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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
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These new Washington laws take effect July 27
The Washington state Capitol on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) Funding for more police officers, parking requirements for new housing and penalties for littering. These are just a few of the issues covered by 333 new Washington state laws set to take effect Sunday. July 27 marks 90 days since the end of the 2025 legislative session in Olympia, when most bills signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson go into force. A handful of bills became law July 1. Some legislation can take years to go into effect. Here's a look at some of the laws on the books starting Sunday. Perhaps the most controversial legislation taking effect Sunday requires religious leaders to report child abuse or neglect, adding them to a list of mandatory reporters that includes school staff, psychologists and many more. But a federal judge ruled last week that Catholic priests can't be mandated to disclose this information if they learn of it in a confession. The ruling came in response to litigation brought by three Catholic bishops over this aspect of the law. The U.S. Justice Department has also waded into the case on the side of the bishops. On Friday, a federal judge in Spokane issued a similar ruling in a separate challenge to the law brought by several churches. For now, the requirement for priests to report suspected abuse or neglect they learn of during confessions is temporarily blocked pending further court proceedings. The rest of the law will take effect. Read more: Judge blocks WA requirement for priests to report child abuse disclosed in confession When Ferguson entered office in January, he vowed to only sign a state budget that included $100 million in grants to hire police officers, as Washington ranks last in the country in cops per capita. House Bill 2015 delivers on that promise, creating the grant program. But a compromise with progressive Democrats will allow the funding to go to more than just bringing aboard more officers. Peer counselors, behavioral health co-responders, training and other broader public safety efforts are among the other eligible options. To access the grants, cities and counties need to either implement a new 0.1% sales tax for public safety or have already imposed a similar tax. They also need to follow state model policies as well as collect and report use-of-force data. The state's Criminal Justice Training Commission must award the money by June 30, 2028. See also: Why police accountability efforts failed again in the Washington Legislature Advocates believe one of the biggest obstacles to building much-needed housing in Washington is local parking requirements that drive up costs and take up valuable space. A new state law is considered one of the strongest state-level efforts in the nation to relax parking requirements. Now, cities and counties won't be able to mandate more than one spot for every two units. They also can't require builders to include more than one space per single-family home. Jurisdictions also can't force commercial developers to build more than two parking spots per 1,000 square feet. No parking minimums are allowed for existing buildings converted from nonresidential to residential use, homes under 1,200 square feet, commercial spaces under 3,000 square feet, affordable housing, child care facilities or senior housing. The rules don't affect cities with under 30,000 residents. Condominiums can serve as a path into homeownership for first-time buyers. But builders have long shied away from building out of fear of litigation due to the state's liability laws, seen as overly protective of consumers. A new bipartisan law looks to reduce liability risks for developers. Washington is looking to accelerate the construction of housing near transit, so-called 'transit-oriented development.' A new law allows for more dense housing, which Washington desperately needs, while also potentially reducing pollution as more people use buses and rail to commute instead of driving. The law requires Washington cities to allow housing development near transit. It also requires 10% of units to be considered affordable and 20% set aside for workforce housing for the next 50 years. The legislation defines affordable as not costing more than 30% of the income for renters who make up 60% of the county's median income or homeowners who make 80% of the median. Developers who meet those requirements would get a 20-year multifamily property tax exemption. And they'd get half-off discounts on local impact fees meant to help pay for transportation projects to accommodate the population growth. While the legislation takes effect Sunday, implementation of the new requirements could come as late as the end of 2029 for cities that updated their comprehensive plans last year. Cities that next revise their plans later than 2024 must follow the new rules within six months of updating. Washington's public school students will be offered special education services until the end of the school year in which they turn 22 or graduate high school, whichever comes first. The current age limit is 21. Lawmakers made the change in response to a court ruling from last year that found Washington violated a federal law dealing with how long states must provide 'free appropriate public education.' The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction estimates 300-1,200 students could benefit from the raised age limit. A fiscal analysis found serving them for an extra year will cost between $6.8 million and $27 million per school year. As the federal government steps back from reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Washington wants to double down. The state is accelerating its limits on emissions from transportation. By 2038, the state needs to reduce transportation emissions 45% or 55% below 2017 levels. Each year, Washington's Clean Fuel Standard will now aim for emission drops between 3% and 5%, up from 1% to 1.5%. The legislation narrowly passed the Legislature amid concerns the change could raise gas prices. Washingtonians don't need to worry about medical debt appearing on their credit reports anymore. That debt can stop people from getting approved for car or home loans or result in them being denied health care services due to the outstanding bills. Then-President Joe Biden imposed a similar rule at the federal level, but the Trump administration paused that effort so it never took effect. This week, a federal judge in Texas struck down the federal proposal. One new law looks to increase diaper changing stations. The statute now mandates baby diaper changing stations in women's, men's, or gender-neutral bathrooms in new public buildings or existing ones that undergo remodels costing $15,000 or more. Washington faces 42% more litter along state roads than the national average, according to a state Department of Ecology report from 2023. So the state is toughening its littering penalties. A new law raises the punishment from a class three to a class two civil infraction and fines from $50 to $125. The littering fine applies to amounts up to one cubic foot, or roughly the size of a backpack. The fine is in addition to a separate $93 traffic infraction for throwing garbage onto state highways. Lawmakers passed a number of measures this session aimed at protecting immigrants from deportation. One stipulates that it is unprofessional conduct for bail bond agents to enforce a civil immigration warrant. The law also prevents agents from sharing immigration information with anyone outside their business. Those who violate the law could face disciplinary action from the state Department of Licensing. Washington will be the first state in the nation to require companies to notify the state attorney general of a business merger. Businesses already have to file a premerger notification with the federal government. Attorney General Nick Brown hopes this change will give the state more time to analyze potential anticompetitive consequences from mergers. The law covers companies based in Washington or that do a certain amount of business here. 'Washington is a trailblazer for the rest of the nation in adopting a premerger notification law,' Brown said in a statement. 'This will allow state antitrust enforcers to protect consumer interests in an even more effective way.' More than 100,000 Muslims across Washington celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Those celebrations are now on the list of the state's unpaid holidays. When he signed the bill, Ferguson, the first-term Democratic governor, said Washington is the first state in the country to designate Eid as a state-recognized holiday. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha the completion of the pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son at God's request. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Washington law directs $100M in grants toward hiring police, improving public safety
The Washington state Capitol on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) On his first day, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson angered many Democratic lawmakers by demanding the Legislature put $100 million in the next state budget to help local police departments hire police officers. 'That idea was a cornerstone of my campaign for Governor. Any budget I sign must include this funding,' he said in his Jan. 15 inaugural address. On Monday, there were clear signs of a rapprochement as Ferguson signed House Bill 2015 that embeds a $100 million grant program in a broad policy bill designed to let local and tribal governments decide how best to use those dollars – even if that means not hiring a single new cop. 'It's a wonderful bill,' Ferguson said, celebrating the political win flanked by Democratic legislators, uniformed officers, and local government leaders. He insisted it will improve public safety and result in more officers on streets across Washington. 'It's going to be a big step forward. I have no doubt about that,' he said. 'Jurisdictions will make their choices, but there's going to be significant investments in new law enforcement officers. I don't think there's any other way to interpret what we did here today.' The measure signed Monday aims to strike a balance by allowing for spending on more than just police hiring, which many Democrats view skeptically as the best path to improve public safety. It allows use of grants to hire and retain not only officers but also peer counselors and behavioral health personnel 'working in co-response to increase community policing and public safety.' Crisis intervention training and other areas, like emergency management planning and community assistance programs, are among the additional spending options. 'This is a good law. Public safety is about the community. This bill is from the community, for the community,' said Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Kent, the bill's prime sponsor. 'I want police in communities. I want good and fair policing.' Bumpy road Democrats hold near super majorities in the House and Senate. Many of them winced when Ferguson drew a line in the legislative sand in his first speech and winced again when he endorsed the approach in a bill sponsored by Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney. It remained a sore point all session long as the legislation evolved through many iterations. On April 15, the Members of Color Caucus in the Senate restated their opposition in a letter to Ferguson. 