Permits to purchase guns may soon be required in Washington

The Washington state Senate on Thursday approved a proposal to cap annual rent increases, putting the contentious policy just a few steps closer to becoming law.

The “rent stabilization” policy, House Bill 1217, passed 29-20 with one Democrat, Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, voting against it.

The bill would cap yearly rental increases at 10% plus inflation, for renters in apartments, and 5%, for mobile homeowners. It also sets some limits on move-in and late fees and security deposits for mobile homeowners.

This is the first time such a proposal has passed the chamber. The policy has faced significant pushback in recent years from moderate Democrats and Republicans who say it could discourage new development and raise rents. Thursday’s debate highlighted that division.

Several Democrats joined with Republicans to approve amendments to increase the cap and exempt more landlords from the law – changes that bill supporters say will lessen protections for many renters across the state.

Before Thursday, the proposal capped rent increases at 7% each year. An amendment to increase that to 10% plus inflation passed the chamber 25-24, splitting Democrats.

Sen. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, offered the amendment. She said a low cap could have lasting effects on the state’s rental market, where rents are too expensive for working- class people to afford.

“A 7% cap is dangerous,” she said. “I hope I’m wrong.”

Backers of the original version of the bill argued against the amendment.

“I’m disappointed at this point of the changes that were made here that I think strip far too many people of the protections that we could have afforded them,” said bill sponsor Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-Seattle.

Another major change made to the bill Thursday would exempt single-family homes not owned by corporations from the new policy. Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, offered the amendment, saying he hoped it would keep small property owners in business.

“Let mom-and-pop landlords keep their homes and serve those families,” said Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, who owns three rental properties.

Alvarado said that the single-family home exemption will result in fewer families protected from large rent increases. She said about 30% of rentals in Washington are single-family homes.

Many of the provisions for mobile homeowners who rent the land where they live remained untouched Thursday.

For those homeowners, move-in and security deposit fees cannot equal more than one month’s rent, and late fees cannot exceed more than 2% of rent for the first late month, 3% during the second late month and 5% during the third.

The bill also leaves in a requirement that the state study the housing market, tenant stability and social vulnerability within 10 years of the bill becoming law. 

Under the policy, rent caps will expire July 1, 2040. Until then, any tenant or the attorney general’s office can sue a property owner they believe to be in violation of the law.

The bill now heads back to the state House of Representatives, which must approve the final changes. It’s unclear how they will feel about the updated version of the bill.

“They sent us a different bill,” Alvarado told reporters. “There will be a lot more conversations.”

If the two chambers can reach an agreement by the end of session on April 27, the bill will head to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk.

Following backlash from members, REI Co-op is retracting its endorsement of Doug Burgum, a Trump administration appointee who has been criticized by environmental advocates over his support for fossil fuel drilling on public lands and loosening environmental regulations.

REI was one of more than 30 outdoor recreation companies that signed onto a January letter of support for the nomination of Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota. The move was met with widespread criticism from members of the Issaquah-headquartered outdoor retail co-op, which has long marketed itself as a company dedicated to environmental stewardship. The REI Union described the endorsement as “shocking” and part of a trend of REI “abandoning the values that make our Co-op special.” 

In a video statement posted Wednesday, newly appointed REI CEO Mary Beth Laughton apologized to REI members and said the company will lead the creation of a new business coalition dedicated to protecting public lands.

“Let me be clear: Signing that letter was a mistake,” Laughton said. “The actions that the administration has taken on public lands are completely at odds with the longstanding values of REI.”

Laughton, a former executive at Nike and Athleta, took over as REI’s CEO on March 31 following the retirement of Eric Artz. She noted that the letter had been signed before she took over, and said the company had signed off on it in an effort to “have a seat at the table and continue our outdoor recreation advocacy.”

“Many of you shared your disappointment and your frustration with that decision, and I hear you,” Laughton said. 

Laughton said REI is taking a leadership role in a new organization called Brands for Public Lands, a coalition of over 60 businesses that will lobby Congress and the US Department of the Interior to protect public lands. 

“Our public lands are under attack, from the gutting of national park staff to expanded threats of drilling or even selling off of our public lands," Laughton said. “The future of life outdoors has never felt so uncertain.” 

