on Tuesday afternoon will hold a hearing on the bill.

What are your thoughts on this bill?

I remember I had my first sip of alcohol when I was 15 and we were traveling through France and we stopped at a winery. The employee handed me a sample of a red wine. At the time, I hated it.

From Paben

We have this story about how a bill in Olympia would require the state to compensate inmates who were wrongly convicted on our main page, but I wanted to post it here to get a conversation started.

Click here to see more on this in The Seattle Weekly.

What do you think?

From Paben

Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office has created a new online resource for public employees looking to learn about how they should handle public records.

“It is intended to introduce newly elected and newly appointed public officials to the new world of public records and their new responsibilities. It will be updated from time to time,” according to the press release.

Click here to see the website.

This is the “construction” section of the Public Records Act:

The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created. This chapter shall be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly construed to promote this public policy and to assure that the public interest will be fully protected. In the event of conflict between the provisions of this chapter and any other act, the provisions of this chapter shall govern.