By Jerry Cornfield | Reporter
Nearly 40 years ago, voters created the Washington Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials to end the practice of politicians deciding their own pay. As a result, every two years a diverse group of folks contemplate whether the salaries of lawmakers, statewide executives and judges need adjusting. On Thursday, they concluded the job of governor — currently held by Democrat Bob Ferguson — is compensated well enough and recommended no raise for two years.
Also in today’s edition…
A big player won’t be pushing for youth online safety bill in 2027.
Sparring on the income tax initiative.
Teeing up a bill to make polluters pay for their role in climate change.
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Gov. Bob Ferguson, seen here during an event in June, will not receive a raise in the next two years under a recommendation adopted Thursday by the Washington Citizens’ Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials. (Photo by Aspen Ford/Washington State Standard)
By Jerry Cornfield
Salaries for the attorney general and lieutenant governor will be frozen too under the proposed schedule adopted by the salary-setting panel. Commissioners did agree, however, to give state lawmakers, along with the superintendent of public instruction, treasurer, and commissioner of public lands increases of 2% on July 1, 2027 and another 2% on July 1, 2028. Judges, including state Supreme Court justices, would also receive 2% hikes next July and 2% a year later.
And, in one of their final votes, they agreed to boost the salaries of the offices of the secretary of state, insurance commissioner, and state auditor by 5% in each of the next two years.
Climate change is driving expensive disasters such as flooding and the recent Spokane fires. Washington lawmakers can bring in new progressive revenue by holding climate polluters accountable, two activists argue. (Photo via InciWeb)
COMMENTARY
By Shemona Moreno and Edgar Franks
We are in the era of climate change where unions and communities alike are being forced to absorb the costs of a crisis they didn’t create. We pay to recover and rebuild, then we pay again for the resilience measures needed to weather future climate storms.
Fortunately, there is one common sense step we can take — Make Polluters Pay for the costs of climate harms. Washington is building a movement to pass Climate “Superfund” legislation, to be introduced in the 2027 session, that would require the largest fossil fuel corporations to pay their fair share for climate damages caused by their historical greenhouse gas emissions.
By Grace Kaste
Attorney General Nick Brown has tried the last two years to get state lawmakers to pass a sweeping bill to limit social media for youths. He won’t in the 2027 legislative session, saying a recent court settlement with a social media giant is sufficient.
“The Meta settlement’s provisions go beyond the policies we were hoping to implement via legislation,” the Democrat’s office said in a statement to the Standard. “We have shown that a good path for us is through litigation and through investigation rather than trying to convince the Legislature.”
By Mike McClanahan
The Nov. 3 election is a test of the new 9.9% state income tax on households that earn more than $1 million a year. Initiative 645 aims to overturn the tax before it takes effect.
On The Impact, a show that airs on TVW, former Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, a supporter of the ballot measure, said repealing the tax is needed to prevent lawmakers from expanding it to cover those making less than $1 million annually. April Sims, who leads the Washington State Labor Council, says the new tax is a step toward creating a fairer tax code for residents and small business owners.
ICYMI
New ad fires up debate between Braun and Gluesenkamp Perez| by Jerry Cornfield
Voting is underway for the midterm election | by Jerry Cornfield
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