Total Control of Legislative Agenda Under COVID

Source:  ShiftWA.org

Democrat Senator Sam Hunt continues protecting Governor Jay Inslee’s one-man rule of Washington State through his strongarm chairmanship of a normally meaningless committee.  Democrat bosses in the legislature know they can send important legislation to the State Government and Elections Committee, because Chairman Hunt will do as he is told.  Senator Hunt will either limit public testimony or complete deny public input on important legislation, before allowing popular measures (that challenge Governor Inslee’s power) to die in committee.  As Shift reported last week, Senator Hunt only allowed one hour of testimony on the bi-partisan bill (SB 5114) that would move all regions of the state to Phase 2 of Inslee’s latest economic shutdown, despite more than 1,600 Washington residents registering to testify.  To compound this total disregard for the hardship that thousands of Washington residents are currently experiencing under Governor Inslee’s lockdown orders, Senator Hunt also instructed staff to cut off speakers at exactly one-minute into their testimony without notice.  Now we find out that Hunt is continuing his role as the legislative lapdog for the Democrat bosses by not allowing public testimony on a bipartisan bill (SB 5039) to limit the Governor’s emergency powers, despite the proposal receiving substantial support in newspaper editorials, from the public, and even from some Democrat legislators.  As Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center points out, Hunt’s committee is not allowing the public to speak on this important legislation, but he is allowing public comment on selecting a state dinosaur (which is usually the type of issue Senator Hunt is trusted to handle).  For most rational people, this is a sign of someone who would rather please his partisan bosses than someone who wants to serve the needs of the public. (Washington Policy Center, Shift Article, and Washington Legislature Bill Summary) 

A national story in Education Week indicates that public opinion towards teachers and their unions appears to be changing due to their unreasonable demands to reopen schools.  When national schools were closed last Spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the public was sympathetic towards schoolteachers who quickly needed to adapt to distance learning.  Yet things began to change last Autumn, when public health officials showed scientific data indicating it was safe for students to return to the classrooms, while teachers’ unions began making their demands to keep schools closed.  This made the teachers and their unions the targets of frustrated parents, who could see the poor education which most students were receiving, and the growing mental issues their children were experiencing.  The article states that many teachers are experiencing a change in the public’s perception of their profession and unions. While the article uses a national poll taken in early November to show the public attitude has not changed much, it is easy to believe that the negative perception towards teachers’ unions has grown in the past three months, and that these negative feelings would be greatest in the few areas of the country where schools have remained closed (which is the case for the vast majority of Washington State public school students).  It is easy to imagine current survey numbers in Washington State would be far different than the national poll taken last Fall. (Education Week)

Governor Inslee’s moratorium on evictions is causing severe financial difficulties for some small property owners.  One example is a Blaine couple who partially live off of the income they receive from renting a duplex. The tenant has stopped paying rent and the couple has lost at least $10,000.  The local police say the renter is involved in criminal activity and the couple is concerned that he will leave the premises (without paying the back rent) when the moratorium has ended. (MyNorthwest)