Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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In 2024, then-governor Jay Inslee warned that "We have this epidemic of asthma in our state," saying that funding from the state's CO2 tax would help fund projects to reduce air pollution. The next year, the Department of Ecology distributed $8.5 million in grants to improve air quality in "overburdened communities" and improve "health disparities." An examination of the 21 projects they funded shows that only one is likely to reduce air pollution. Most of the funding went to...
I was asked the other day if I was concerned about the recent bill in Olympia giving a citizen committee the right to remove an elected sheriff from office. This bill (Senate Bill 5974) was passed by both the House and Senate and recently signed into law by the governor. Am I concerned? Yes. I've been concerned about this bill for several years since it was first introduced, but not for the reasons some may think. My concerns are not about the job I currently hold, but rather... Full story
Imagine standing at a gas pump in Lakewood, Vancouver or Spokane, watching the numbers climb with agonizing speed, and knowing that thousands of miles away, the Strait of Hormuz—the world’s most important oil transit point—is once again a geopolitical tinderbox. When tensions flare in the Middle East, the entire world feels the squeeze. But there is a bitter irony for those of us in the Pacific Northwest. While the global market sets the base price of energy, the “Olym...
When we talk about public safety in Washington, the conversation rightly begins with the men and women in blue. The crisis in recruitment and retention of law-enforcement officers remains a paramount concern; we cannot have safety without a proactive presence on our streets. However, a mission isn’t completed just because the first phase is successful. If an officer makes an arrest but the case languishes in a broken system, we haven’t achieved justice—we’ve only created...
For many people in our state, especially in Eastern Washington, hunting is a popular and beloved activity. Every fall, we go out in search of deer, elk, bear, pheasant or other game. Some of my best memories come from hunting deer and elk with friends. If the hunt is successful, I have large amounts of meat and sausage to enjoy or share with family and friends for months to come. However, hunting season next fall might be much more difficult for many, thanks to the state. I...
I’m jealous of Idaho. Lawmakers there passed a bill that would stop public school employers from collecting union dues through government payroll systems. Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little had the choice to sign it, veto it or let it become law without his signature, joining six other states with full or partial bans on dues collection by public employers. When it comes to protecting the rights of public employees, Idaho is moving in the right direction. Washington state is no...
A lawsuit was filed April 9 in Klickitat County Superior Court challenging the unconstitutional income tax adopted in Washington. The lead attorneys are former state attorney General Rob McKenna, a former Democratic state lawmaker and Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge, and Jackson Maynard of the Citizen Action Defense Fund. Discussing the lawsuit, Rob McKenna said: "For nearly a century, Washington courts have been clear: income is property, and property taxes must be unifor...
Washingtonians are living through a relentless affordability crisis. From the grocery aisle to the gas pump, the cost of living has moved from "concerning" to "unsustainable." Our state consistently ranks among the top three most expensive for gas, often a full dollar above the national average. Meanwhile, the average household income is roughly half of what is required to qualify for a median-priced home. In this environment, every policy coming out of Olympia should be able...
Easter Lilies are now appearing in churches just as poinsettias do at Christmas. Both adorn the altars and pulpits during Christianity’s two most important holidays. Over the years, both continue to be the centerpieces of seasonal decorations. They are unique potted plants which aren’t suited for cut-flower arrangements and disappear when churches move back to ordinary times. While both are the icons, poinsettias have a longer self-life---Thanksgiving to Christmas. Easter Lil...
It’s basketball season, so I’ll borrow a term from that sport to describe how one of the most important bills of this year’s session for the Spokane area ended up winning approval from the Legislature: The supporters put on a full court press. The law created by House Bill 2416 exempts Spokane’s Waste-to-Energy plant from complying with emission-reduction targets created by the state’s Climate Commitment Act and gives the plant a longer period of time to reduce pollution...
Before the new state income tax passed by Democrats was even proposed as legislation, many of us who oppose such a tax predicted the supporters would engage in a game of bait-and-switch. They'd market an income tax as applying only to the wealthy, knowing all along the real goal would be to have everyone pay. Do they think the people of Washington are fools, I asked – and now that the income tax is through the Legislature and awaiting Governor Ferguson's formal endorsement, i...
Washington state received troubling news from a recently published economic report. The 2026 Competitiveness Redbook, a study conducted by Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, found that the state's business climate is in alarmingly poor shape. The Redbook examines 61 different economic indicators to take the pulse on the health of Washington's economy. This includes various data such as electricity prices, unemployment insurance payments, minimum wage, taxes and...
Serving the people of the 13th Legislative District has been the greatest honor of my professional life. I grew up on a dairy farm and ran my own small business long before I ever stepped into the Capitol. When I first arrived in Olympia in 2006, I came with a simple, unwavering goal: to ensure that the hardworking families, farmers, and ranchers of Central Washington finally had a seat at the table. After nearly two decades of advocacy—first in the House and since 2015 in t...
