Three takeaways from ‘A Republican Reset’ with Rep. Will Hurd

Former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd has some advice for his Republican colleagues: Engage with the voters, take sensible and collaborative stands on the issues and tell your friends to vote in the primary.

Former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd has some advice for his Republican colleagues: Engage with the voters, take sensible and collaborative stands on the issues and tell your friends to vote in the primary.

He believes the Republican Party is primed and ready for a reset, as he wrote in his 2022 book American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done and as he said at his appearance Tuesday at the Crosscut Ideas Festival.

He offered advice on how to re-engage with voters and move past former president and current candidate Donald Trump. One idea: Be more like our current president, Joe Biden, whom Hurd said does a good job of engaging in dialog and meaningful debate, unlike his predecessor.

The party isn’t going to engage younger voters, women in the suburbs and people of color, Hurd said, if Republicans aren’t open to talking about and developing meaningful stands on sometimes contentious issues like immigration, transgender rights and the environment.

He warned that meaningful engagement takes time and effort — as well as an open mind. And, he added, don’t be racist, don’t be a homophobe, don’t be misogynist, don’t be nasty.

People want to vote for people who are nice and have good ideas. “We should expect that from our elected officials,” he said.

And be part of choosing the candidates by voting in primaries, Hurd said. The best selection is in the primary, and most voters do not participate. He believes the Republican Party can get over Trump by voting in large numbers in primary elections. 

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U.S. Appeals Court won’t block WA’s new legislative district map

Legislative Map

An appeals court will not block a U.S. District Court ruling from earlier this month that the state must adopt Remedial Map 3B, which connects the Latino communities along the Yakima Valley. (Courtesy of the Campaign Legal Center)

A redrawn Washington legislative district map selected by a U.S. District Court judge earlier this month will be used in elections this year. The U.S. Court of Appeals has announced it will not step in to block the decision. 

However, the three-judge appeals panel, in its order Friday evening, allowed a group of conservative Latinos to continue its appeal efforts. 

The new maps create a Latino-voter-majority district in the Yakima Valley that aligns with federal voting rights laws. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik sided with Latino voters who sued the state in January 2022, saying the district, as drawn by the bipartisan Washington State Redistricting Commission in 2021, diluted Latino voter power. 

Under the new map, Legislative District 14 unites Latino communities in Central Washington from the east part of Yakima to Pasco in neighboring Franklin County, including Latino communities along the Lower Yakima Valley. The map also switched the Latino-majority district from the 15th to the 14th to ensure that state Senate elections fall on a presidential election year when the turnout of Latino voters is higher. 

A group of conservative Latino voters, which included State Rep. Alex Ybarra, intervened in the case and opposed the map, stating that it was an attempt by Democrats to gain power in conservative Central Washington districts. That argument did not get much traction in the original court case or the remedial map process. Intervenors, however, will now have an opportunity to lay out their argument for the appeals process. According to a court document, conservative voters must file opening briefs by June 7, with responses due in early July.

The state Department of Health announced updated guidance for people who get COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses, relying on a person’s symptoms rather than the previously recommended five-day quarantine. 

One of the most significant changes is to recommend that people are free to return to their normal activities once their symptoms have improved overall, and they are without fever for 24 hours. This means not having a fever or a need to use fever-reducing medication for at least a full day before having contact with others, since people can still be contagious after their symptoms have improved. 

Previous recommendations asked people to stay isolated for at least five full days after symptoms appeared. The state’s guidance follows recent updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Department of Health still advises wearing a mask, handwashing, physical distancing and testing after contracting a respiratory virus and returning to daily life, to avoid the risk of spreading infection. Those with COVID-19 can be contagious for five to 10 days after their illness. People with the flu can remain contagious for five to seven days, and those that contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are contagious three to eight days. 

These precautions can be helpful to older adults and people with weakened immune systems, who have higher chances of getting very sick from one of those respiratory diseases, state health officials say.

 

WA, CA, Quebec move closer to creating a joint carbon market

The site for Puget Sound Energy's new Tacoma LNG Facility

The site for Puget Sound Energy’s new Tacoma LNG Facility in a photo from Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. At 5.6 million tons in 2021, PSE is the state’s top emitter of greenhouse gases. (Dorothy Edwards/Cascade PBS)

California and Quebec on Wednesday took the next step toward partnering with Washington to form a bigger carbon market.

