By Bill Lucia | Editor
State lawmakers, governor’s office officials and business and labor leaders embarked Monday on what’s meant to be a two-year effort to better understand Washington’s ongoing financial difficulties. A provision in this year’s budget created the bipartisan, 18-person Joint Legislative-Executive Committee on Budget Transparency and Fiscal Sustainability. The idea is that the panel will come up with recommendations for getting the state onto firmer financial footing.
Also in today’s edition…
New tariffs on hockey sticks and other Canadian goods.
States appear ill-equipped to pick up federal Endangered Species Act slack.
And, Sen. Patty Murray at odds with the Trump administration’s Department of Education dismantling plans.
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(Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
By Jerry Cornfield
The special fiscal committee follows back-to-back legislative sessions where lawmakers and Gov. Bob Ferguson have grappled with major deficits. More trouble looms in 2027. “Part of the goal is to develop a shared understanding of the facts. Those should be objective,” said committee member Sen. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge Island.
Rep. Josh Penner, R-Orting, who is also on the panel, was skeptical. “When I hear the word ‘we,’ I think that comes with a giant asterisk because there’s the ‘we’ that makes the decisions on the budget and there is the ‘we’ who says we don’t think we’re going in the right direction,” Penner said. “I think I’m part of the latter.”
By Ashley Murray
President Trump ordered 50% tariffs on several Canadian products Monday in response to what his administration describes as retaliatory restrictions on imports of American goods, including alcohol, dairy and autos. Trump’s three separate proclamations to impose steep tariffs on items like hockey sticks, wine and cement, came days after he threatened more tariffs on Canada as smoke from wildfires in Ontario blanketed much of the northeastern U.S. through the weekend. But a senior administration official denied the new tariffs were in response to the smoke.
For decades, federal wildlife officials have protected old-growth forests as critical habitat for northern spotted owls. But a new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act issued by the Trump administration removes protections for wildlife habitat. (Photo by Tom Kogut/U.S. Forest Service via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Flickr)
By Alex Brown
Earlier this month, the Trump administration finalized a major change to the Endangered Species Act, rolling back protections for the forests, wetlands, deserts and other critical habitats that many plants and animals rely on.
The new rule will open many landscapes to development, logging, mining and oil and gas drilling. Federal officials framed the decision as a move to give “freedom” to state leaders to manage wildlife without burdensome federal regulations. But legal experts and wildlife veterans say that almost no states have endangered species laws on the books that allow state officials to prevent habitat destruction in the name of saving wildlife.
“It’s not going to be a situation where the states can easily just jump in here and fill the void,” said Robert Anderson, who served as solicitor for the Department of the Interior during the Biden administration. “It’s not going to help states, and it’s going to make it worse for the species.”
By Shauneen Miranda
U.S. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., convened former federal education officials, along with advocates and educators for a virtual event yesterday, sharply criticizing the Trump administration’s attempts to outsource Department of Education special education programs and civil rights enforcement to other agencies. The moves are part of the administration’s broader effort to dismantle the 46-year-old Education Department. Murray called the transfers “outrageous” and “completely unacceptable” and said she is fighting “tooth and nail” against any effort to scrap the department.
ICYMI
Audit paints troubling picture of WA’s overcrowded youth prison system | by Jake Goldstein-Street
How the Democratic Party’s divide over Israel has reached Washington state | by Donna Gordon Blankinship
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