Washington Liberals

It’s the eleventh hour in Olympia, for real this time – June 30 is the final day of this second special session, and if the state legislature doesn’t pass a local transit funding option this week, King County Metro will cut service by 17% next year. Today we sent a petition to all King County state legislators, comprising 1,000 signatures gathered…

One of the most successful climate policies in the world is the revenue-neutral carbon tax in British Columbia. Created in 2008 by a right-of-center government, BC’s tax is revenue-neutral, meaning that all the money generated is used to rebate personal and corporate income taxes; there is also an offset for low-income households. The tax rose…

At the Bellevue forum on transit funding, Rep. Judy Clibborn described how a Republican legislator probably won’t support the local option for transit funding that is being considered by the legislature, HB 1954. According to that bill, King County, for example, could tax locally to support Metro Transit, which will otherwise have to cut service…

The crisis in Syria is escalating to very dangerous levels. If Americans don’t want to see a repeat of the disaster unleashed in Iraq, we urge you to attend this very important presentation organized by Richard Silverstein, author and blogger of Tikun Olam. He will be joined by Rita Zawaideh, Arab-American humanitarian relief activist. More…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Beautiful imagery broadcasting our values complete with a giant group sing-along for the Climate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join the “Procession for Our Future” coal train vs. sustainable energy ensemble in the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade and “Sing for Our Future” flash mob at Honk Fest shortly after the parade ends! See below for detailed information on…

Last week Republican state Senator Doug Ericksen won a victory for Big Oil when the legislature passed, and the governor signed, SB 5296, which weakened the Model Toxics Control Act. The legislation was the result of a deal between the state House and Senate in which the Senate agreed to pass a fix to the…

Sometimes it just makes sense to sit back, look around, and be thankful we live in the state of Washington. The Cascades and the Olympics frame the sky, the air is clear, cool and invigorating, and the days are long and gentle. Last week I drove across the state. The I-90 corridor was brilliant with trees…

By Beau Morton of the Transit Rider’s Union As transit riders, it can be hard to look beyond the particular stops and routes that we use most often to the larger transit issues in our state. Time and again riders have shown the willingness and ability to rally around service restructures and save those most-used routes…

he fourteen tax breaks proposed by the state Senate – despite a revenue shortfall and $1 billion funding deficit in K-12 education – beg the question: can we really afford this? Some loopholes have their place, but as the state legislature tries to put together a budget that preserves essential state services with limited resources,…

Late last night, legislators came to an eleventh hour agreement to choose Washington kids over multimillionaires. By fixing Washington state’s estate tax, lawmakers have prevented the loss of nearly $160 million in resources that go to educating children. Closing the estate tax loophole is a good place to start, but much more still has to…