REI has in recent years grappled with financial challenges and a contentious unionization effort. In March, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against REI after finding that the company illegally withheld benefits packages from workers at unionized stores, a claim the company denies. Unionized employees are calling on REI members to withhold their votes in this year’s board elections after the company excluded two union-backed candidates from appearing on the board election ballot.

The REI Union said in a post on X that the retraction is a “huge step back on the right path for our co-op” and a sign that REI’s new CEO is listening to members.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced last week its intention to cancel a disaster relief program that had promised more than $80 million to build a levee in flood-prone Grays Harbor County.

Without the federal money, local officials told The Daily World that the project is dead in the water.

“And just like that … years of due diligence and hard work to move the North Shore Levee flood protection projects forward — now down the drain,” Grays Harbor County Commissioner Vickie Raines said. “This is devastating to Grays Harbor County.”

The cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam – which lie at the confluence of multiple rivers into Grays Harbor – have suffered annual floods in recent years and faced more than a dozen floods since the 1960s that qualified as federal disasters, Cascade PBS previously reported. Canceling the federal grant would wipe out close to half of the more than $180 million needed for a long-proposed system of levees to protect downtown areas along the waterfront. 

FEMA officials last week called the grant program “wasteful and ineffective,” but did not provide evidence. A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the move violated an earlier injunction against the Trump administration’s attempts to freeze funds already allocated by Congress. 

Local leaders in the economically struggling former logging towns have spent years bolstering support for the levee, which they see as the only way to protect against increasingly dangerous storms and give the communities a chance at rebounding. Punishing flood insurance premiums and strict building codes are further choking what scant investment the towns attract, as Cascade PBS detailed in a 2023 investigation.

Hoquiam city administrator Brian Shay told Cascade PBS that he has been reaching out to federal officials and senators and remains hopeful that FEMA will conduct a case-by-case review and see the value of the project, which was on the verge of beginning construction. Awarded the funds four years ago, the region has spent millions and just recently achieved a key federal environmental review.

“West Levy was ready to go to bid on construction this fall, it’s that close,” Shay said. “We’re hoping there’s a path forward.”

Arts and cultural organizations across Washington learned this week that the National Endowment for the Humanities is cancelling or rescinding upward of $10 million in cultural funding the state was set to receive.  

The cuts are part of a broader clawback of federal humanities funding by the Trump Administration and its DOGE initiative. The money was appropriated by Congress and awarded in all 50 states.  

The National Endowment for the Humanities is a federal agency that supports state and local museums, historic sites, universities, teachers, libraries, documentary filmmakers and local humanities programming.  

Local and state organizations began receiving letters late Wednesday night from the federal agency stating that: “Your grant no longer effectuates the agency’s needs and priorities and conditions of the Grant Agreement and is subject to termination. … Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities.” 

Humanities Washington is the state humanities council. It uses federal funding to run children’s reading programs in libraries and schools, adult education, the Washington State Poet Laureate program, history and culture speaker series, humanities fellowships and other programming in cities and towns across the state. It also disburses grants for initiatives like cultural history projects about Washington.  

“The attack on the NEH is an attack on community-minded people and cultural organizations across the state,” said Julie Ziegler, executive director of Humanities Washington in a news release. "People working to educate themselves and their children, wanting to better understand others in their communities, and looking to live fuller, happier lives will all be affected. The humanities provide all of these things and more.”  

Humanities Washington is set to lose $6 million from the cancelled grants. According to Inspire Washington, a statewide cultural advocacy organization, the National Endowment for the Humanities has provided $14 million for cultural programming in the state over the past five years. 

This article originally appeared in the Washington State Standard.

Washington is suing a property management software company and a handful of landlords over allegations they colluded to inflate rents through a price-fixing scheme, Attorney General Nick Brown announced Thursday.

The state says RealPage has three products to help landlords calculate rental prices and manage occupancy. The company uses nonpublic information that landlords agree to share to create an algorithm that pushes them to raise rents, according to the lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court. 

Instead of competing, the landlords all raise their prices together based on RealPage’s recommendations, according to the complaint. So instead of the market helping determine rents, it’s software.

