Washington sues RFK Jr. over public health cuts

The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival returns May 31, with a lineup featuring Jake Tapper, Amanda Knox, and a slate of local and nationally recognized journalists, podcasters and lawmakers deconstructing the day’s most pressing issues. The full lineup of speakers was released today.

This year’s festival will include live podcast and television recordings from outlets like CNN, NPR and The Atlantic alongside a mix of community events in downtown Seattle. More information is available here.

Seattle voters will be asked in August if they want to continue paying for the city’s democracy voucher program — a first-of-its-kind public campaign-financing system that gives voters money to donate to political candidates. 

Seattle voters created the program in 2015, along with a 10-year property tax levy to fund it. The voucher program aims to make election financing more diverse and equitable by giving voters four $25 coupons they can give to city of Seattle candidates during elections. 

Ten years after it was created, city officials say the program has been a success. On Monday, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to send a property tax levy renewal to the August ballot that would fund the program for another decade. 

If passed, the levy would cost the median homeowner about $13 a year and raise about $45 million over 10 years. The figure is about $15 million higher than the expiring levy to account for inflation and increased candidate participation in the program. 

City Council members praised the program across the board, with several saying they’d seen the positive impact firsthand during their own runs for office. 

“For me, this specifically meant that I didn’t need to take campaign donations that I felt might have implicit strings attached,” said Councilmember Dan Strauss. “This allowed me to be more independent, and it meant that I actively chose to knock on everyday Seattleites’ doors rather than spending time on the phone, calling political donors.” 

Many Councilmembers said the program is especially important in light of threats to democracy at the national level and the growing influence of wealth in politics. 

“Our democracy is at risk,” said Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck. “We must take every step here in Seattle to protect it, because in a healthy democracy, billionaires can’t buy elections.” 

Most democracy vouchers go unused. A study by researchers at Stony Brook and Georgetown University found that participation among the voting-age population declined from 7.59% in the 2021 election to 4.72% in 2023. 

City Council member Cathy Moore noted that there remains a need to educate people about the program, particularly in communities where English is not the primary language. 

Candidates in the races for Seattle mayor, city attorney and three Council seats are eligible for democracy vouchers this year.

Note: This story was updated on 4/22/25 to correct the difference between the previous property tax levy and the new proposal. 

The wings off the Senate floor were packed Monday, April 21, as Washington lawmakers and staff remembered Sen. Bill Ramos, D-Issaquah, who died suddenly over the weekend.

In a somber moment, those who had worked with Ramos exchanged hugs, tissues, tears and memories. A large portrait of Ramos surrounded by fresh flowers stood near the front of the chamber, where colleagues honored their colleague with a moment of silence.

Ramos died Saturday evening while trail-running with his dog, Sadie, after a day of work in Olympia, wrote his wife, King County Councilmember Sarah Perry, in a statement on Facebook. He was 69.

Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said Ramos’ death was “a devastating loss for our caucus and for our state.”

“Bill was one of the most kind and joyful people I’ve had the pleasure to work with,” Pedersen said in a statement. “He never let even the most serious matters get too serious. He made you like him the moment you met him.”

Ramos was first elected to represent the Fifth Legislative District in the House of Representatives in 2018 and was recently elected to the state Senate in November. He previously served on the Issaquah City Council.

At a morning bill signing, Gov. Bob Ferguson acknowledged the “shocking loss” of Ramos over the weekend. Ferguson signed a bill that Ramos had worked on, which exempted some Department of Corrections employees from coalition bargaining requirements.

Ferguson said he would send one of the pens used to sign the law to Perry, Ramos’s wife.

“He was a wonderful public servant,” Ferguson said. “More importantly, he was a likeable guy, a kind guy, who was always a joy to be around. We’ll be thinking about him today and for a long time to come.”

Ramos’ death came with just one week left in the Legislature’s scheduled session. Like the rest of the Senate, he had been working on Saturday.

