King County voters are heavily supporting the renewal of a levy for veterans, seniors and human services, which was on Tuesday’s primary ballot. So far, more than 71% of voters have voted yes on the levy.

The levy revenue, which has been collected since 2006, has been directed at assistance for military veterans including housing-stability services and mental health counseling; senior centers and programming and assistance for older people; hotlines and advocacy services for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence; and affordable housing and shelter beds, according to the county. 

This week’s ballot measure authorized a six-year property tax levy starting next year: 10 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation – or $80 for an $800,000 home – with 3.5% increases between 2025 and 2029. Eligible seniors, veterans and people with disabilities would be exempt from the property tax. According to the county, the levy will bring in $564 million over six years.

Earlier this year, the King County Council rejected a levy rate increase to 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, despite housing advocates pushing for the tax increase to address rising construction costs.

County voters first approved a veterans and human services levy in 2005 and renewed it in 2011. In 2017, the county voters approved the levy after the county added assistance for seniors to the measure.

Voters have narrowed the field in King County Council elections, as results come in following Tuesday’s primary.

Jorge L. Barón and Sarah Reyneveld have significant leads in the race for County Council District 4, which covers the northwest parts of Seattle from Belltown to the city limits. 

Barón, the former executive director of the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project, received about 50% of the vote. Reyneveld, an assistant attorney general for the state, received about 28%. They both lead Becka Johnson Poppe, a King County budget and policy manager, who received 19%. Incumbent Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, who first took the seat in 2016 after more than 20 years in the state legislature, announced her retirement earlier this year.

For District 8, which covers Capitol Hill, West Seattle, Vashon and Maury islands and parts of Burien and Tukwila, Teresa Mosqueda and Sofia Aragon have significant leads over GoodSpaceGuy. Mosqueda, who is on the Seattle City Council, had about 57% of the vote, and Aragon, the mayor of Burien and executive director of the Washington Center for Nursing, had 37%. GoodSpaceGuy, a frequent candidate for elected office, received 4%. Incumbent Councilmember Joe McDermott, a former state legislator, decided not to run for re-election after 13 years on the County Council.

The top two leaders in each race will face off in the general election in November. County Council members are elected by the voters in their geographic district. The positions are nonpartisan. Also on the general election ballot will be King County Councilmembers Girmay Zahilay in District 2 and Claudia Balducci in District 6. Zahilay, whose district includes Skyway, southeast Seattle, Central District, the University District, Laurelhurst and Ravenna, and Balducci, whose district includes Redmond, parts of Kirkland, north Bellevue and Mercer Island, drew no challengers.

Updated at 4:15 p.m. Aug. 3, 2023 to reflect the latest vote count from King County.

Correction: an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the year that King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles took her council seat.

The Washington Legislative Ethics Board has fined state Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, $250 for using public resources at a speaking event where she urged people to register to vote and support pro-abortion candidates.

Dhingra, who is running for state attorney general, must also pay back $92.43 in mileage expenses for the June 2022 news conference in Olympia with Gov. Jay Inslee and others to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade the day prior, according to the board’s ruling.

The ruling by the board – which helps enforce the state Ethics in Public Service Act – came after complaints against several state lawmakers and Inslee for speaking at two events related to reproductive healthcare after the court’s ruling last year in Dobbs.

The public resources used in the June event included a loudspeaker system and podium from the state Department of Enterprises Services, which among other things oversees the Capitol campus. For various reasons, the other legislators cleared elements of a seven-factor test used to decide whether an elected official is heeding the law.

In a statement, Dhingra pointed out that the Ethics Board has never previously made a ruling on the use of resources by a lawmaker of another state agency, such as Enterprise Services.

“The governor invited me and several other key legislators to this press conference in my capacity as a state senator, to comment on the state response to the Dobbs decision,” she said in prepared remarks. “At that time, ethics rules allowed for mileage reimbursement for official events such as this one. With the rules now changed retroactively, I will be reimbursing the Senate for mileage expenses incurred for this event.”

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and other elected officials Wednesday celebrated the opening of a former hotel in Lacey that has been repurposed as housing for individuals who had been living in state right-of-ways, such as beneath interstate overpasses.

The Legislature allocated money to the state supplemental budget to rapidly move unhoused individuals living on land alongside state highways. Known as the Rights of Way Safety Initiative, state agencies are working with local governments to help move individuals residing on state-owned rights-of-way “with an emphasis on permanent housing solutions,” according to the state Department of Commerce.