RealPage also tells landlords to nix discounts they give to attract tenants, the lawsuit alleges. And it reportedly recommends keeping units vacant to keep rents up, instead of leasing them for a lower price.

In a press conference Thursday, Brown said property managers used the Texas-based RealPage software to price an estimated 800,000 leases in Washington between 2017 and 2024. About a third of Washington residents are renters, according to the lawsuit.

In 2023, more than half of Washington’s renters paid more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to a state report released in December.

“Pricing is higher and occupancy is lower for properties managed by landlords using RealPage than for those that don’t,” Brown said. “Washington needs a competitive market to help with our critical shortage of affordable, multifamily housing. RealPage’s unfair practices are drowning renters and pricing more and more families out of stable housing in Washington.”

The lawsuit alleges RealPage and nine landlords violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act by stifling competition.

“It’s price fixing, it’s illegal and it hurts Washingtonians,” Brown said.

Chris Vialpando, a renter in Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, said his landlord raised his rent over 50% in 2022 based on RealPage’s algorithm. He said he is one of many “falling victim to the collusion, thereby perpetuating this already complex, systemic housing crisis.”

“And I also understand that inflation and market adjustments are naturally part of the rental economy, but what I don’t understand is how these predatory companies can continue to operate freely without continuous authoritative examination and scrutiny,” Vialpando said.

In a statement, a RealPage spokesperson said the company’s software “is purposely designed and built to be legally compliant and has always used data legally and responsibly, and we have a long history of working constructively to show that.”

“We believe the claims brought by Washington State AG Nick Brown are devoid of merit and will do nothing to make housing more affordable,” spokesperson Jennifer Bowcock said. “Washington State should stop scapegoating pro-competitive technology, and we encourage Washington State’s public leaders to focus on meeting the greater demand for housing with more supply.”

Gov. Bob Ferguson, when he was still attorney general, launched an investigation into the RealPage software in early 2023. 

The investigation came on the heels of a ProPublica report on RealPage’s algorithm that found just 10 property managers oversaw 70% of apartments in a Seattle neighborhood. All of them used RealPage’s pricing software.

The state had previously been part of an ongoing federal lawsuit along with other states and the U.S. Department of Justice over antitrust concerns, but dropped out of that case in late February. The attorney general’s office withdrew from that lawsuit because “We saw a bigger problem,” Brown said.

“We saw a conspiracy, and we saw a greater path to help more renters,” he said. “We filed this case in state court because we believe that state law protects a greater number of Washingtonians and tenants than the federal case.”

Tenants across the country have also brought a class-action lawsuit against RealPage and its property management clients that is ongoing in federal court in Tennessee. 

Washington’s lawsuit asks a judge to declare the conduct illegal, award restitution and hand down civil penalties.

The landlords named as defendants in the complaint are Greystar, Cushman & Wakefield, LivCor, UDR, Prime Administration, Quarterra Multifamily Communities, LaSalle Properties, MG Properties and Sares Regis Management Company.

Lawmakers in Olympia are also looking to ban algorithmic rental price-fixing this year. Senate Bill 5469 would prohibit the collection of data that feeds recommendations for rental rates and bar landlords from obtaining those recommendations. The attorney general would enforce violations of the proposed law.

The state Senate passed the measure on a party-line vote this month, and it is now moving through the House.

This week, RealPage sued the city of Berkeley, California, over a similar ordinance aimed at stopping landlords from using algorithms to set rents.

In an interview the day he took office in January, the new attorney general said one of his top priorities was tackling “unjust, illegal, misleading business practices” in the housing sector.

“It’s our job to be a watchdog, and make sure that housing is affordable and available for everyone,” Brown said at the time.

The Washington State Standard originally published this story on April 3, 2024.

Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Tuesday he will not sign either proposed budget released last week by legislative Democrats, saying the plans rely too heavily on a “wealth tax” on the state’s highest earners. Ferguson called the tax “untested” and “difficult to implement.”

House and Senate Democrats each released proposals for how to fund government services for the next four years. To fill an estimated $15 billion shortfall, both proposals rely on a slate of new tax proposals, including a tax on individuals with more than $50 million in stocks, bonds and other financial assets.

Ferguson said Democrats are proposing “far too much” in new taxes and that a wealth tax is an unsustainable idea that may not hold up in court.