Speaking on a resolution to honor former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, who died last month, Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, noted Monday morning that he was standing in front of Ramos’ desk, where Ramos had been just two days before.

“I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little rattled,” Wagoner said.

Wagoner went on to reminisce about Munro with comments that he said were “even more poignant today.”

“All of us, at some point, will be memorialized in a similar manner, and none of us know the time or the date of that happening,” he said.

A bill that aims to address housing supply and affordability in Washington by lowering parking requirements for new residential and commercial development passed through the state Legislature and will head to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. 

Senate Bill 5184, called the Parking Reform and Modernization Act, would restrict how much parking cities and counties are allowed to require for new development. 

If signed into law, cities with 30,000 or more residents would be prohibited from requiring more than 0.5 parking spaces per new multifamily unit, or more than one parking space per single family home. Cities would be prohibited from requiring any parking for residences under 1,200 square feet, commercial spaces under 3,000 square feet, senior housing, child care facilities or housing classified as affordable. 

The law would also limit restrictions on commercial development to no more than two parking spaces per 1,000 square feet. 

In all cases, developers could still choose to provide more parking if they want to. 

The Sightline Institute, a nonprofit research and policy group, celebrated the passage of the bill in a blog post last week as “one of the strongest parking reform packages attempted anywhere in the United States.” 

For decades, many Washington cities have made it illegal to build housing without providing at least one parking space per unit. But parking reform advocates argue that those requirements prioritize cars over people and add unnecessary costs that hinder new housing development. 

“These rules are totally arbitrary,” said Catie Gould, a researcher with Sightline, in an interview last month. “Most cities don’t remember where these ratios came from. They were adopted really quickly in the 1950s and ’60s.” 

Some cities, like Mercer Island, require a “minimum ratio of two parking spaces for each unit” in apartment complexes. Gould argues that doesn’t make sense because nearly 60% of renter households in Washington have just one car or none at all. When developers are forced to build parking spaces that people don’t need, the costs often get passed on to the tenant, Gould said. 

“They’re overbuilding for renters and they’re adding these unnecessary costs that people don’t need,” Gould said. “If we really want to build more housing and open up opportunities for new housing, excessive parking mandates have got to go.” 

The bill was introduced by Sen. Jessica Bateman, D-Olympia. It received pushback from some city officials, who argued that local governments are best suited to make zoning decisions, and that the law would erode local control. 

At a hearing last month, Kennewick Councilmember Jim Millbauer urged lawmakers to “allow cities to develop more locally tailored programs.” 

“Kennewick does not have a transit system that is robust enough to provide efficient service throughout the community,” Millbauer said. “We also live in a rural area, which means more of our residents use a vehicle to get to work or school. Today we are, and for the foreseeable future will continue to be, an auto-centric community.” 

Amendments in the House Local Government Committee scaled back the scope of the law. After passing the Senate with an added exemption for cities with under 20,000 residents, the bill was further narrowed in the House to exempt cities with fewer than 30,000 people. That would allow cities like Mercer Island (pop. 24,742) to continue setting their own parking ratios. The House also added a three-year phase-in period for cities with 30,000 to 50,000 residents and an 18-month phase-in for cities with 50,000 or more residents. 

Gould said she was disappointed by the exemptions for smaller cities. “These rules cause problems in communities of all sizes around the state,” she said. “Nobody has to stop driving for this reform to make sense, we’re trying to provide more opportunities and more choices for people.” 

In a Friday post on Bluesky, Bateman celebrated the bill advancing to the governor’s desk. “Two years ago, parking reform of this magnitude would not have been possible,” Bateman wrote. “Pro-housing advocates have changed the narrative and demanded action.” 

A handful of Washington cities have fully scrapped parking mandates in recent years. Spokane was the first major city to do so — eliminating parking requirements near transit stops in 2023, and then citywide in 2024. 

