Tag Archives: Member Opinions

Reps. Drew MacEwen and Mike Chapman: The bipartisan case for putting limits on emergency powers

The 2021 legislative session concluded on Sunday. There were several bipartisan successes that will greatly benefit Washingtonians and communities across our state, and there were a few outcomes in which our opinions diverge.

One issue that we agree was a missed opportunity by the Legislature was emergency-powers reform.

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on our state, tragically ending lives and devastating livelihoods. As state representatives, we have heard unimaginable stories of heartbreak from our constituents.

The pandemic also has expanded the role of state government in our lives in ways we never imagined. On Feb. 29, 2020, Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency. Nearly 14 months later, we are still under this order with no end in sight. On May 3, more restrictions could be placed on counties across our state.

For background, our state laws related to emergency powers allow the governor to waive or suspend laws and prohibit certain activities. The waivers or suspensions of laws are limited to 30 days and require approval from the Legislature to extend. Of greater consequence, the prohibitions can last longer if a state of emergency is in effect and do not require legislative approval to remain in place.

Compared to most other states, our Legislature plays a relatively limited role during emergencies. In fact, Washington state has become an outlier.

Our executive branch needs the ability to respond quickly to pandemics, natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other emergencies. However, there must be limits. Washingtonians were not meant to be governed by emergency orders or the decisions of one person for months on end.

It is imperative for the Legislature to restore proper balance to state government. That’s why we introduced House Bill 1557.

The bipartisan legislation is designed to ensure adequate legislative involvement in long-lasting states of emergency. Specifically, it would cause a state of emergency to expire after 60 days unless extended by the Legislature. The measure would also allow the Legislature to terminate a state of emergency on its own authority.

These reforms would bring us in line with what other states are already doing. More importantly, they would provide all 147 state lawmakers — and the people they represent — a proactive role during uncertain and unprecedented times.

As we think about emergency powers reform, the voices of our constituents are critically important. Our hearts break for the single mom who is having trouble finding child care because her child cannot go to school, the small business owner who has not been the same since his dream was labeled nonessential, the grandmother who has been unable to see her grandchildren and for so many others.

These voices reflect a broader context of public health and what the decisions of state government have meant for mental health, substance abuse, homelessness, crime, the isolation of seniors, and the social, emotional and academic growth of our young people. Their stories belong in the legislative process, where they can be heard, understood and weighed by state lawmakers.

We acknowledge Gov. Inslee and his administration have handled many aspects of the pandemic response well. However, there have been failures — including the delivery of unemployment benefits and the initial vaccine rollout. Many of these decisions were made behind closed doors with little or no input from the Legislature. In fact, we have often learned of new policies when or after the media was informed.

If given the opportunity, it is possible state lawmakers would have enacted many of the same policies the governor imposed. But those decisions would have been made after ideas were vetted, debated, and refined through a process that included the public. And they would have likely resulted in more support from parts of the state where the governor’s decisions have been unpopular.

The coronavirus is serious, and the need for an effective, coordinated response remains important. But this should not prevent the Legislature from examining how our state government should respond to emergencies in the future.

House Bill 1557 will carry forward to the 2022 legislative session, as will this important debate. We hope a majority of the Legislature is more receptive to the idea next year. This conversation between Democrats and Republicans is happening in many other legislatures around the county. It should be happening in ours as well.

As published in The Seattle Times

Washington can have energy independence without economic damage from carbon tax

Special to The Olympian

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to take a privately funded (no tax dollars were used) bipartisan trip to Denmark and Sweden to learn about how and why these two countries have developed self-sustaining green energy economies.

Denmark, Sweden and the United States each have unique and distinct cultural and political differences, but I believe we can all learn from each other and apply what will work best for our needs.

In 2008, the Washington state Legislature adopted targets requiring the state to limit greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Denmark plans to be 100 percent independent of fossil fuels by then.

Denmark’s shift toward a green energy economy was not driven by environmental concerns, but was instead born out of the 1970s oil embargo that created an energy crisis for the country.

Despite having numerous crude oil stakes in the North Sea, Denmark was importing almost all of its oil from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. When the embargo hit, it severely crippled their economy. As a result, Danish leaders started shifting the country away from foreign oil imports and toward domestic energy production.

Denmark began pumping more oil from its own wells and used that revenue to begin developing alternative forms of energy, including wind, solar and biomass. Nearly 30 percent of all energy produced in Denmark now comes from renewable sources.

Meanwhile, that number stands at a whopping 52 percent in Sweden.