“If the Legislature wishes to complete our work on time, they need to immediately move the budget discussions in a significantly different direction on both of these issues,” he said.

Ferguson’s reservations about a wealth tax are not new. A week before he was inaugurated, Ferguson told reporters that he was skeptical of the idea. In his inaugural address, he said he would not sign a budget that requires “unrealistic revenue growth to balance.”

On Tuesday, he said he understands that lawmakers cannot balance the budget on cuts alone but would not commit to any new taxes. Democrats have also proposed new taxes on wealthy employers, and increased business and property taxes.

Ferguson said he is continuing to have conversations with lawmakers about how to move forward.

Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said she is confident that lawmakers and the governor will work together to complete a budget that puts the state on “strong financial footing for the future.”

“I appreciate the governor providing more clarity today on his vision for the operating budget and his commitment to a balanced approach – one that includes both new revenue and responsible, targeted reductions,” Robinson said in a statement. “This aligns with the thoughtful, forward-looking mindset that’s guided our process from the start.”

Ferguson said crafting a sustainable budget will be even more important with looming federal funding cuts that could cause uncertainty in the state’s financial future. He emphasized the importance of keeping the rainy-day fund – the state’s savings account – intact.

“Our budget situation is grim, but it may soon become dire,” he said.

House Democrats have proposed leaving the state’s $1.6 billion in reserves untouched, while Senate Democrats propose dipping into the fund and paying it back by 2027.

Ferguson said lawmakers must continue to focus on trimming spending. He released a plan last month for about $4 billion in proposed cuts on top of the $3 billion former Gov. Jay Inslee proposed in December. Most of those cuts were included in Democrats’ proposals.

If lawmakers want to finish the legislative session on time, they will need to reach a compromise with Ferguson by April 27. If they don’t finalize a budget by June 30, state funding will run out.

This article was originally published by the Washington State Standard.

Washington was among 23 states that sued the Trump administration Tuesday over the cancellation of $12 billion in federal funding to address infectious diseases, substance abuse and mental illness, including about $160 million for Washington.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of the abrupt termination last week of grants related to disease tracking, vaccination efforts and other work that officials said could cost thousands of jobs in public health departments nationwide. This pot of money makes up $11 billion of the $12 billion cut. 

The cuts in Washington reportedly include $118 million for the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases program, impacting 150 full-time employees. Losing this money will hurt the state’s ability to respond to emerging outbreaks, including measles and bird flu, according to the complaint.

That money also continued to support COVID-related surveillance efforts, the lawsuit says.  

In total, Washington’s Department of Health stands to lose around $130 million, an agency spokesperson said last week, with the termination affecting upward of 200 department employees, and more at local health departments, tribal health clinics and community-based organizations.

One of the specific programs affected is Care Connect, which the department launched early in the pandemic to provide food and other needs to people with COVID so they could isolate. The program later shifted to meet the needs of those suffering from long COVID, among other things.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown also cites the state’s Care-A-Van mobile health clinics, which provide vaccinations and other services to underserved communities. Officials have already had to cancel clinics due to the lost funding. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rolled back the grants “for cause” because “the pandemic is over,” so the funding is no longer needed, according to the lawsuit. The states counter that the money was never intended to be used only to respond to the COVID pandemic.

The lawsuit also tackles the separate but simultaneous Trump administration axing of another $1 billion in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funding, including $34 million for Washington. 

Brown is one of several attorneys general leading Tuesday’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island. The Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are named as defendants. The Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

“We can’t make America healthy by spreading preventable diseases,” Brown said. “Aside from the illegality of these actions, the administration is also choosing to neglect the biggest public health challenges, including substance abuse and mental health crises, facing our communities.”

The states say the cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act by suddenly terminating the grants without much explanation. The plaintiffs asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to reverse the cuts. 

The state Department of Health’s now-canceled federal grant dollars were expected to expire between June 2025 and July 2026, agency spokesperson Marisol Mata Somarribas said.

Also on Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services began its purge of 10,000 federal workers.

As part of the layoff announcement, Kennedy also said he’d be halving the number of Health and Human Services regional offices from 10 to five. Seattle’s office serves Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Its fate was unclear Tuesday.

