By Scott Hamilton
Guest Contributor
Jay Inslee
A little noticed interview with Gov. Jay Inslee could potentially mean a new push to up-zone land in the Puget Sound region to accommodate more housing.
In a Dec. 10 interview with the Tacoma News Tribune, Inslee said “he will ask the state Legislature next year to approve major initiatives to increase the number of homes in Washington to address high prices and also take steps to reduce homelessness, which he called a ‘statewide crisis.’”
Commentary
Gov. Jay Inslee did the right thing in vetoing SB6617, which exempts the Legislature from
Jay Inslee. Photo via Google images.
the Public Records Act.
But, as it turns out, he doesn’t deserve all the accolades he’s receiving. In fact, he was complicit.
In his own press statement issued last night announcing the veto was this sentence:
“Though I expressed concerns about the outline of the bill, I did tell legislators I would let the bill become law if they delivered it with enough votes to override a veto.” (Emphasis added.)
So much for the principal that Legislators should be open and transparent about public records.
Gov. Inslee today vetoed SB6617, the legislation that exempts legislators from the Public Records Act.
Inslee’s press release may be found here
Gov. Jay Inslee says he “can’t” veto SB6617, the bill the Legislature passed to exempt itself from the Washington Public Records Act, because it was approved by super-majorities that can override a veto.
Gov. Jay Inslee stood up to President Trump. Will he stand up to the Washington State Legislature? Photo via Google images.
Or is it more like Inslee “won’t” veto it, using the veto-proof majorities as cover so he can pursue his own political goals, such as a carbon tax? Can he afford to piss off legislators with a veto to the possible detriment of his own agenda?
Sammamish City Council members quietly and out of the public view closed down efforts by developer STCA to dramatically upzone the Town Center.
The effort by STCA and the Council’s action never emerged into the public domain, it was revealed at the Save Sammamish meeting last night.
The revelation came after Sammamish Comment revealed the plans in a post Monday morning. The issue quickly became a hot topic on Facebook in various activist pages.
Council member Ramiro Valderrama, in a posting on The Comment, responded that, “I know of no current discussions for upcoming the Town Center.” But he did not reveal the Council had shut the effort down last fall, at a time when the City was preparing to accept “Docket Requests” to the Comprehensive Plan.
One Valderrama critic noted the parsing of words: there are no “current” discussions.
Sammamish Comment 