Inslee, who has pushed to get people living in camps into housing, lauded the project in remarks before a ribbon-cutting at Maple Court, the new name of the former Lacey Days Inn, which will now be able to accommodate up to 125 people in Thurston County who are experiencing homelessness. It is being administered by the Low Income Housing Institute.

“We can’t wait another decade to build new buildings,” Inslee told those gathered, adding later: “These are 125 people who can’t wait another decade under tarps.”

The initiative is one of a slew of attempts by state and local governments in recent years to reverse what has been a yearslong crisis of people living in camps or otherwise unhoused.

Similar motel-to-shelter projects have opened with state dollars in Yakima, Spokane and Seattle.

Washington’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson called Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling “harmful” to LGBTQ+ Americans and signaled that it would impact the way his office enforces its antidiscrimination law.  

In a 6-3 vote, the court said the state of Colorado could not enforce its own antidiscrimination law against Lorie Smith, a Christian web and graphic designer who refused to provide wedding websites for same-sex couples. 

The majority, comprising the court’s more conservative justices, ruled that Smith was engaged in an expressive activity and was within her First Amendment right to refuse the expression of messages that went against her religious beliefs.

Ferguson said the ruling is “a step backward to our nation’s progress toward achieving equality for LGBTQ+ Americans.”

In a statement to Crosscut, Ferguson noted that the ruling applies to “purely artistic businesses.” 

“The vast majority of Washington businesses — selling goods and services other than custom-designed products — must still abide by the clear antidiscrimination mandates in our state,” Ferguson said in his statement. “If they don’t, my office will take action.”

Ferguson has previously sought to enforce the law in an action against a business that attempted to circumvent antidiscrimination laws in the name of religious freedom and free speech. In 2013, he filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Richland florist Barronelle Stutzman for refusing to provide flowers to serve a same-sex couple. The couple Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed also filed suit against Stutzman. 

In 2015, Benton County Superior Court Judge Alexander Ekstrom ruled that Stutzman discriminated against the couple and broke the state’s consumer protection and antidiscrimination laws. 

The Washington Supreme Court, on two separate occasions, upheld the Benton County court’s decision. In 2017, the court unanimously ruled that Stutzman still had to follow antidiscrimination laws because selling floral arrangements and other wedding goods to a same-sex couple did not constitute free speech, nor was it an endorsement of same-sex marriage. 

The 2019 ruling came after the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to the Washington Supreme Court after ruling in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a custom cake for a same-sex couple. 

However, the ruling in that case came because the court said a state agency had been hostile to the baker’s religious beliefs. After the Washington Supreme Court determined the courts expressed no hostility toward Stutzman and her religious beliefs, it let its initial ruling stand. 

More than 3 million Washington residents will begin earning benefits through Washington’s new long-term care insurance program on July 1.

Working people who did not opt out will contribute 0.58% of each paycheck to the Washington Cares Fund through automatic payroll deductions. Those who contribute to the fund will be entitled to a $36,500 lifetime benefit, which will be adjusted for inflation, for long-term care services when they need them.

The deductions begin July 1, 2023, but the benefits won’t be accessible until July 1, 2026.

The money can be used for a range of services to help people meet their long-term care needs while remaining in their homes. Those services could include transportation, paying a caregiver, home safety modifications or home-delivered meals.

Washington employers are required to withhold contributions from workers’ paychecks for the program. People with private long-term care insurance can opt out of the program, however, by filling out an exemption application.

Washington state Sen. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Port Angeles, announced a bid Wednesday for Public Lands Commissioner in 2024.

A statewide elected position, the Lands Commissioner oversees the Washington Department of Natural Resources and, among other things, the state’s wildland firefighting capabilities. 

Wednesday’s announcement comes as current Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz pursues a bid for governor in next year’s election.

In a statement, Van De Wege, a moderate whose Olympic Peninsula legislative district is one of the last rural regions in Washington to elect Democrats, touted his experience as a career firefighter.

"When I say I understand the danger and destruction caused by wildfires, which are becoming more frequent and more destructive, I speak from experience,” Van De Wege said in prepared remarks. “Of everything our state Department of Natural Resources [DNR] can do, preventing and reducing wildfires needs to top the list.”

First elected to the Senate in 2016, Van De Wege previously served five terms in the state House. He currently chairs the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks Committee.