So far, Spokane’s reforms haven’t spurred dramatic change. Developers are still choosing to provide parking “in almost all cases,” said Spokane Councilmember Zack Zappone while testifying in favor of the statewide bill last month.

“In the majority of cases, they’re still providing at least one space per unit,” Zappone said. “In a few cases, they’re providing a ratio below the one-to-one. In extremely rare cases, they’re not doing any on-site parking at all.”

The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday nullified a 2023 Spokane ballot initiative that expanded the city’s camping ban, reversing decisions from trial and appeal courts.

The majority for Jewels Helping Hands and Ben Stuckart v. Brian Hansen, et al., in an opinion written by Justice Gordon McCloud, stated that Proposition 1 was beyond the scope allowed by local initiative power because it “administer[ed] the details” of the city’s existing anti-camping policy rather than create a new law or policy.

“I hope this decision paves the way for less discrimination against our homeless neighbors,” said Julie Garcia, founder and executive director of Jewels Helping Hands, one of the plaintiffs in the case who sought to block the initiative.

The initiative, sponsored by Spokane resident Brian Hansen, prohibits camping within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and day care centers. It was a response to concerns over rising criminal activity near Camp Hope, an encampment that operated for 18 months in the East Central neighborhood and once contained several hundred unhoused residents. The encampment closed in June 2023.

Advocates for the unhoused, who brought the lawsuit, opposed the initiative, noting that it greatly expanded the area where camping is not allowed. However, Spokane voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 1 in 2023 with nearly 75% of the vote.

The city did not enforce Proposition 1 until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last summer that states can criminalize homeless encampments regardless of shelter space availability, reversing a previous court decision.

In a written statement, Mayor Lisa Brown wrote that the city’s ordinance prohibiting camping in public areas remains in effect and that the Spokane Police Department is enforcing the law. However, Brown emphasized support for a much more comprehensive approach to addressing the city’s unhoused population, stating that “enforcement alone is not going to solve homelessness.”

Justice C.J. Stephens wrote a dissenting opinion, stating that the majority’s interpretation of what is deemed administrative was too broad and effectively eliminated local initiative power. Stephens felt the proponents of Proposition 1 believed it was a “different policy direction” from the city’s camping policy, and so the initiative was within the scope of what is allowed under the law.

This article was originally published by the Washington State Standard.

Washington lawmakers are on the cusp of eliminating a special education funding cap, which critics said was straining school finances, hurting students and putting the state at risk of a major lawsuit.

On a 97-0 vote on Wednesday, the House amended, then passed, Senate Bill 5263  to put Washington, for the first time, on a course to fully fund special education in its public schools.

It also adjusted two other funding levers in the bill to drive more dollars for special education to the state’s 295 school districts. All told, roughly $870 million more will be sent out over the next two budgets. That sum is a compromise with the Senate, which wanted to spend closer to $2 billion. 

Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, who called the cap “unconscionable and maybe unconstitutional,” said its elimination is “a historic achievement.” It commits the state to amply fund the education of every child with a disability, he said.

Ditching the cap “is the very first step to saying we’re going to fully fund special education. This is going to absolutely help our schools,” said Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, who has three children with individualized education plans, or IEPs — plans developed for every public school student who needs special education services.

“It represents something we should all be proud of,” he said. Couture urged his colleagues to guard against any weakening of the legislation in the final stages of budget talks. 

Also Wednesday, the House passed a Senate bill to send additional dollars to districts to cover materials, supplies and operating costs. These costs, which cover non-employee-related expenses tied to a district’s daily operations, have surged in recent years.

The House amended, then passed, Senate Bill 5192 on an 85-12 vote. It would boost the amount of state funding per student for MSOC to $1,614, an increase of $35. An additional $214.94 is provided for each high school student.

Cap would be removed

Special education is where the gap is largest between what districts receive from the state and what they pay for with local dollars. 

In the 2022-23 school year, districts spent $590 million of local levy receipts to make up the difference, according to a performance audit issued in January by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee.