The state and Canadian province formally announced their interest in the joint venture. The earliest that the proposed alliance could happen is 2025. Lurking in the background is a November referendum on whether to repeal Washington’s cap-and-invest program.

“Though Washington has formally expressed interest in joining the California-Québec carbon market, today’s joint statement is the first time that all three governments have expressed their mutual interest in forming a shared market,” wrote Washington Department of Ecology spokeswoman Caroline Halter in an email. Details will be hashed out among the three governments.

The Washington Legislature recently passed a bill that brings this state’s fledgling carbon market regulations in sync with the joint California/Quebec market. A bigger market is expected to bring down carbon emission auction prices, which would lead to lower gasoline prices.  

Washington’s carbon polluters, including oil companies, bid every three months on the amount of carbon emissions they can release. The volume of allowances is limited, which has driven up auction bids. 

Until recently, Washington’s auction prices — ranging from $48.50 to $63.03 per allowance of about one metric ton of carbon emissions — have been significantly higher than those of the California/Quebec joint market, taking a lot of blame for this state’s high gasoline prices. But while Washington’s carbon auction prices have been higher than those in California, Washington has frequently had lower gas prices. 

New York, Massachusetts and Maryland are watching Washington and this potential alliance with thoughts of creating their own cap-and-trade programs to eventually join the bigger market.

Earlier this month, at Washington’s first auction of the year, carbon allowance prices of $25.76 came in dramatically lower than those in the California/Quebec market, whose bid prices increased from $19 in 2021 to $41.76 last month, according to the California Air Resources Board. 

Since January 2023, Washington has raised $1.96 billion in cap-and-invest revenue for many dozen climate change mitigation programs.

WA cherry growers eligible for loans after 2023 weather woes

A close up of cherries on a branch

Ripe cherries in the Valicoff Fruit Co. orchards in Wapato in a June 2019 photo. (Jen Dev/Cascade PBS)

Washington sweet-cherry growers are now eligible for up to $500,000 in federal emergency loans from the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency after U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a formal disaster declaration for the 2023 cherry harvest.  

Washington’s Congressional delegation wrote to Vilsack in February urging him to issue the declaration after weather caused major losses for growers, who needed help continuing operations in 2024. 

Last year, a cold spring that transitioned abruptly to unseasonably high temperatures led to a shortened cherry season, when numerous cherries ripened at once. 

Meanwhile, California’s cherry season was delayed due to cold and rainy conditions. As a result, cherries from both states were harvested simultaneously, leading to an oversupply — about 70% of the Western U.S. crop matured between June 20 and July 20. Normally, the season lasts for 120 days, starting in California and ending in upper-elevation areas of Washington state and the Pacific Northwest. 

When prices consequently dropped, Washington growers opted not to pick millions of boxes of cherries, roughly 35% of the state’s crop.

Growers have until Nov. 14 to apply for emergency loans, which can be used for various recovery needs, including replacing equipment or other essential items, reorganizing a farming operation or refinancing debt. 

Washington cherry growers have dealt with adverse weather conditions in consecutive seasons. In 2021, sustained triple-digit temperatures in late June damaged ripening fruit. In 2022, a cold and wet spring stunted their development, leading to what ended up being the smallest crop of Northwest sweet cherries in nearly a decade. 

Joseph O’Sullivan, Shauna Sowersby honored for watchdog reporting

the Bunting Award

The Washington Coalition for Open Government’s Bunting Award presented to Joseph O’Sullivan and Shauna Sowersby. (Donna Gordon Blankinship/Cascade PBS)

Cascade PBS is honored to share that our state government reporter Joseph O’Sullivan has been honored by the Washington Coalition for Open Government for his work covering state lawmakers’ efforts to hide information about their work from the public using what they say is their “legislative privilege.”

O’Sullivan and his partner in the reporting project that spanned 2023, Shauna Sowersby of McClatchy, were given the Coalition’s prestigious Bunting Award at a ceremony on Friday at T-Mobile Park, although O’Sullivan was unable to attend.

“The Kenneth F. Bunting Award recognizes journalists and media outlets for work that uses or advances Washington state’s open government laws, or educates citizens about them,” according to their website. The Coalition said this was the first time they had honored journalists from two different organizations who collaborated on a project. O’Sullivan and Sowersby worked together on their reporting for more than a dozen stories published in their respective publications. Crosscut also won this award last year for investigative coverage. 