'While we understand your administration intends to move forward with this law enforcement funding request, we ask that you also commit — equally and unequivocally — to meeting the long-neglected needs that disproportionately affect communities of color,' reads the letter signed by a dozen Democratic senators. The message echoed what the Legislative Black Caucus told Ferguson in a January meeting. They said if there was going to be $100 million to beef up the ranks of law enforcement, there should be at least as much to shore up social services and other supportive programs in communities. 'It can't be all cops all the time,' said Rep. Kristine Reeves, D-Federal Way, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, following the meeting. 'We want to invest in public safety. We want to invest in strong and strategic public safety that meets all communities' needs.' Ultimately the bill passed by margins of 55-42 in the House and 30-19 in the Senate. Only five Republican lawmakers, including Holy, supported the bill. Reeves, who did vote for it, stood alongside Ferguson as he signed the bill Monday. 'I don't think every community is going to hire a cop,' she said. 'The whole point of this legislation was, how do we give local communities local control to determine what best suits their public safety needs.' How it works The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission will develop and administer the grant program. As written, the state dollars must be allotted by June 30, 2028. Cities and counties can access the grant money if they've already imposed either of two existing public safety sales taxes. In addition, the bill offers local governments the ability to adopt a new 0.1% sales tax without voter approval to pay for criminal justice expenses. The local sales tax revenue could go toward costs such as public defenders, domestic violence services, and programs to help connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs. Lawmakers also decided governments can't impose the new tax if voters have rejected a similar tax proposal in the past two years. The new law sets other criteria for qualifying for grant dollars. For example, 25% of officers would have to complete a 40-hour crisis intervention training. The bill originally set this benchmark at 80%. Other hurdles departments must clear to access the money include implementing model policies on use-of-force and other issues, completing trauma-informed training for all officers and complying with a law that restricts police from helping with federal immigration enforcement. Ferguson made the grant program a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign because, he said, Washington is ranked last in the nation in police staffing per capita. When asked Monday if this law is enough to move the needle, he said, 'I don't know the answer. It's going to help.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Veto or sign? WA governor keeps everyone guessing on tax and budget bills
Gov. Bob Ferguson speaks to reporters about the budget on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. He has until Tuesday to act on what the Legislature passed. Several tax bills also await action by the governor. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) Will Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson sign or veto a pile of tax bills and a state budget dependent on them? It's anyone's guess. Lawmakers, lobbyists and business leaders are all watching to see what the governor does. Ferguson, just four months on the job, is aware of the acute interest and seems determined to keep folks in suspense right up until Tuesday. That's the appointed deadline for him to act — or not act — on a new two-year operating budget and the pieces of a $9.4 billion tax package on which it is balanced, as well as a multibillion-dollar transportation revenue bill containing a 6-cent increase in the state's gas tax. 'You'll hear on Tuesday,' Ferguson said as he walked through a parking lot at Saint Martin's University in Lacey. 'It's a work in progress. Each day, we make some decisions and delay others. Some are a little more complicated, so we'll keep talking.' Pressed on whether lawmakers should be planning to return in summer to deal with his decisions, Ferguson smiled. 'I can't give anything away. I want to keep people guessing,' he said. The Standard caught up with the first-term Democrat after he addressed 250 people at the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting. Ferguson didn't provide them any clues either, saying only that he's busy going through 'the many bills that need to be signed or vetoed' and has until Tuesday 'to essentially sign the budget or make any vetoes I think are appropriate.' Ferguson didn't delve into specific budget decisions except to laud the Legislature for putting his requested $100 million law enforcement hiring grant program in the spending plan. But he did tell the crowd he was surprised it 'took so much work' to get it through. It's not to the finish line. Those dollars are in House Bill 2015, which he's yet to sign. He warned, as he has before, spending cuts are made throughout the budget and some taxes are needed to help overcome a shortfall he pegged at $16 billion over four years. 'There are going to be increased taxes,' he said. 'There was no way to cut your way out of a $16 billion shortfall. So there's going to have to be a balance there.' With tax hikes on the horizon, he acknowledged, 'It is becoming unaffordable for a lot of Washingtonians.' 'Anything that the government does that makes life less affordable is a concern,' he said. 'Philosophically speaking, these are your dollars and my job is to spend them as efficiently as possible.'
