Receiving Praise While Destroying the Very Things Which Makes It So

 

See?  We're so good we've been recognized.  Not!

Source: ShiftWA.org

While state Democrats are breaking their arms patting themselves on the back for U.S. News and World Reports ranking Washington as the top state to live, they fail to mention that their current legislative agenda will remove many of the key reasons why the state scored so well.  As the Association of Washington Business points out, “Washington ranks well in the survey in part because of our state’s lack of an income tax and our affordable energy. But how much longer will we be able to maintain those competitive advantages with moves underway to enact a capital gains tax — the first step toward an income tax — and threats to remove the lower Snake River dams?”  We should not forget that Governor Jay Inslee’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the Democrats’ 18-cents a gallon gas tax will also significantly impact the state’s low energy costs.  It is also easy to believe that the Democrats’ criminal reform measures will also have a negative impact on the state’s already worsening crime statistics.  Nearly all of the reasons for the state’s high ranking is due to the wealth and prosperity which Washington State’s private sector has created.  Yet it is these successes that current Democrat proposals are attempting to tax or regulate and force them to move out of state. (Association of Washington Business and List of Democrat Criminal Reform Bills)

 

The Washington Association of School Administers (WASA) is asking Governor Inslee and the Washington State Department of Health to reconsider the state’s “six-foot rule.”  WASA points out that Harvard University research identified 3-feet of separation as safe for schools.  WASA is making the request in an effort to return all students to the classroom.  Unfortunately, the major roadblock for returning to in-person instruction is the stubborn attitude of the bosses of the teachers’ unions, as they have repeatedly demonstrated that scientific data (even from Harvard University!) and expert advice from thousands of health professionals is irrelevant, as they continue to seek to use the COVID-19 pandemic as just another way to boost the unions’ bank accounts. (KEPR – TV)

 Note:  The last "A" in WASA should read Administrators, not Administers.

While the “House of Origin Cutoff” has passed in the Washington State Legislature, a deadline which used to mean a lot more during in-person sessions, there is still time for the lawmakers to join nearly all other states in placing restrictions on a governor’s emergency powers.  According to a study from the Maine Policy Institute, Washington State ranks near the bottom when it comes to legislative oversite of the governor’s emergency orders.  Nearly everyone agrees that that the state’s chief executive should have the ability to impose orders for a short period of time during an emergency, but it is undemocratic to allow those powers to go unchecked for an extended period of time. While many other states have amended their emergency powers to include approval from legislators, Democrat legislative leaders have killed all efforts to do the same in Washington.  Evidently, Washington State Democrats believe the current governor lacks the leadership abilities to build approval for his decisions, even when they control both houses of the legislature, so they must leave him with complete control. (Washington Policy Center and Maine Policy Institute)