Inslee participates in Skagit County homelessness roundtable

Gov. Jay Inslee wrapped up last week with a visit to Skagit County to meet with local leaders, service providers and homeless residents to discuss strategies for reducing homelessness in Washington.

The governor's budget includes requests to the Legislature to approve funding to increase shelter capacity by 2,100 beds statewide, including $10 million for shelter site development, and $66 million for operations and maintenance. Local applications for these state funds would be given flexibility to design approaches best for each community, rather than a more rigid one-size-fits-all approach to getting approval.

The governor's proposal for addressing homelessness is to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness by 50% in the next two years.

Inslee's budget includes $30 million for capital improvements to existing and new shelter facilities; $26 million for additional rental assistance, prevention and diversion; $18 million for permanent supportive housing; and $4 million for solid waste disposal in cleaning up unsanctioned encampments.

In addition to the governor's budget, three housing nonprofits in Skagit County recently received a combined $5.1 million in grants from the state's Housing Trust Fund to pay for about 130 new affordable housing units, including $3 million to the Housing Authority of Skagit County. The Housing Authority will use that grant to fund a 50-unit affordable housing project in Mt. Vernon.

A $1.5 million grant to Catholic Housing Services in Skagit County will support a 70-unit affordable housing facility that will offer housing and behavioral health services to the homeless. A $600,000 grant to the Home Trust of Skagit will help the organization move forward on constructing five homes in La Conner.

Skagit County Emergency Operations updates Inslee on flood preparedness

Gov. Jay Inslee toured Skagit County's Emergency Operations Center ahead of weather forecasts predicting potential flooding in the area.

During his visit, Inslee met with Hans Kahl, interim director of Skagit County's Department of Emergency Management, and other personnel working on the front lines to prepare for and respond to emergencies such as severe weather events.

This week the governor issued an emergency proclamation for 20 counties ahead of significant winter weather expected to bring snow, flooding and road damage. The proclamation directs state agencies to utilize state resources to do everything reasonably possible to assist affected communities. It also allows the state to apply for federal Department of Transportation funds to help permanently repair roadways.

The proclamation affects Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Whatcom and now Walla Walla counties.

Governor tours Blue Origin space flight HQ and manufacturing facilities

On Monday, Gov. Inslee toured the manufacturing facility and headquarters of Kent-based Blue Origin, an aerospace manufacturer specializing in sub-orbital space flight services. They are one of the city's largest employers, with some 3,000 employees.

Blue Origin opened its new headquarters in Kent in early January on a 30-acre site it purchased for $14 million two years ago. About 13 of those acres are reserved for wildlife and flood storage.

The new building has been dubbed the O'Neill Building in honor of Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill, whose vision of human settlements in space inspired Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos' investments in space travel.

Inslee praises life-saving efforts of Washington firefighters

Gov. Inslee on Tuesday addressed the Washington State Council of Firefighters and thanked them for their work.

"It is the advocacy of groups such as yours that minimizes risks for firefighters and the public," Inslee said.

Founded in 1939, the council represents firefighter unions including a combined 8,500 professional firefighters and emergency media personnel around the state. The work of the state's firefighters is felt around the world, with firefighters from the North Cascades and the Okanogan-Wenatchee national forests currently fighting blazes in Australia.

Last year, the governor signed into law House Bill 1913, which expands presumptive coverage for cancers commonly associated with people who have worked as firefighters. Inslee has also worked to help make Washington the first state that banned PBDE flame retardants and groundwater-polluting PFAS chemicals and replaced them with safer alternatives for putting out fires that will not hurt residents or their drinking water.

Pierce Transit rolls out new fleet of electric buses

Gov. Inslee traveled to Lakewood Tuesday to learn more about Pierce Transit's efforts at moving its fleet of buses to electric-powered vehicles.

Pierce Transit, which services areas accounting for 70% of Pierce County's population, has been at the forefront of environmental stewardship in public transportation for decades, going back to the 1980s when the entity's board of directors voted to convert its diesel transit fleet to use compressed natural gas.

In 2016, Pierce Transit secured federal funding to buy its first three battery-electric Proterra buses. The agency later applied for and secured state funds to procure three more battery-electric buses, due to arrive in April 2021.

The entity has also worked with the state Department of Transportation to pilot a hybrid-electric vanpool fleet in partnership with Tacoma Public Utilities.

Inslee, Colorado Gov. Polis tout states' public option health care plans

While in Washington D.C. for the National Governors Association's winter meetings, Gov. Jay Inslee and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis took time to share their states' leadership in creating public option health care programs.

The moderated discussion took place at the Kaiser Family Foundation and was streamed live online. An archived video of the event can be found here.

Inslee said Washington created the public option to build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act, address costs to consumers related to uncertainty around healthcare laws sown by the current presidential administration, to make health coverage more affordable, and to create more competition in the state Health Benefit Exchange.

As a congressman, Inslee previously fought to include a public option in the Affordable Care Act and sees the policy as a good first step in reforming our health care system for consumers. Reform at the state level helps us move to a national solution to provide cheaper health care at a high quality, Inslee said.

For more information about Washington's public option program, known better as Cascade Care, click here.

Legislative Update: Priority bills advance ahead of committee deadlines

Legislators were working on deadline this week to get policy bills passed out of their committee of origin by 5 p.m. Friday. A number of bills requested by Gov. Jay Inslee were passed by their committees ahead of that cutoff.

The House and Senate versions of the Clean Air Rule both passed out of their respective committees on Thursday and now await appropriations hearings in both chambers. The bills clarify the Legislature's intent when it passed the Clean Air Act in 1967 to let the Department of Ecology regulate both direct and indirect emitters of greenhouse gasses. The bills are in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling invalidating parts of Ecology's Clean Air rule proposed in 2016.

House and Senate committees also approved their respective versions of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. It requires domestic workers such as nannies, gardeners and house cleaners be paid the minimum wage and overtime, and be provided breaks for meals and rest. It also requires workers receive adequate notification prior to the termination of their employment and protects workers from employer retribution for exercising their rights.

A proposal that would expand capacity for homeless shelters in cities of more than 15,000 people and counties of more than 40,000 people was passed by the House of Representatives' Housing, Community Development and Veterans Committee on Friday. The bill redirects funds from the Homeless Housing and Assistance Surcharge to assist cities and counties with those plans, with a goal of providing enough shelter for at least half of the homeless individuals in their local jurisdiction.

A bill to align greenhouse gas emission limits for state entities with the most current assessment of climate change science passed the House Committee on Environment and Energy. It now awaits action on the House Appropriations Committee. The last time the state updated its greenhouse gas emissions limits was 2008, but the latest science indicates the need for deeper cuts in emissions, according to a Department of Ecology report released in December.

The 60-day session is scheduled to run through March 12.