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WA legislators debate over police hiring grant as session nears close
The Brief The Washington Senate passed House Bill 2015 to support police hiring and public safety, but Gov. Bob Ferguson demands $100 million in funding, threatening to veto a budget that falls short. The bill proposes a 0.1% sales tax for public safety initiatives, leading to mixed reactions in a 30-19 vote due to concerns over affordability. OLYMPIA, Wash. - Legislators on Wednesday took a step toward meeting one of the governor's top priorities, but the step may not be big enough. Immediately after being sworn in earlier this year, Gov. Bob Ferguson made it clear he wanted to get $100 million for a police hiring grant program. "That idea was a cornerstone of my campaign for governor," he said in his inaugural address on January 15. "Any budget I sign must include this funding." Dig deeper The legislature made progress toward that goal with the Senate passing House Bill 2015 on Wednesday afternoon. The bill establishes a grant program to financially support local law enforcement agencies in hiring and retaining officers, but goes a step further by supporting mental health co-response, community outreach and other public safety efforts. "Because it takes everyone to make sure that each and every one of us remains safe. And that is what this bill does," said Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, during the Senate floor debate. Among the requirements for grant eligibility, agencies must receive funding from existing local criminal justice or public safety sales taxes, or from a new sales tax created by the bill. The new 0.1% sales tax would have to be approved by a local government, but only if the community has not rejected a criminal justice or public safety sales tax within the last year. Revenue from the tax would also be able to fund domestic violence services, diversion programs, public defenders and other activities. Lawmakers previously expressed a desire for increased funding beyond police, arguing more officers would mean more need for lawyers, court staff and other criminal justice system elements. Sen. Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, spearheaded an earlier attempt at a police officer hiring grant. He said the bill that passed out of the Senate is a good compromise that helps address a growing challenge in hiring police officers. What they're saying "We've got something that we can't just turn back the clock and fix one thing that's gonna fix everything. But this bill's a start," Holy said during Wednesday's debate. The bill passed on a 30-19 vote, with bipartisan support and opposition. While they want more police, some Republicans had concerns about opening the door to a new tax at a time of unaffordability "We need this infusion of public safety. We're so far behind, we need to do this–or allow this to be done, I would say, in order for citizens to be able to get the public safety that they deserve." said Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn. "Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to vote no, because I believe that we should be doing this without the tax increase. The program relies on funding from the state operating budget. The House proposal released last month set aside $25 million over the next two years, while the Senate proposal offered no funding. The other side At a press conference earlier this month, Ferguson repeated his call for $100 million over two years, and said he would veto the budget if it falls short. The governor cited his prior experience as the state's attorney general in explaining his rationale. "At some point, I would just believe in saying to the other side, 'This is our bottom line,'" he explained. "Anyone who ever worked with me, any entities we had a lawsuit against knows, I did not deviate from those bottom lines." The governor's office did not reply to a request for updated comment Thursday afternoon. The funding amount for the grant program could change as the House and Senate negotiate the final budget. The bill is back in the House after the Senate made some amendments. Both the bill and the budget will have to pass out of the legislature by April 27. Albert James is a television reporter covering state government as part of the Murrow News Fellowship program – a collaborative effort between news outlets statewide and Washington State University. The Source Information in this story comes from original reporting by Murrow News Fellow Albert James. Missing WA grandmother's remains found buried under shed These 2 WA trails rank among best in US, new study finds Reddit: Seattle crosswalk hacked with voice message mocking Jeff Bezos 37 earthquakes recorded in Okanogan County, WA, over the past week Auburn, WA business employee, co-owner speak out after building burns during police search Comedian Jeff Dunham previews his upcoming Tacoma Dome show Seattle woman arrested for pit bull attacks: 'Let him do his thing' To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national coverage, plus 24/7 streaming coverage from across the nation.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$100M plan for police hiring gets greenlight from Washington House
