By Bill Lucia | Editor
The Ballmer Group is preparing to plunk down some serious cash to fund 10,000 new affordable rental homes in Washington. The philanthropy founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie announced plans Thursday to cover up to $150,000 in forgivable loans per unit. That works out to as much as $1.5 billion. “We’re a little careful about not saying that we’re committing $1.5 billion, but if that’s what it ends up taking to build the units, we are committing to what it takes,” said John Griffith, the group’s executive director of strategy, operations and national housing.
Also in today’s edition…
Opposition to Sen. Maria Cantwell’s college sports bill.
Washington and other states crack down on 3D-printed guns.
And, Oregon’s court battle over where it houses transgender women in prison.
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Apartment construction in Olympia in January 2025. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
By Jake Goldstein-Street
The affordable housing funding from the Ballmer Group comes after the philanthropy pledged last year to donate up to $170 million a year over a decade to pay for early childhood education slots for low-income families in Washington. Unlike that funding, the housing dollars won’t require state legislation to unlock.
To qualify for the forgivable loans, housing developers must offer significantly discounted rents compared to market rates and maintain affordable rent prices for at least 60 years. Eligible rentals will have at least two bedrooms and be affordable to families earning roughly 50% of the area median income.
Developers seeking loans would first go to an advisory group the Ballmer Group has brought in. Then the philanthropy would pre-approve the loan, before the Washington State Housing Finance Commission finalizes the terms, Griffith said. Over 1,100 new homes are already in the pipeline, according to the Ballmer Group.
By Shauneen Miranda
U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continue to push their bill to set new national standards for college athletes’ compensation. “My view is this is the only train leaving the station,” Cruz said this week, adding that the legislation is bipartisan and “has a real prospect of passage.”
But it’s not looking like an easy run to the endzone. Powerful athletic organizations such as the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences have said they do not support the bill as drafted and that it “leaves critical issues unresolved.” Meanwhile, the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter this month to Cruz and Cantwell urging a pause in consideration of the legislation “until athletic leaders meaningfully engage with concerns about attacks on Black political representation.”
The bill aims to address fallout from NCAA guidelines that allowed student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, or NIL. It would create a national NIL standard that preempts a patchwork of state laws. The legislation would also provide antitrust protections to the NCAA and college sports conferences and establish a five-year eligibility timeline for athletes.
By Amanda Watford
As advances in 3D printing make it easier to produce firearms at home, lawmakers in a growing number of states are pursuing new restrictions for the often untraceable guns. Washington, along with Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, New York and Virginia, all enacted laws this year that tighten rules for 3D-printed guns and guns without serial numbers.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed such a law in March. It prohibits the use of 3D printers and computer numerical control, or CNC, milling machines to manufacture certain firearms and machine-gun conversion devices. The law also targets the digital files used to create the weapons.
By Shaanth Nanguneri
State attorneys in Oregon are opposing a recent federal court order that could lead to more trans women being housed in the state’s only women’s prison. This comes as the Trump administration investigates states for incarcerating transgender women in women’s prisons. In the Oregon case, two incarcerated transgender women sued the state’s Department of Corrections over housing them in men’s prisons.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke, in an April ruling, granted class action status and a preliminary injunction in favor of the women, who alleged that the Oregon Department of Corrections failed to house them with other women and subjected them to consistent sexual abuse, retaliation and violence during their time in custody with men.
Oregon’s attorneys filed a motion in May asking for Clarke to reconsider or clarify his order and arguing that the relief sought by the plaintiffs could interfere with existing state policies to the “detriment” of incarcerated Oregonians.
Here in Washington, the Trump administration said last month it was launching an investigation into Washington state’s practice of housing transgender women in its women’s prison. And the state is entangled in at least two court cases concerning the issue. This includes litigation backed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the state’s transfer of a transgender woman to a men’s prison that is set for a hearing before the state Supreme Court on June 23.
Previously from the Standard: WA’s transgender prisoner policy is target of new federal investigation
ICYMI
These new WA laws take effect Thursday | by Jake Goldstein-Street
Massive clean energy project caught in legal crosswinds at Washington Supreme Court | by Jerry Cornfield
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