The proposed state income tax is not only unconstitutional, unlawful, unfair and unnecessary – it's also the most unpopular piece of legislation ever introduced in Olympia. We know this because of a citizen-friendly feature available through the www.leg.wa.gov website. When a bill is scheduled for a committee hearing, people may click a button on that bill's online status page to register or sign in as being "pro" or "con" on the legislation. They also may submit written testi...
In the final weeks of a legislative session, it becomes easier to see the broader direction in which public policy is moving. Two recent bills passed by the Legislature illustrate a trend that should concern every Washington resident. Both expand government authority in ways that weaken important safeguards that protect citizens. The first measure, Senate Bill 5974, alters how county sheriffs may be removed from office. Under the bill, an unelected state commission would gain...
Today, as I write this column, is the 44th day of our 60-day legislative session. The Legislature has a lot of work to do in the next 16 days before session ends on March 12th. Over the upcoming final two weeks, the Legislature needs to pass the supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets. We have many bills, both good and bad, that must be debated, perhaps amended, and passed off the Senate or House floor. I encourage you to tune into TVW to watch this...
The Senate has voted unanimously to pass its 2026 supplemental capital budget. Our supplemental budget complements the two-year capital budget enacted by the Legislature last year by spending money in a responsible manner while addressing important needs throughout the state. Working with our Democrat counterparts, we identified priorities and worked together to create a budget that is both effective and prudent. Our budget does a very good job for several areas, from K-12...
The state Department of Natural Resources may not own a crystal ball, but last year it certainly seemed as if it could predict the future. In the spring it spent $124,000 to create a firebreak in the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest. Just a few months later, on Labor Day, a lightning strike near Blewett Pass touched off what became known as the Labor Mountain Fire. It took 1,400 firefighters to bring it under control, and by the time it was extinguished 52 days later,...
Who would believe that millions of trout, charr and salmon thrive in pristine water pumped from deep inside West Virginia abandoned coal mines? They are creating a burgeoning aquaculture industry offering vital economic support to impoverished communities in the Appalachian Mountains where coal-mining jobs dropped from a peak of 883,000 in 1923 to 44,060 in 2024. In the last 25 years, many developed countries have seen growing resistance to coal-powered electricity...
Every president promises to fix health care -- but the system rarely seems to change for the better. Even when so-called reforms pass, prices remain unpredictable. Costs continue to rise. If President Trump wants to succeed where others have failed, he'll need to target the gargantuan insurance companies that lie at the intersection of every other aspect of the healthcare system. Insurers -- not patients and their doctors -- are the ones that ultimately determine what...
Washington’s public education system is built on decades of legislative decisions. Each one adds new requirements, expectations and funding promises. Over time, that accumulation has produced outdated, duplicative, underfunded or misaligned mandates. House Bill 2636 offers a practical, bipartisan solution. The bill recognizes that accountability should apply not only to schools, but also to the imposed policies. If the Legislature expects results from schools, it must also regularly assess whether its own policies are c...
Kennewick is facing a decision that will affect families for years to come: whether a home for sexually violent predators is placed in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Parents are asking reasonable questions. Law enforcement is raising legitimate concerns. Neighbors want transparency and accountability before - not after - a decision is made. That is why I co-sponsored Senate Bill 6339 and why it is so troubling that this bill is not being allowed to move forward. SB 6339 addressed a basic accountability problem in...
Recently, I found myself in a committee hearing room in Olympia, listening to a panel of labor-union officials testify in favor of sharp restrictions on initiative signature drives. They said paying canvassers by the signature gives them an incentive to forge people’s names. Then I asked a simple question: Could they identify a single case of fraud in this state over the last 13 years? A representative of the state teacher’s union accepted the challenge. “I’ll take the question and say I don’t have that handy,” she said, ...
It’s no surprise left wing lawmakers in Olympia have so far rejected hearings on Initiative IL-26-001. Last year, many of these same lawmakers pulled the old “bait-and-switch” on parents and voters who previously pushed through Initiative 2081, the Parents Bill of Rights. A brief history: Voters met the signature threshold in 2024 to force the Legislature to approve the Parents Bill of Rights or allow a vote on the matter. Rather than allow a vote, they signed it into law. The law reaffirmed the parental rights to revie...
Rules surrounding Washington state's new policy to allow striking workers to receive unemployment insurance (UI) benefits might have run into an inconvenient reality: UI is not only a state program. While employers in our state fund the benefits that go to unemployed workers, the UI program is a state-federal partnership with federal strings, federal oversight and federal dollars attached. That's why a recent "questions and answers" letter from the U.S. Department of Labor...
