"WA consumers will gain ‘right to repair’ cellphones, other electronics "
Great to hear, hopeful that it continues the trend nationwide and effects real change for us Washingtonians.
Starting Jan. 1, 2026, the law will require manufacturers to make tools, parts and documentation needed for diagnostics and maintenance available to independent repair businesses. The requirement applies to digital electronics, like computers, cellphones and appliances, sold in Washington after July 1, 2021.
Manufacturers won’t be able to use parts that inhibit repairs.
The state attorney general’s office could enforce violations of the new law under the Consumer Protection Act.
|
Random learning today: Despite having no oil rigs etc in Washington, the state has the fifth largest capacity for refining it via pipe delivery.
|
"Trump's birthright citizenship order temporarily blocked"
Proud Washington state is among those who brought this lawsuit to stop one of the most offensive and stupid executive orders from the orange menace.
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour issued a ruling on Thursday temporarily blocking President Trump's executive order that aimed to end birthright citizenship for children born to migrants in the U.S. temporarily or without legal status. Coughenour issued the temporary restraining order after a hearing in Seattle.
The judge signed the temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit brought by Oregon, Arizona, Illinois and Washington state, one of several suits opposing the administration's effort to curb the right of citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil.
In a standing-room-only courtroom in downtown Seattle, Coughenour interrupted the attorney for the Justice Department, Brett Schumate, to tell him how unconstitutional he thinks the administration's order is.
"I've been on the bench for four decades, I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is," Coughenour said, describing Trump's order as "blatantly unconstitutional."
|
Governor-elect Ferguson gives press conference about Trump and Plan 2025
I watched yesterday's press conference and was glad to hear that the Washington State Attorney General office have spent much of the past year preparing for the possibility of a Trump campaign.
One of the first questions during the Q&A inquired about how Ferguson thought about the possibility of the National Guard being utilized in the deportation strategies. In answer, Ferguson outlined their three key points they use for considering if they could legally challenge during Trump's first campaign:
- Is the action illegal?
- Are Washingtonians being harmed?
- Does the Washington AG have legal standing to go to court?
He explains that if the answer was yes to all three, they always filed in court. If there was a no then they didn't file. A very disciplined approach to strengthen their cases and fight what they knew they could win.
Overall this did a lot to reassure me of what it could. I am still eager to see the state move some things it had taken for granted into the state constitution, but that isn't on the AG office.
|
Bob Ferguson plays chess
I randomly discovered that the incoming Washington state governor (and current Attorney General) Bob Ferguson plays chess. He was rated as an International Master, though he doesn't compete anymore. He did do a fundraiser in 2019 where donors could compete with him in a "simul" event.
At a fundraiser last Sunday, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson took on 18 chess players at one time in a special tournament known as a "simul." (Twenty people had paid money to play against him, but two people didn't end up making it.) After three-and-half hours of play, Ferguson had lost one game, taken three draws, and won the rest. Fourteen out of 18 isn't a bad showing for an AG who hasn't played the game seriously in almost two decades, and who only ever ran a simul once during his career as an internationally ranked chess master.
|
Washington State's gains and losses from other states
Relating to the graphics I shared yesterday about the shifts of voters and states politically, this is a well timed fluff piece which basically regurgitates some stats from the Census Bureau's report on state-to-state migration data.
First take away is that currently the state seems to not have seen a huge direction of immigration, it's basically flat between those who moved into state and those who moved away.
About 212,600 Washington residents in 2023 had lived in another state one year earlier. The estimate for those who left for another state was slightly larger, at 215,300, but the difference between those two figures is well within the margin of error, so let’s just call it a wash.
These numbers look very different from the previous decade, when Washington was growing rapidly from in-migration. Take, for example, the year 2015. Washington gained about 231,000 from other states and only lost 179,000.
Top states Washington gained people from:
- California
- Oregon
- Hawaii
And for states gaining the most population from Washington?
- Idaho
- Texas
- Kentucky
These all track as part of why Washington didn't see a red shift. Our opportunities attracted from those leaving even worse real estate markets for similarly political ideological Washington, and those who dislike the deep blue reality of Washington fled for those other states.
|
Alright Washington state. As one of the two states which didn't move right this election, it's time for us to enshrine rights in our state constitution post haste.
|
Washington State and the KKK
The article earlier about the neo-nazi and Maine sent me to doing some more reading about Washington and its history for non-white people. One thing I came across was a mention of the City of Bellingham giving the leader of their KKK chapter the key to the city back in the 1920s.