Biomass — fuel developed from organic materials — generates more than 20 percent of all energy in Sweden, and played a big role in helping the country reach its goal of having 50 percent of its energy supplied by renewable sources by 2020, as did nuclear power and hydropower. In fact, 95 percent of electricity in Sweden comes from hydropower.

Here in the United States, Washington is the leading producer of hydroelectric power, contributing nearly one quarter of the nation’s total hydro generation. We rank only behind California in terms of the amount of renewable energy we produce each year.

That is why it is so critical that as we continue to debate the merits of a carbon tax, we be mindful of the steps we have already taken toward establishing a greener economy. Proposing a carbon tax to fund education or increase general fund spending is the wrong approach.

I truly believe Washington can achieve energy independence one day, but we must be strategic in how we get there. Causing self-inflicted economic hardship along the way would be foolish.

As opposed to forcing changes that do not make economic sense, people will buy in to a green energy future when changes are demonstrated that do make economic sense.

We also need to explore all sources of energy — hydro, solar, wind, biomass, etc. — while keeping in mind that all energy is destructive and there is no single perfect source.

Our state has made great strides in both the private and public sectors, and we must continue to encourage innovation, research and exploration and allow time for those new ways to incubate and take hold.

While that occurs, we cannot punish our economy with punitive measures. The transition must take place organically and in an economic manner that makes sense. If we allow that to happen, Washington state will be the preeminent leader in energy innovation and independence.

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Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Union, has served the 35th Legislative District in the state House since 2013. He serves as assistant ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee and sits on the House Capital Budget and Health Care and Wellness committees. The bipartisan tour in northern Europe was hosted and funded by i-Sustain of Seattle in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure at The Evergreen State College; 11 other members of the Senate and House participated, including Rep. Beth Doglio, D-Olympia.

Legislature must end overreliance on special sessions

Like most Washingtonians, I too am fed up with the Legislature’s overreliance on special sessions due to lawmakers’ inability to pass an operating budget on time. I’m currently serving my fifth year in the House, which means this is the third biennial operating budget I’ve seen negotiated. This is also the ninth special session I’ve been a part of. And what’s playing out now is largely the same song and dance we’ve seen time and time again.

For far too long, legislators have preserved a process where deadlines and cutoffs don’t matter, hyper-partisan budgets are presented as reasonable starting points for negotiations, and collaboration is nonexistent. As if that’s not bad enough, there’s a lack of genuine leadership coming from the majority parties in both chambers, as well as from the governor’s office.

I sense among the rank-and-file in the Legislature an absolute disgust with the process, and for good reason. If we don’t get our act together, taxpayers will continue to bear the brunt of our irresponsibility, and good legislators will not continue to serve.

To fix this problem, we must reform how our budget process works. Fortunately, this can be achieved through amending existing House and Senate rules. I’m proposing three immediate changes to these rules:

First, during long sessions when we write the two-year budget, we need to move our policy cutoff dates up by at least three or four weeks. While these dates are designed to give us plenty of time to introduce and debate legislation, we’re spending far too much time debating mundane policy and not enough developing a genuine budget. I believe it makes more sense for the policy period in long sessions to equal the length of the policy period in short, 60-day sessions, so we can give proper attention to the two-year budget.

Second, all cutoff dates need to matter and be enforced going forward. Exceptions are appropriate at times, of course, but there are far more exceptions than necessary. We must hold ourselves accountable to these deadlines and take them seriously.

Third, operating budget negotiations between the parties in both chambers need to be much more collaborative from the start – especially when the Legislature is as evenly divided as it is now. I’m always impressed at how capital budget negotiators come together to develop their $4 billion budget. There’s no reason why operating budget negotiators can’t do the same. Unless, of course, playing political games and grandstanding is more important than doing the work we were sent here to do.

Candidly, there are a handful of people who have let their ego and personality get in the way of good governing. What we need are strong leaders who show up to the negotiating table, put partisanship aside, and get to work on behalf of the people of Washington state. And we also need our governor to be actively engaged in the process.

If we’re going to protect the most vulnerable while developing a world-class education system and the strongest state economy in the nation, we’re going to have make some changes in how we go about tackling our priorities. We must focus on restoring your confidence in us by working diligently every day we’re in session to solve our state’s challenges and deliver on our promises to you. That’s what you sent us here to do, and you should accept nothing less.