This is at least the eighth lawsuit Brown has led or joined against the Trump administration since January. Most have resulted in preliminary court orders blocking implementation of a variety of actions, including eliminating birthright citizenship, blocking gender-affirming care for minors and mass firings of federal workers.

The Washington State Standard originally published this story on April 1, 2025.

In their proposals to fund statewide construction and upgrades over the next two years, Washington lawmakers are prioritizing projects focused on housing, education and the environment. The capital budget proposals released Monday by the House and Senate each allocate about $7 billion in funding.

The capital budget is one of three state funding plans the Legislature must pass this year, along with the operating and transportation budgets. Democrats released those proposals last week. Lawmakers must pass a compromised version of each budget by April 27 if they want to end their session on time.

Both chambers’ proposals for capital projects are similar and have bipartisan support.

“I wanted this budget to meet the basic needs of Washingtonians in all parts of our great state and to be responsive to our state’s most essential infrastructure needs,” said lead Senate capital budget writer Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma. “I think this budget accomplishes that mission.”

The Senate’s plan sets aside $600 million over the next two years for the Housing Trust Fund, the state’s largest pot for affordable housing grants. Similarly, the House would allocate $598 million for this fund, with specific earmarks for mobile home restoration, homeownership projects, housing for people with developmental disabilities, farmworker housing, tribal housing and local projects across the state.

In total, both proposals set aside more than $700 million over the next two years for housing and homelessness programs. That includes money for youth shelters, improvements to transitional housing for veterans and housing around transit.

"At a time when other state budgets are facing pressure and shortfalls, the capital budget stands out as a bright spot,” said Rep. Mike Steele, R-Chelan, top Republican on the House Capital Budget Committee. 

Both budgets would make significant investments in the state’s natural resources through fish hatcheries, state park renovations and clean water supply projects. The proposals each set aside $2.2 billion in this area.

The Senate plan would change how the state pays to remove barriers like culverts that impede fish migration, specifically salmon and steelhead. Culverts carry streams under state highways but can block fish passages.

State officials are currently in mediation with western Washington tribes after delays and rising costs pushed back the state’s plan to remove these barriers across the state. The Department of Transportation says it likely needs another $5 billion to complete work to meet the state’s legal obligation to remove fish barriers.

Currently, the state pays for these projects through the transportation budget, but that funding faces a deficit over the next two years. To ensure the state can pay, capital budget writers in the Senate propose a $5 billion bond to be repaid over time from a share of taxes on public utilities.

The House, on the other hand, proposes continuing to fund this work in the transportation budget.

Both proposals invest heavily in schools, with the Senate and the House each setting aside more than $1 billion to support school construction, modernizing small district and tribal schools, classroom air-quality projects and seismic safety grants.

The capital budget would also fund expansions for behavioral health facilities, grants for early learning centers, stadium improvements ahead of the World Cup and restoration of historic buildings and museums.

The Nosh with Rachel Belle newsletter is a biweekly slice of the Pacific Northwest food scene, from the inimitable perspective of the host of The Nosh and Your Last Meal.  

Today we’re asking Rachel some questions about the forthcoming newsletter, which will hit inboxes April 9. You can subscribe here. 

Q: For people who aren’t already fans of your TV show on Cascade PBS or your James Beard Award-finalist podcast, could you introduce yourself? 

Hello, I’m Rachel Belle! I love to read cookbooks in bed, devour dim sum, make matzo ball soup for sick friends, grow heirloom tomatoes specifically for tomato sandwiches and I’m honestly curious about what you ate for breakfast this morning. So, yeah, my life revolves around food. And since you subscribed to this newsletter, I have a feeling yours does too! 

This August marks my 20th year in Seattle! I moved here from northern California to work as a reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Over my 15 years at the station, I hosted the popular “Ring My Belle” segment, won an Edward R. Murrow Award for feature reporting and was named “Seattle’s Best FM Radio Personality” by Seattle Weekly. 

August also marks my ninth year of hosting and producing my podcast Your Last Meal, where I interview celebrities about their last meals, then invite experts to dig into the history, culture or science of those dishes.  

I host The Nosh with Rachel Belle, a food and drink storytelling TV show on Cascade PBS, and my first cookbook, Open Sesame, was published in November!  

