by Sue | Jan 21, 2020 | For Your Action, Olympia News and Views
by Ruth Peterson
January 21, 2020
Session began last Monday, and there are hundreds of new bills that are being added to the thousands that didn’t get passed last year. It is a short session which means it will move fast. Many bills will go before the House and the Senate without the public being able to weigh in during hearings because those bills were heard last year. There are others that will get hearings, but because things move so fast in a short session, the public won’t have much time to act. The key in the short sessions is to notify your legislators the minute you hear about a bill that you do or don’t like.
You may wish to ask your legislator to support keeping car tabs at $30. There’s a bill for that – HB 2227. Or how about a ban on local income tax – SB 6462. There are many very good bills like those two. How about some bills you may not like – HB 2529, which bans initiatives and referendums in odd numbered years (the citizens have a constitutional right to put checks on our Legislature. This takes that right away). (more…)
by Sue | Jan 16, 2020 | Alerts about pending WA State Legislation, Olympia News and Views
by Ruth
Olympia, WA – 1/16/2020 – The Legislative Session begins on Monday, January 13th. There are a host of bills and issues we need to follow closely – regulatory restrictions, income tax, pay-per-mile tax, sex education, $30 car tab issue, gun laws. The list is long. I want to point out a bill that really won’t have as much of an impact on your life as many others, and it may not even pass, but it is one of hundreds that gives law-making authority to a board that has no accountability to the people. (more…)
by Sue | Aug 1, 2019 | Olympia News and Views
Deadline is Dec 31, 2019 for turning in petitions to the Secretary of State
The new petition for I-1082 is now available at : https://permanentoffense.com/petition-download/ and at #Round2, our new Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2411449699098398/
I-1082: TERM LIMITS ON TAXES – ROUND 2 HERE’S WHAT IT DOES
BALLOT TITLE: This measure would require state tax increases to expire after one year unless approved by a majority of vote of the people, and terminate tax increases imposed in 2019 and 2020 without such approval.
Olympia in 2019 imposed 11 new taxes costing 27 billion dollars. I-1082 terminates ALL of them.
These are all of the tax hikes I-1082 would terminate:
- New payroll taxes (HB 1087): $8,036,110,541
- New property sales taxes (REET – SB 5998): $1,747,300,000
- New fuel taxes (MTCA – SB 5993): $2,760,000,000
- New taxes on bank customers (SB 6016): $367,900,000
- New taxes on bank customers (HB 2167): $1,035,700,000
- New taxes on border business customers (SB 5997): $311,759,000
- New taxes on travel agent customers (SB 6004): $30,100,000
- New taxes on vaping customers (HB 1873): $207,135,000
- New taxes on online buyers (SB 5581): $1,039,261,000
- New taxes on service business customers (SB 2158): $3,097,600,000
- New property taxes (SB 5313): $8,661,000,000
Total: $27,293,865,541 (YES, that is BILLIONS of YOUR Hard Earned Money)
Sign the initiative at Clallam County Republican Party Headquarters (open 11-2, M-F), or stop by The Master Locksmith, 445 W. Washington in Sequim (open M-F, 9:30 – 5:30).
by Sue | May 2, 2019 | Legislative News, Olympia News and Views, Republican Party News
from Caleb Heimlich, Chair, WSRP
The Legislative Session ended on Sunday April 28th, with a flurry of bad bills. Democrats voted to implement a new payroll tax, taxes on small business, doctors, banks, real estate transactions, and opened the door to much higher property taxes. They also passed policies that will lead to higher utility rates and higher gas prices. All while we are experiencing record revenue growth. The State budget has swelled by $5 Billion with new revenue, but the Democrats insisted on raising taxes by an additional $2 Billion.
And to add insult to injury, they did this under the clouds of darkness. Pushing through tax bills at 4AM while the people of Washington were sleeping and couldn’t comment. That arrogant dismissive display for the concerns of the voters of Washington State shouldn’t stand. We posted a FB video that has now received over 13K views! https://www.facebook.com/WAGOP/videos/1482643421866776/. Thanks to all the county parties and individuals that have shared that video to help increase the reach and get out the word on what the Democrats did in the dark of night!
Inslee Trip: We have launched a brand new website called www.insleetrip.com. We will hand deliver copies of the petitions to Governor Inslee’s office. Please share the link! People are really enjoying the gif of Inslee flying around the country on his plane, while we the taxpayers are forced to subsidize his security travel costs.
Capital Gains Income Tax Efforts: In the midst of the negative news coming out of Legislative Session, there was one bright spot, the Democrats did not force through a bill to create an income tax on capital gains. We organized a significant campaign to oppose that effort and succeeded in applying pressure to certain swing district Democratic Senators.
by Sue | Apr 4, 2019 | Olympia News and Views, Taxation
April 4, 2019
As the legislative session in Olympia moves on, there are many bills that will affect us as citizens here in Washington State.
As we are seeing with the many objectionable bills working their way through the legislature, elections do matter. With a Republican majority, most of these bills would not have made it out of their respective committees.