[M]ost of the news coverage of the Klan in Whatcom county during 1924 focused on I-49, the anti-catholic school bill which was soundly defeated. But whereas most Klan chapters declined after that election, the Klan in Bellingham and Mount Vernon areas were strong enough to not only continue but draw large crowds at a series of public events that began with a meeting of over a thousand in Stanwood in 1924. And some believe that Marion A. Keyes, who was elected Mayor of Blaine in 1924, was a member of the Klan.
On September 26th, 1925, the “largest crowd that has ever assembled in the Lynden District,” estimated between 12,000 and 25,000 people, attended a rally of supposedly 750 members of the Ku Klux Klan at the Northwest Washington Fair Grounds.
And elsewhere on the site, there is a mention of the following:
Delegates to the Democratic Party's 1924 Convention from Washington State, Oregon, and Idaho unanimously opposed adding a plank to the Party Platform that would condemn Ku Klux Klan violence.
The democrats have changed so much since then, but Jesus what a thing to read.
|
Supreme Court will not hear challenge to Washington's Capital Gains tax
The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday it would not review Quinn v. Washington, the lawsuit challenging Washington’s capital gains tax.
The Legislature passed the tax in 2021 and payments first came due in April 2023. It’s a 7% tax on stocks, bonds and other investments or tangible assets above $250,000.
The tax brought in almost $900 million in revenue in its first year.
Opponents had argued it was a tax on income, and thus barred by Washington’s state constitution.
|
Washington state leads nation on new regulations against toxic chemicals
Presumably the usage of 'earlier this year' means 2023, not 2024...
A new act implemented earlier this year in Washington has banned five chemical classes in 10 product categories throughout the state, making it the nation's strongest law regulating toxic chemicals in products. The Safer Products for Washington program, an outgrowth of the Pollution Prevention for Our Future Act signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2019, is setting a precedent for other states and changing the game for the U.S. chemical industry.
The law gives the Washington Department of Ecology the authority to require companies to disclose ingredients in products that may use toxic chemicals, and to enforce the mitigation or complete elimination of them. If safer alternatives exist, the law requires they be used to replace toxic chemicals. Companies that refuse to comply will be fined.
"We saw that the current risk-based paradigm was not working at all," said Laurie Valeriano, the executive director of Toxic Free Future, a grassroots organization based in Seattle that pushed for the act. "It's an entirely failed approach that does not really drive the use of the safest chemicals and materials in our economy."
|
Washington state has highest gas prices in country
Experts say Washington's price surge is linked to the state's latest, most-ambitious efforts to battle climate change, specifically the new carbon-pricing program launched this year that charges businesses for the greenhouse gases they emit. The first two quarterly auctions of emission allowances raked in more than $850 million.
Now oil companies are choosing to pass on the compliance fees, the experts say. Those costs add up to about 50 cents per gallon for the consumer, according to the Oil Price Information Service, a Dow Jones company that collects fuel-pricing information for many clients, including AAA. The state Department of Ecology, which oversees the carbon-pricing program, says it's aware of oil companies passing on the costs but has no power to stop it.
And here-in lies the rub. When the businesses are not things people can easily opt out of, they are rife for this sort of exploitation.
|
Washington wealth tax delivers huge income to the state
This spring, after decades of discussion, the state finally imposed its first wealth-related levy. The capital gains tax, passed in 2021 and upheld by the state Supreme Court in March, taxes not extreme wealth but the machinations of it — the selling of assets, mostly stocks, in amounts that lead to profits of more than $250,000 in a year.
Estimators modeled that Washington has about 7,000 people who live in this rarefied financial air. These one-tenth percenters would book roughly $8 billion in capital gains, mostly in stock options or returns from investment funds (real estate sales are not taxed). The 7% capital gains tax would then raise $440 million in 2023, to be used for schools.
What ended up happening blew the models out of the water.