Sowersby and O’Sullivan used public records and dozens of interviews to tell the story of how lawmakers were silently exempting everything from deliberative documents to embarrassing content, why they decided to use “legislative privilege”; and how the exemption was crafted and used. They also uncovered how powerful lobbying agencies can influence transparency laws and how at least one executive branch agency secretly had a “legislative privilege” policy on their books. That agency has since rescinded the policy.

Frank Chopp won’t seek reelection after 30 years in WA House

Frank Chopp

House Speaker Frank Chopp holds the gavel while presiding over the House, Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, in Olympia. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Rep. Frank Chopp, speaker of the Washington House for 20 years, has announced he will not be seeking reelection after 30 years representing Seattle in the state Legislature.

The Democratic leader has focused his tenure in state government on housing, behavioral health care and education. His signature policy achievements included: providing free college and university tuition for low-income students; health care and housing for low-income families and unhoused people; the state Housing Trust Fund; increased funding for early learning; the legalization of same-sex marriage; Washington’s Voting Rights Act; and more state money for homes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“I’ve always been driven by the belief that everyone deserves a foundation of home, health, and hope,” Chopp said in a statement. “As I leave legislative office, I am excited for the next generation of leaders carrying on this work, as I continue to advocate and organize efforts in the public interest as a public citizen. As people know about me, I am not the retiring type.”

In his “spare time,” Chopp has continued his work as a community organizer and advocate for low-income housing.

Chopp, 70, was first elected to the House in 1994, representing Seattle’s Capitol Hill, the U District, Wallingford and Fremont neighborhoods. He was House minority leader from 1997 to 1998 and was elected co-speaker with Clyde Ballard during the 1999-2001 legislative sessions when Democrats and Republicans split the House 49-49. He was elected sole speaker in 2002 when the Democrats won a majority of the House, which they have not lost since.

His counterpart in the Republican party, Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox of Yelm, also recently announced he would not be running for reelection after 14 years in the House.

WA’s first carbon auction of 2024 raises far less than expected

The U.S. Oil & Refining Co. in Tacoma

The U.S. Oil & Refining Co. in Tacoma has been in operation since 1957. (Genna Martin/Cascade PBS)

The first quarterly carbon auction of 2024 has added two new wrinkles to the economics of Washington’s fledgling program. 

First: The auction price was $25.76 per allowance. That’s radically lower than the four quarterly auction prices posted in 2023, which took a lot of blame for Washington’s high gasoline prices. The ripple effect on gas prices is uncharted territory.

Second: The March auction results, announced Wednesday, raised $135.5 million for the state, only a fraction of the $941 million the state predicted the auctions would bring in during the first half of 2024. 

Carbon-emitting corporations, including oil companies, bid every three months on state allowances for the pollution emitted by their facilities. The prices in the four 2023 auctions ranged from $48.50 for roughly one metric ton of carbon in the first quarter of 2023 to $63.03 in the third quarter. Those 2023 prices were significantly higher than predicted before the program began, and were blamed for adding 21 to 50 cents per gallon to Washington’s already high gas prices.

High fuel costs have led to a conservative initiative on the November ballot to repeal the cap-and-invest program. Washington has always had some of the nation’s highest gas prices due to various geographical and economic factors outside of the cap-and-invest program. Washington’s average gas price per gallon is currently $4.22 compared to a national average of $3.40, according to the AAA.

The state Office of Financial Management said the $135.5 million in new 2024 revenue is $108 million to $110 million less than what was predicted for the March auction. OFM spokesman Hayden Mackley said in an email he could not speculate on the effect of auction prices on gas prices. 

But Jaime Smith, Gov. Jay Inslee’s spokesperson, noted: “Even as allowance prices were relatively high throughout the fall and winter, gas prices fell to a two-year low, showing how difficult it is to infer direct impacts.”

Washington is exploring joining a joint California/Quebec carbon market in order to bring down auction prices, but this quarter’s auction prices in Washington were lower than those in Quebec and California.  

King County Sheriff Patricia Cole-Tindall and King County have filed a complaint in United States District Court against Burien's new homeless anti-camping ordinance, asking a federal judge to decide if it violates the U.S. Constitution. 

Burien passed an ordinance last week that establishes exclusion zones where unhoused people are not allowed to camp in a public space if shelter is available. Included in the new city code law are buffer zones where unhoused people cannot sleep within 500 feet of schools, day care centers, parks or other areas deemed “critical.” 