HB 1110, “Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels,” is one such bill. The Legislature is once again ignoring the will of the voters (yes, we have voted against carbon taxes several times!) and have a proposal that will increase our gas taxes and create higher energy costs. Increasing the gas tax will impact the prices of most of our goods and services. This is a bill we have all seen before. It is one that claims to be about protecting the environment, yet in reality it increases taxes on the average consumer and funnels more tax dollars into Olympia. This bill has passed in the House and is in committee in the Senate.
SB 5078 (Requiring disclosure of federal income tax returns of presidential and vice presidential candidates prior to appearing on the ballot): A bill designed to keep President Donald J. Trump off the ballot in 2020. A similar bill was vetoed by California’s Democratic Governor, yet the Washington State Democrats think they need to be even more progressive than California.
SB 5395 (Concerning comprehensive sexual health education): A bill making it mandatory for kids in grades K-12 to go through “comprehensive” sexual education. Even though Washington citizens went to Olympia to inform the House members on the problematic nature of this bill, it is still active in committee.
HB 2156 (Investing in quality prekindergarten, K-12, and postsecondary opportunities throughout Washington with excise taxes on sales and extraordinary profits of high valued assets): This is the Democrats’ much anticipated Income Tax Bill. Even though this kind of tax is illegal in Washington State, the Democrats are going forward with it anyway.
Why should Washingtonians pay the highest gas taxes in the country? We are already using technology better than most states, which allows us to use less energy, conserve water, and make the best use of resources in our evergreen state.
Another bill worth complaining about is SB 5313, the two-year state operating budget. It raises questions, such as, “When will our Legislators get the point that this is our tax money they are spending?” and “What don’t they understand about living within a budget?”
The Democrats have brought forth a $53 billion budget proposal. Despite a more than $2 billion surplus, this budget is requiring tax increases of more than $4 billion. Republican legislators have argued that the state has more than adequate funds to cover our state’s priorities without raising taxes. The state revenue forecast through 2021 is predicting an additional $861 million in tax revenue.
For this any many other bills, please make frequent use of the legislative hot line, 1-800-562-6000, to ask your legislators to Vote No.
Sign up for washingtonvotes.org to stay on top of the current status of bills in Olympia.
by Sue | Mar 27, 2019 | Legislative News, Olympia News and Views
from https://www.washingtonvotes.org
Governor’s climate agenda bills advance in the legislature. State supreme court to decide on whether the Ecology Department has authority to impose harsher emission rules.
Lawmakers in Olympia are continuing their rounds of committee hearings this week, while budget writers work behind the scenes on state spending and tax plans for the 2019-21 biennium. The revenue forecast released Wednesday shows legislators have $50.5 billion to work with— 9.6 % more money than current spending levels of about $46.1 billion. Records show Washington residents now pay the highest tax burden ever. ?
The Governor and Democrats in the legislature have called for tax increases on top of these higher revenues, including a $3.7 billion capital gains income tax and hikes in business taxes, boosting spending to nearly $55.0 billion if the governor’s plan is enacted.
In contrast, Republican lawmakers are calling for tax cuts to ease the burden on businesses and consumers.
House Democrats have said they will release and start acting on their budget proposals as early as next week.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology voted to advance HB 1110, the clean-fuel standards bill, along a party-line vote. Democrats passed the bill, which is a key component of Governor Inslee’s climate-change agenda, in the House last week by a 53-43 vote. It would require the Department of Ecology to impose harsh limits on future greenhouse gas emissions generated by transportation fuels to 10 percent below 2017 levels by 2028, and 20 percent below 2017 levels by 2035.
In voting for the bill, majority Democrats on the Senate committee praised Governor Inslee for “taking the lead on carbon policy and doing the heavy lifting.” Republican committee members, however, argued that, like in California, the restrictions proposed in the bill would cause fuel prices to rise, resulting in an additional tax on gas. Rep. Andrew Barkis (R-Olympia) said: “The taxpayers in this state know there are better solutions in creating a clean energy future without increasing taxes and higher energy costs. House Bill 1110 goes directly against everything the voters, the taxpayers, have said ‘no’ to for the past several years.”
The bill was referred to the Senate Transportation Committee for further consideration.
Also this week, the House Committee on Environment and Energy voted to advance SB 5116, which would eliminate all coal-fired resources for generating electricity by 2025 and require all electricity supplied by utilities to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2030. The bill is another part of Governor Inslee’s climate-change agenda, and passed the Senate by a partisan vote of 28-19 earlier this month, on the same day the governor announced his campaign for U.S. President. The bill was referred to the House Finance Committee for review. An executive session by the committee to consider the bill is scheduled for March 26th.
The Washington Supreme Court this week took up a case on whether the state Department of Ecology has the authority to order utilities, oil refineries and other energy suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The department tried to impose such rules in 2016, after the legislature rejected the so-called “cap-and-trade” system proposed by Governor Inslee in 2015. A trial court ruled later ruled that the department exceeded its authority.
The court is expected to rule on the case in the coming months.
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