As budget negotiations begin in the Washington state legislature, calls for action on affordable housing and rent caps from the annual Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day are expected to ring in the ears of lawmakers.
Hundreds of unhoused individuals, members of nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups gathered late last month to urge lawmakers to do something about the ...
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SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state Senate unanimously approved legislation Tuesday that would ban police from hog-tying suspects, a restraint technique that has long drawn concern due to the risk of suffocation. The legislation came nearly four years after Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died in Tacoma, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Seattle, facedown with his hands and ...
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The Planned Parenthood clinic in Spokane, Washington, is just a 30-minute drive from the Idaho border, and since May, when Idaho’s “abortion trafficking” law went into effect, it’s been sitting on a timebomb.
Like many blue-state abortion clinics, the Spokane health center has been inundated with patients from out of state since the supreme court overturned Roe ...
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In this year’s legislative session, the Washington State Legislature passed extensive housing reform. House Bill 1110 compelled many cities in Washington to open up single-housing residential zones to long-banned duplexes, cottage courts, and small apartments. Such middle housing has been missing from the calculation for years, and it’s no wonder that housing has become unaffordable in that time.
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Across the country, lawmakers are beginning to correct “tough on crime” policies. But many of these reforms explicitly exclude people who are already in prison. Growing up, Anthony Covert never felt like he belonged. He was a ward of the state by the time he was a toddler and bounced between foster homes throughout his childhood. Despite being told he was ...
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OLYMPIA, Wash., May 19, 2023—New laws and funding requested and supported by Secretary of State Steve Hobbs during the 2023 Legislative session will help ensure the integrity of Washington’s elections and improve access to the ballot for eligible voters. The bipartisan elections measures signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee help advance Secretary Hobbs’ top priorities of election security, voter education, and ...
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We have a duty to put people over politics and make fact-based decisions. In Federal Way in 2019, police chasing a “reckless driver” hit speeds over 70 miles per hour, resulting in the death of the driver and sending a 9-year-old passenger to the hospital. The same year in Seattle, a high-speed pursuit ended when the driver slammed into a ...
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Two bills aimed to close the housing gap known as the “missing middle” are up for legislative review this year. House Bill 1110, filed by Rep. Jessica Bateman, D-Olympia, aims to lift zoning laws prohibiting multiunit dwellings and, in effect, provide more middle housing options for Washington residents. Middle housing refers to units like duplexes, cottage clusters and townhomes intended to ...
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In an attempt to curb what they describe as runaway housing prices statewide, Democrats in Washington's Legislature are debating whether to limit annual rent increases to no more than 7% for most residential buildings.
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“I was actually at an event yesterday, at another political event, and I was there with my mom,” Yasmin Trudeau, a Washington state senator, said at the Kerry Park rally. “My mom and I are 14 years apart, and she had very limited choices in whether she decided to have children, access to education, and [was] very much part of ...
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