Washington uses two key mechanisms for determining what a district receives.

First is the cap on the percentage of a school district’s student population that can receive extra dollars for special education services. 

Under current law, the state provides additional funding only for up to 16% of a district’s student population. In other words, if 20% of a district’s population requires special education services, the district cannot get additional money for the remaining 4%.

Second, the state distributes an amount of money for each student enrolled in a school, plus additional dollars for each special education student, under a formula known as the multiplier.

Senate Bill 5263 removes the enrollment cap and increases the multiplier to send more dollars to districts. 

Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, and Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, are the bill’s co-sponsors.

Changes made Wednesday will pump out $870 million to districts over the next four fiscal years, Pollet said.

If House Bill 2049 passes, it will be more, he said. This bill would allow an increase in annual property tax growth from the current 1% cap to the combined rate of population growth plus inflation within a taxing district, not to exceed 3%. This would apply to the state’s property tax, also known as the common schools levy.

The bill would also make other changes that could help districts receive more taxpayer dollars.

A fiscal analysis estimates that uncapping the state property tax would bring in an additional $200 million in the next biennium and $618 million in the 2027-29 budget. School districts collectively could raise another $900 million locally over four years. House Bil 2049 is slated to be voted on Friday in the House Finance Committee.

The Washington State Standard originally published a longer version of this article on April 16, 2025.

Cascade PBS has received 13 2024 Northwest Regional Emmy® Awards nominations from the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Here are the nominated titles and categories:

Overall Excellence

Cascade PBS

Documentary – Cultural/Historical

ASAHEL: The Curtis Collection, produced by Shannen Ortale, David Quantic, Stephen Hegg, Knute Berger, Bryce Yukio Adolphson, Amanda Snyder, Kalina Torino, Christopher Shreve, David Wulzen, Madeleine Pisaneschi, Greg Cohen. 

Diversity/Equity/Inclusion – Short Form Content

Out & Back: Spreading the Stoke, produced by Shirlyn Wong, Alison Mariella Désir, Sarah E. Hall, Bryce Yukio Adolphson, Madeleine Pisaneschi, David Wulzen. 

Out & Back: Healing Powers of Water, produced by Shirlyn Wong, Alison Mariella Désir, Sarah E. Hall, Bryce Yukio Adolphson, Madeleine Pisaneschi, Andy Motz. 

Arts/Entertainment – Short Form Content

Black Arts Legacies: Visual Arts, produced by Tifa Tomb, Neftali Kirkland, Brangien Davis, Kalina Torino, Arlo Greene and Adam Spiro Brown.

The Nosh with Rachel Belle: Bagel Boom!, produced by Brianna Dorn, Rachel Belle, Bryce Yukio Adolphson, Amanda Snyder, David Wulzen and David Quantic.

Historical/Cultural – Short Form Content

Mossback’s Northwest: The Big Boeing Cover-up, produced by Michael McClinton, Knute Berger, Resti Bagcal, Danielle Driehaus, Madeleine Pisaneschi and Tony Arias.

Mossback’s Northwest: Three Problem Bodies, produced by Michael McClinton, Knute Berger, Resti Bagcal, David Quantic, Alegra Figeroid, Madeleine Pisaneschi, Rachel Sandoffsky, Matthew Jorgensen and Tony Arias.

Promotion – Non-News – Campaign

Cascade PBS 70th Anniversary Campaign, produced by Arlo Greene, Greg Cohen, Brodrick Aberly, Madeleine Pisaneschi, Kalina Torino, Matthew Jorgensen, Michael Fox, Resti Bagcal, Don Wilcox, Jeremy Cropf

Photographer – Short Form or Long Form Content

Bryce Yukio Adolphson 

Editor – Short Form Content

David Quantic
Danielle Driehaus
Andy Motz

The recipients will be announced at the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Emmy Awards Gala Event on June 7.

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.”