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OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gun owners can no longer display guns at the state Capitol in Olympia or near demonstrations anywhere in the state. Calling it “common sense” legislation, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, D-Washington, signed the bill Wednesday afternoon. It became effective immediately. The law prohibits the open carry of firearms within 250 feet of permitted demonstrations and on the Capitol grounds in Olympia. Click here to read more...

A bill signed by Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday makes Washington the first state in the country to guarantee legal representation to low-income tenants facing eviction. Cities such as Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, and Cleveland have passed similar laws in recent years, which require courts to appoint an attorney for any tenant earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level, but Washington is the first state to do so.

Backup was only about a minute away. But by the time it arrived, Centralia Police Officer Phil Reynolds had already used his Taser three times on a handcuffed suspect in the back of his patrol car. Two days later, Reynolds used his stun gun on another suspect, with one of the deployments lasting 44 seconds, nearly nine times as long as the standard Taser cycle. An internal review found four other incidents where Reynolds used his Taser in ways that violated department policy, then filed inaccurate reports about those uses of force. Click here to read more...

Washington is poised to become the first state in the country to guarantee legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction, with Senate Bill 5160 now approved by both chambers after its vote in the House of Representatives Thursday night. Some tenants may need to put that new guarantee to work right away because the House’s version of the bill adds a major concession: an amendment sponsored by Rep. Michelle Caldier (R-Port Orchard) that would end the statewide eviction moratorium on June 30.

Washington may soon become the first state in the country to ensure that low-income tenants have legal representation when faced with an eviction, an idea lawmakers see as a way to head off a feared wave of evictions once pandemic-era rental restrictions are lifted. A bill likely to pass the state Legislature follows years of organizing by tenant advocates across the country who say guaranteeing lawyers for tenants during evictions, also known as “right to counsel,” keeps people in their homes at far higher rates than the current system. Yet a last-minute amendment added to the  bill would ...

At a press conference Tuesday, Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D – Seattle) said that the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) did not fully support ESSB 5226 until an amendment from Sen. Annette Cleveland (D – Vancouver) was added. But after assessing public testimony offered by WASPC and following up with the organization to hear about how their stance on the bill developed, the Wire found that Sen. Cleveland’s amendment had no such impact.

ESSB 5226, removes the penalty of driver’s license suspension for failing to pay a ticket for a non-criminal traffic infraction. If individuals are ...

A bill that would bring an end to no-cause evictions in Washington (HB 1236) had a confusing day on the Senate floor on Monday. Republicans managed to get three amendments added to the bill, stripping away its protections for tenants facing no-cause evictions and exempting small rental properties from the bill entirely, before it was eventually taken off the floor. An updated version of the bill is heading to a senate floor vote today. The legislation lists 16 possible causes for a landlord to evict a tenant. “They’re very expansive,” Representative Nicole Macri (D-43, Seattle), the bill’s primary sponsor, ...

By The Seattle Times editorial board

A federal court order to open up hundreds of fish passages beneath roads by 2030 has been Washington’s burden for years. This $3.7 billion undertaking deserves federal funding so it does not starve other critical state infrastructure needs. Restoration of threatened salmon and steelhead runs is an unavoidable priority.

Washington’s congressional delegation should press to address this environmental need in legislation to revive the post-pandemic economy. The U.S. Supreme Court didn’t exactly send the state money in its 2018 ruling requiring it fix 425 Western Washington fish passages. The U.S. Treasury Department and ...

The Washington Legislature passed a bill Tuesday, effectively blocking for-profit private prisons from operating in the state.

The bill would impact only one facility: the Northwest Immigrant Detention Center in Tacoma.

The facility holds immigrants on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on federal civil charges, and is run by The GEO Group, a private prison company headquartered in Florida. The contract between The GEO Group and ICE ends in 2025.