Q: So what’s this newsletter’s deal? What can subscribers expect? 

It will be a mix of food and restaurant news, dispatches from my local culinary explorations, the occasional recipe and a fun, food-centered Q&A with a local notable person. I’m here to inform and entertain you, so if you have a food- or drink-related question (Need a restaurant rec? Have a mystery that needs solving?), send me a note and I just might answer it in a future newsletter! (rachel.belle@cascadepbs.org) 

Anyone who signs up for the newsletter now through April 8 will be automatically entered to win a copy of my cookbook, Open Sesame, and a jar of Soom tahini. 

Q: Can you give us a sneak peek at what will be in the first issue? 

The inaugural newsletter coincides with the kickoff of The Nosh’s second season, and the first two episodes focus on something near and dear to my heart: zero waste in the culinary space. I’ll share some of my favorite zero/low-waste kitchen habits, and there will be a Q&A with Lara Hamilton, owner of Seattle’s fantastic all-cookbook bookstore, Book Larder. 

Q: Last but certainly not least in importance, what’s your Dick’s order?  

As much as I love a vegetable and the contrast of hot and cold, crunchy and squishy, I will always order the simple, scrawny little cheeseburgers over a lettuce-and-relish-dressed Dick’s Deluxe. One of my favorite parts of a Dick’s or In-N-Out cheeseburger is ... the “cheese paper!” I love to scrape the rubbery bits of melted American cheese off the wrapper with my teeth. I also have a soft spot for Dick’s hand-cut fries, which are often criticized for being too soggy.  

The Sound Transit Board of Directors voted unanimously Thursday to hire King County Executive Dow Constantine as the agency’s new CEO.  

Constantine has served as county executive since 2009, but announced last November that he would not seek a fifth term. A member of Sound Transit’s board for 15 years, he played an important role in supporting the 2016 voter-approved authorization of Link light rail’s third phase of expansion.  

The county executive was chosen from a pool of 60 applicants. He will be paid a base salary of $450,000 along with performance bonuses and other benefits.  

“Much of my service as an elected official has been devoted to building the world-class transit system our region has long needed and creating vibrant, transit-connected communities throughout Central Puget Sound,” said Constantine in a statement released after the vote. “I can think of nothing I would rather do than lead this agency into the future, and I thank the Board for their vote of confidence.” 

Constantine takes the helm of an agency beset by delays, cost overruns and maintenance struggles as it works to complete its second phase of light-rail expansion and finish planning the third expansion, which will complete the “spine” of rail from Everett to Tacoma and build the West Seattle-to-Ballard line.  

Frequent electrical issues and breakdowns in the past year have resulted in lengthy delays for light-rail riders. Light-rail expansion is behind schedule and estimated costs of completion have ballooned by billions of dollars.  

“The new CEO really is going to be facing a number of challenges,” said Dave Somers, board chair and Snohomish County Executive during Thursday’s meeting. “The person best able to do that is someone who’s well-grounded, well-versed in the agency, the region, the partners, the communities and really the issues. And Dow really, at the end of the day, rose to the top.” 

Transit advocates were divided by Constantine’s nomination. Kirk Hovenkotter, executive director of Transportation Choices Coalition, and Alex Hudson, executive director of Commute Seattle both testified in support of Constantine at Thursday’s board meeting.  

“Executive Constantine has been one of the Puget Sound region’s greatest champions for transit. He led the passage at the ballot of the country’s second-largest transit expansion. We are excited to work with Executive Constantine in this role to address the challenges ahead and deliver great transit to this region,” said Hovenkotter in a statement after Constantine’s nomination was announced Monday.  

Others, including representatives from Seattle Subway and the advocacy group Seattle Transit Riders Union, criticized the pick. They alleged that the hiring process was not sufficiently transparent and that Constantine had an unfair advantage since he personally nominated half of the 18-member board of directors and is himself a board member. 

In their final comments before the vote, nearly every board member defended the hiring process along with celebrating Constantine’s qualifications for the role.  

Constantine will begin as CEO in April. His term as county executive runs through the end of this year.  

Once he resigns from that post, Constantine will pick one of his staff to serve as interim executive until the County Council appoints someone to fill the seat until voters elect a new county executive in November.