TWN
THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER
More Legislative Day photos Page 4
February 2020
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Inslee wants help for homeless; delays transport spending Homeless people are showing up in communities big and small across Washington and the state should step up to help them. That was a central part of Gov. Jay Inslee’s address to members of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington at the annual Legislative Day event Feb. 13. Inslee initially proposed using money from the state’s Rainy Day fund to pay for programs to help the homelss, but added he is willing to look at other options. He stressed, though, that it is incumbent on residents of the state to help and he rejected a common notion that only the mentally ill and drug and alcohol abusers find themselves on the street. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Inslee said. A large number of homeless people are on the street after being unable to afford their housing and without resources to find a new place to stay. Transporation funding in the state has been snarled by passage of Tim Eyman’s I-976 which reduces the cost of car license tabs to $30. The whole issue is stalled by a court battle challenging its constitutionality. Inslee said the only fiscally responsible thing to do is to assume that I-976 will be upheld by the courts and the state will need to
find other ways to fund transportation projects. Inslee said he delayed some projects and is looking for money elsewhere to fund transporation projects until the courts rule on the initiative’s validity. Republicans in the Legsilature earlier in the day said they had a plan using money unspent in the last biennium and other budget fixes that would allow the state to go forward with planned projects. They said they hoped Inslee would go along with the idea, rather than delay necessary projects that provide jobs and improve the state’s transportion system. There is no word on whether that plan will win acceptance with Inslee or the majority in the Legislature. Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Hilary Franz said she is hoping to use a tax increase on home insurance to provide a stable revenue stream for her department for fighting and preventing forest fires. She said her department is using Vietnam-era helicopers to fight fires and more needs to be done to remove dead trees and other fuels from state and federal lands. Representatives from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner said they are not supporting the measure, but also are not opposing it.
Gov. Jay Inslee addresses the Legislative Day crowd at the Governor’s Mansion after dinner. Inslee addressed homelessness and transportation funding.
Attacks on legal ads continue in several states
Bills have been introduced in at least seven states so far this year that would move most public notice from its traditional home in newspapers to lightly visited government websites. And at least of few of those bills were introduced by legislators who have had fraught relationships with the newspapers that cover them. The states that appear at present to face the greatest potential peril — Florida, Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri — have all been down this path before. In Florida, Rep. Randy Fine’s HB7 passed out of its second committee last week, largely on party lines. (All Democrats on both committees voted against the bill, and one Republican joined them.) Rep. Fine’s bill would permit government agencies to publish “storable” and “searchable” notices on their own websites or on government cable access channels. It would also require the local publication of an annual print notice, in a newspaper or other publication, publicizing government websites that are publishing notices and indicating that residents may request notices from each agency via mail or email. It’s the same legislation Rep.
See NOTICE, Page 3