Op-Ed: Setting a progressive agenda despite buget cuts : Washington State Senate Democrats. Permanent Defense | Opposing right wing initiatives and fighting Tim Eyman. The Vigilant Lens. Parents and teachers march for public education. Jesus' General. HOWIEINSEATTLE. The Other Side Online | A journal on Central Washington politics. Washblog || Reality-based discourse on Washington's state. NPI Advocate. Readers, welcome to another installment in our Flashback series, where we enlist the help of past Seattle Times editorial boards to debunk shortsighted and poorly reasoned editorials published on the Times’ op-ed page in the present day. Today, 2000, 2006 and 2008 Seattle Times are going to be helping us defend Metro against 2014 Seattle Times, which is urging voters to oppose King County Proposition 1 in a myopic editorial which ran in print yesterday. First, some background: King County Proposition 1 is a measure on the April 22nd special election ballot that would address the chronic transportation funding problems created by the implementation of Tim Eyman’s Initiatives 695 and 776, which were on the ballot in 1999 and 2002, respectively.
I-695 attempted to do two things, in violation of the single-subject rule for initiatives: Repeal the statewide motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) and require future increases in revenue be subject to a public vote. Metro has already cut costs. Pacific Views. Washington Outsiders. Upper Left. HorsesAss.Org. Majority Rules Blog. Spin Control - Spokesman.com. OLYMPIA — A proposal to regulate the use of drones by law enforcement and other agencies was vetoed Friday. Gov. Jay Inslee said the bill did not do enough to protect the public's right to privacy and raised questions about public records. In its place, Inslee said he was issuing an executive order for a moratorium for the next 15 months on purchase or use of unmanned aircraft by state agencies for anything other than emergencies, such as forest fires.
He said he hoped local police chiefs and sheriffs would issue similar orders, and the Legislature would take another run at the issue next year. The proposal had broad, bipartisan support in the Legislature, with backing of both the ACLU and the law enforcement community. Senate Law and Justice Committee Chairman Mike Padden, who helped shepherd the bill through the final days of the session, said he was surprised by the veto. “We had worked with so many different groups, getting their input,” Padden, R-Spokane Valley, said. BlatherWatch. Ridenbaugh Press/Northwest.