The Washington state Capitol on Nov. 11, 2024. (Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard) Democrats in the Washington state House on Tuesday approved a revamped plan to provide $100 million in grants to local police departments to hire more officers. The vote on House Bill 2015 gets lawmakers one step closer to accomplishing a core wish of Gov. Bob Ferguson, who has said he would veto a budget that doesn't include the money for new cops. Washington ranks last in the country in police staffing per capita, a statistic Ferguson and others have pointed to in making the case for the funding. In addition to creating the state grant program, the bill offers a new path for local governments to adopt a 0.1% sales tax without voter approval to pay for criminal justice expenses. The measure aims to strike a balance by allowing for spending on more than just police hiring. Some Democrats are skeptical that adding cops is the best path to improve public safety. Crisis intervention training and other areas, like emergency management planning and community assistance programs, are among the additional spending options. The local sales tax revenue could go toward costs such as public defenders, domestic violence services, and programs to help connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs. 'I think that this is a compromise for me, because when I came to this Legislature, I was concerned about the number of police officers that we had in the community and the increased call for more law enforcement officers in their community,' said Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Kent. 'For me, there wasn't enough community support, community resources and a different way of thinking about policing,' added Entenman, the bill's lead sponsor. Passage of the House legislation could signal an approaching conflict with the Senate. A bill awaiting a floor vote on the other side of the rotunda proposed the $100 million for state grants, but not the 0.1% sales tax. However, amendments made to the House bill do align it closer to the competing proposal, Senate Bill 5060. Most bills face a Wednesday deadline to pass out of their chamber of origin. In floor action Tuesday, House lawmakers nixed a requirement in their bill that local governments implement the new sales tax to qualify for a piece of the $100 million in grants from the state Criminal Justice Training Commission. Instead, cities and counties can access the money if they've already imposed either of two existing public safety sales taxes. Lawmakers also decided governments can't impose the new tax if voters have rejected a similar tax proposal in the past two years. The bill sets other criteria for qualifying for grant dollars. For example, 25% of officers would have to complete a 40-hour crisis intervention training. The bill originally set this benchmark at 80%. Other hurdles departments must clear to access the money include implementing model policies on use-of-force and other issues, completing trauma-informed training for all officers and complying with a law that restricts police from helping with federal immigration enforcement. The latest bill also strips out language that would have allowed for grant funding to be used for bonuses to newly recruited officers. Democrats turned down Republican amendments to require voter approval of the new local tax and to focus the revenue from the tax specifically on hiring police officers. Republicans uniformly opposed Entenman's bill, arguing the sales tax would fall disproportionately on lower earners and provide little money to fund new officers in smaller communities. The bill passed on a 54-42 vote. Five Democrats joined Republicans against it. 'I don't doubt that we have other aspects of the criminal justice system that could benefit from some additional funding, but to do that is to not put new officers on the street,' said Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama. Orcutt also argued that the bill leaves open the possibility for local governments to tap the new funds and then shift existing dollars out of police budgets. If lawmakers don't include $100 million for the state grants in the next two-year budget, the entire bill will be null and void. Also on Tuesday, legislators in the state Senate gave the go-ahead on a measure dealing with existing sales taxes for public safety and criminal justice. Senate Bill 5775 expands how the tax dollars can be spent, including for diversion programs to keep people out of jail and prison and mental health and addiction services.