The Sheriff’s office, law enforcement for the city of Burien, has concerns about the law since the exclusion zones can be changed at any time by Burien’s city manager, who determines their location. 

The King County Sheriff’s Office said the city did not reach out to the county when it crafted the ordinance. Cole-Tindall also said Burien did not consult the King County Sheriff’s office or legal experts before swiftly passing it. 

The office said it will not enforce the law until the matter’s constitutionality is resolved. King County will complete an analysis of the legislation and update Burien early next week. 

The complaint is the first step in resolving the constitutionality question, according to King County, which plans to file a motion for preliminary injunction later this week. 

A spokesperson for Burien declined to comment on the matter due to ongoing litigation.

Origins Season 2 follows Central District’s Black history, change

Filmmaker Lady Scribe calls on elected officials, Washington expats to reinvest in the historic neighborhood while remaining hopeful for the future.

A crowd sits at the Origins Season 2 Lost at Sea premiere

The crowd at the SIFF Cinema Uptown on March 5, 2024 for the Origins Season 2 premiere Lost at Sea. (Brodrick Aberly/Cascade PBS) 

Tuesday night marked the celebration of eight months of work for a first-time Seattle filmmaker with the premiere of the latest series for Cascade PBS Origins at the historic SIFF Cinema Uptown in Lower Queen Anne. 

An enthusiastic crowd of about 300 nearly filled the largest of the venue’s three theaters to view Lost at Sea. 

The audience saw a nearly 17-minute excerpt from the series, the brainchild of filmmaker Lady Scribe. She centered the story around her experience growing up Black in Seattle against the backdrop of her mother’s Great Migration journey from Louisiana, where her family sent her north for a better life. Lady Scribe weaved in the stories of other Seattleites sharing the beauty and pain of their own origins.

Cascade PBS original productions director Sarah Menzies said the team is already recruiting the next filmmaker to tell their story.  

Lost at Sea highlighted the transformation of Seattle’s Central District, once a hub of Black homeownership and business. Over the years, the Black population there has dwindled amid gentrification, skyrocketing housing costs and economic inequality. Black residents now live largely in other cities in South King County.  

A University of Washington study by Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium analyzed homeownership by race between 1970 and 2022 in Washington, which underscored the steep decline in Black homeownership. According to census data, in 1970 50% of Blacks families owned a home, compared to just 34 % in 2022. For comparison, in 2022 69% of White families owned a home, which has held relatively steady (it was 67% in 1970).  

When asked what she wanted the audience to take from the series, Lady Scribe said “We [Black Seattle natives] want to feel seen and heard.”  

The conversation after the screening included Scribe and a panel of Seattle natives. Musicians and community leaders Taz Dat MC, James Lowe and Tana Yasu explored the series’ most pertinent issues. There was agreement that the current local government could do more to increase and sustain Black homeownership in the Central District. Scribe called for giving “Black families credit”; and former Seattle Women’s Commissioner Yasu went further, saying families deserved what they were owned monetarily after all they endured at the hands of the government.  

One of the discussion’s overarching themes was love for the city – Scribe alluded in some ways that her and other Black families who called 23rd & Jackson home were abandoned – yet rooted under the frustration and disappointment, there remained a hopefulness and longing to reclaim a new vision of the Central District for future generations.   

Submissions for the next Origins grant cycle are open now through April 17. 

WA lawmakers approve union bargaining rules for legislative staff

People sitting in a balcony observe a gallery below where others sit at desks.

People watch House floor proceedings from the gallery on Jan. 8, the first day of the 2024 legislative session, at the Washington state Capitol in Olympia. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson) 

Lawmakers came to a late-session agreement on Senate Bill 6194 to outline collective bargaining rights for legislative staffers just before adjourning Thursday.

In 2022, the Legislature lifted the state’s prohibition on the unionization of legislative staffers, allowing them to begin organizing in May 2024. Before May, legislators intended to pass a second bill to outline what unions could negotiate over and the composition of bargaining units.

The initial bill to clarify those issues drew criticism from current and former legislative staffers over limiting the power of any future union by prohibiting bargaining over the hiring or firing of employees, as well as over hours worked. 

Amendments in the House and Senate addressed some of those concerns, allowing bargaining over at-will status — except for when there’s a change due to an election, appointment or resignation of a legislator. The final bill also permitted future unions to negotiate overtime when the legislature is not in session, in the run-up or immediately after a term.