King County Metropolitan Council Chair Dave Upthegrove has already said he is leaning toward a bid for Lands Commissioner next year. Upthegrove is a three-term council member who previously served in the Legislature, including time chairing the House Environment Committee.

Also this week, Nick Brown, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, announced he was stepping down from that position. Brown is reportedly interested in running for state Attorney General, as incumbent and Democrat Bob Ferguson also pursues a gubernatorial bid. Brown previously served as counsel to Gov. Jay Inslee.

The Seattle City Council voted 9 to 0 to send the $970 million Housing Levy to the November ballot for voter approval. The seven-year property tax renewal would help pay for construction and operations of new subsidized affordable housing, affordable homeownership, higher wages for workers in the sector, rental assistance and more.

Of the nearly $1 billion the levy is estimated to generate over seven years, $707 million would pay for construction of more than 3,000 units of subsidized rental housing. The Washington Department of Commerce projects Seattle will need to build 112,000 units of housing by 2044 to meet demand, and more than 64,000 of those units must be affordable to people earning less than 50% of the area median income. As of 2022, 50% of area median income was $51,800 for a two-person household. 

Another $112 million will be spent on operations, ongoing maintenance and wages for workers in permanent supportive housing projects for people exiting homelessness. The affordable-housing and homelessness sector has struggled in recent years with high turnover and extended vacancies as workers burn out in the face of challenging work and low wages.

The tax will also provide $50.7 million for low-income homeownership programs; $30 million for rental assistance and other programs to keep low-income residents housed; $30 million to acquire and preserve existing market rate buildings that can be converted into affordable housing; and $60 million for administration costs.

If approved, the Housing Levy would charge $0.45 per $1,000 of assessed value beginning in 2024, costing about $375 per year for the owner of a Seattle home with the current median value of $831,000. Low income seniors, military veterans and residents with disabilities are exempt from local property tax levies, per state law.

Seattle voters have approved the Housing Levy six times since 1986, and approved a similar housing bond measure in 1981. The $970 million 2023 Housing Levy would more than triple the expected draw from the property tax compared to the $290 million 2016 Housing Levy set to expire this year.

Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed the significantly larger levy in March 2023 in recognition of Seattle’s growing and interconnected affordable-housing and homelessness crises.

Washington schools chief Chris Reykdal on Monday announced his intent to run next year for a third term to run the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The office, which oversees some elements of the state’s K-12 schools, is a nonpartisan position.

Reykdal is a former Democratic lawmaker from Olympia first elected to the statewide schools office in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.

In his announcement Tuesday, Reykdal touted endorsements by Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor.

Among other things, his platform for a third term includes boosting mental health supports for students, expanding technical education, providing nutritious meals for all students and fully funding special education programs.

“The next four years, and beyond, need to focus on the transformational changes necessary for our children and grandchildren to live healthy, sustainable lives in the state of Washington,” Reykdal said in prepared remarks. “Our public schools are at the heart of that vision, and I will never stop fighting for the success of our students, our school employees, and our communities.”

Former state Rep. Brad Klippert, a conservative Republican from Kennewick who ran last year for Washington secretary of state, appears to be launching a bid for superintendent.

Monday’s announcement comes as candidates – including Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz – move forward with campaigns for governor in the wake of Inslee’s decision not to run again. Candidates will formally file election papers next May.

Those campaigns would create vacancies for both of those statewide elected seats. Meanwhile, Office of Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has announced his retirement, meaning that statewide seat will also be up for grabs.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, has launched a Central Washington task force to address the fentanyl crisis.

The task force will include law enforcement, addiction treatment and other medical professionals, drug court officials, school resource officers, tribal leaders, elected officials and community leaders.

Their aim is to quantify the crisis in Central Washington by looking at state, local and federal data; assess current resources available and figure out where gaps exist; talk about potential state, local and federal legislation that will help address the crisis; and help educate the public.

“We cannot stand idly by while this deadly drug ravages our communities, claiming lives and tearing families apart,” Newhouse said in a news release.

Opioid overdoses and deaths have increased statewide, according to data from the Washington Department of Health.

Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney, a member of the task force, said the fentanyl crisis strikes constant fear in the hearts of parents who worry about their children’s safety.

“As a mother to young children, I share in the frustration over the lack of action to eliminate this deadly outbreak from crossing our borders and entering into our communities,” she said in the news release from Newhouse’s office. “I am passionately committed to finding new ways to educate all ages about the extreme risk of fentanyl and to proactively craft legislation and policies that will prevent fentanyl from plaguing our communities."