According to the state, 3,190 people have paid a total so far of $849 million — nearly twice what was expected. That reflects about $13 billion in underlying capital gains booked by these 3,000-plus people in 2022. That's fewer people than expected. But they turned out to be far richer.
|
Puget Sound War
I've lived here for 11 years but never heard this discussed. Not surprising, but it drives home for me that we only educate children (presumably) in this sort of history. I ended up looking it up because I saw a questionable map of "all battles in the last 4500 years" which included dots in the Pacific Northwest, and I decided to go look it up.
The Puget Sound War was an armed conflict that took place in the Puget Sound area of the state of Washington in 1855–56, between the United States military, local militias and members of the Native American tribes of the Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, and Klickitat. Another component of the war, however, were raiders from the Haida and Tlingit who came into conflict with the United States Navy during contemporaneous raids on the native peoples of Puget Sound.
|
Population density map of Washington State
No real eye openers here, but I just enjoy this visual style for population density.
|
Washington pot sales decline year-over-year annually for first time ever
Based on the article it sounds like the decrease has more to do with coming out of Covid than any cultural change.
Since then, sales have grown exponentially – from about $180 million in 2015 to over $1.3 billion as of July 2022. In the 2022 fiscal year, the state collected $509 million in excise revenue.
However, the cannabis industry's growth slowed for the first time in the 2022 fiscal year compared to previous years. Retail sales recorded a 8% decline over 2021 — a drop of about $120 million in revenue.
"What you're seeing as a 'dip' is really sales returning to normal growth as more people returned to in-person work," said Brian Smith, spokesperson for the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.
|
Starting January 1st, all job listings in the state of Washington to include salary ranges
|
There was some Seattle excitement when a cloud over the mountain looked like it might be venting ahead of an eruption
|
Given my recent delving into Chinuk Wawa, it seems notable to highlight that the Chinook people are not an officially recognized tribe by the US government, and they recently protested for recognition
|
Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) introduces the "The Saving Homes from Acquisition by Private Equity Act"
From the intro of the bill:
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an excise tax on the acquisition of single-family homes by certain large investors.
From the Press Release by Congressman Adam's office:
“One of the greatest challenges we face as a country is housing affordability. Individuals and families across the country are struggling to afford to rent or buy homes. This has been exacerbated in recent years by a troubling increase in investors purchasing a significant percentage of existing single-family homes, squeezing out prospective homebuyers and harming future renters. We must curb this harmful trend before it further accelerates our nation’s housing crisis – that’s exactly what the SHAPE Act will do. Folks in our communities should not have to compete with large institutional investors and private equity firms when they go to buy a home, and renters should not be subjected to the harmful practices by these investor class landlords that want to wring the value out of each house. My bill will deter this problematic trend that is damaging the housing market, consumers, and our communities.”
|
Tim Eyman forced to sell house to pay campaign finance fines, debts
Maybe he'll stop being a giant dick and thorn in Washington's side for a while... But probably not.
Tim Eyman, the longtime anti-tax advocate and serial initiative promoter who was found liable last year for “numerous and particularly egregious” violations of campaign finance law, has been forced to sell his house to help pay off millions of dollars of fines and debt.
A federal bankruptcy judge Thursday approved a resolution requiring Eyman to sell his portion of a Mukilteo house to his ex-wife. The $900,000 in proceeds will go toward paying off the more than $5.6 million in sanctions and legal fees he owes the state of Washington and other creditors.
|
I Voted
No stickers here, but I dropped the ballots off at the ballot box on my way into work. Got to love a well managed electoral process.
|
"The Seattle Times Company launches The Ticket, a calendar and ticketing site for the Puget Sound region"
Several notable bits here:
First, they hire an editor from The Stranger to run it. Second, that it is a calendar and ticketing service.
The Seattle Times Company is launching a new regionwide calendar and ticketing platform on August 18th called The Ticket. Powered and promoted by The Seattle Times, The Ticket is a lively, opinionated entertainment website covering all the exciting events and things to do in Seattle and the Puget Sound region.
The site is created by the Seattle Times Content Studio and will be led by Chase Burns, formerly an editor at The Stranger. With his experience as a successful entertainment reporter and editor in Seattle, Burns is perfectly positioned to help The Seattle Times Company create a compelling, visionary entertainment website for the Seattle area. He has assembled a team of experienced local writers, reporters and videographers to help him create The Ticket.
[...]
The Ticket will include event listings and planners featuring things to do across five key regions in Seattle. Readers can access content through weekly email newsletters, social media channels and navigation from seattletimes.com.
|