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Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Union, serves as the assistant ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

Sewage spill reveals double standard in environmental priorities

If hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated stormwater and raw sewage flows into Puget Sound, but politicians and environmental groups don’t make a peep, did it really happen? That’s what we’re left to wonder after the catastrophic failure at King County’s West Point Treatment Plant last month.

Due to a power outage that caused critical equipment to fail, more than 300 million gallons of untreated stormwater and raw sewage were sent straight into Puget Sound.

Now, a spill roughly 30 times larger has caused beaches to close and families to be displaced. It has also threatened the vitality of our aquatic ecosystems and undone years of hard work and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to keep Puget Sound clean.

Aside from the recent vote by the Metropolitan King County Council to expedite the cleanup, action has been slow, causes have not been fully determined and outcry has been minimal.

Less than three years ago, Gov. Jay Inslee and King County Executive Dow Constantine were calling for Victoria, B.C., to get its sewage treatment in order due to the negative impacts it was having on regional waterways. Today, as this newspaper’s editorial board pointed out Feb. 24, these politicians and Mayor Ed Murray now seem more interested in taking shots at the Trump administration than addressing their own management problems.

Futurewise, an anti-sprawl group concerned about our state’s natural resources, has been relatively silent on this failure. Back in December, they tweeted: “Tell the EPA: No vessel sewage in our Sound!” We find it hard to believe in a matter of two months, their priorities have changed.

Don’t get us wrong: Everyone should do their part in keeping our waterways healthy and protecting our environment. Republicans in the Legislature have supported, and in some cases led, efforts to clean up toxic sites, remove legacy nets, clear fish passages, improve oil-train safety, and combat synthetic and pharmaceutical runoff. But we find it odd politicians and groups historically ready to pounce on any threat to our water quality would go silent on this new environmental disaster.

This seems like a classic example of the double standard politicians, state agencies and environmental groups apply to rural communities versus urban communities. Instead of focusing their efforts on a real environmental problem happening in our state’s most populated city, they would rather push policies that punish landowners and jeopardize development in rural communities. They would rather go after a county’s potential water quality impact due to septic systems than hold the officials and one of the largest culprits in devastating our water quality accountable for discharging hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated stormwater and raw sewage into Puget Sound.

Rural counties can’t rely on septic systems, but it’s OK for King County to continue to sweep its ongoing sewage treatment problems under the rug?

King County must restore accountability and upgrade its failing system. And if politicians and the state’s environmental movement can’t find their voices on this catastrophe in their own backyard, they are more likely to find their words fall on deaf ears when complaining about other problems. Their credibility is just as much at risk as our state’s heritage of clean water.

Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Union, serves as the assistant ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Vincent Buys, R-Lynden, serves as the ranking Republican on the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, serves as the ranking Republican on the House Environment Committee.

Rep. Drew MacEwen: House vote to delay comprehensive education funding solution is unacceptable

Earlier this week, a vote was taken in the House on a bill, House Bill 1059, to extend current state levy policy for one calendar year. The bill, which passed, would delay the coming ‘levy cliff,’ which is set to reduce the amount of money school districts are authorized to collect through local property tax levies. The state Supreme Court has ruled the overreliance of local levy dollars to fund basic education is unconstitutional, which is why the passage of this bill is so disappointing. Raising the levy lid, which the Legislature did in 2010, was intended to be a temporary fix to allow time for the Legislature to enact sufficient reforms. All this time later, however, the fundamental problems with the way we fund K-12 education in our state still have not been addressed in an adequate and equitable way.

I believe it is our responsibility to come together this session to find a comprehensive solution to funding basic education. The majority party bringing levy-extension legislation to the floor this week reveals it doesn’t share this view. Instead, the bill’s introduction and passage sends the message that we won’t be able to fully address McCleary in this 105-day session. I adamantly disagree, which is why I delivered remarks against the bill on the House floor and joined dozens of my colleagues in voting against it.

To illustrate how long the Legislature has been out-of-touch on the issue of education funding, one only needs to look at state government spending between 1980 and 2012. During this 32-year period, education spending grew 287 percent, while all other spending grew by a whopping 575 percent. Does that sound like the Legislature made education funding its first priority? As a result of the lack of adequate spending on education, districts became increasingly dependent on local levies. That was not an acceptable solution then, and it is not an acceptable solution now.

I have long advocated for upholding our constitutional duty to amply fund basic education, and have continuously proposed legislation to make it our first priority. Since the beginning of session, I have taken part in daily budget meetings, working hard with my colleagues to come up with an adequate and equitable solution to McCleary. The vote we took this week on House Bill 1059 was a vote to kick the can down the road and take the pressure off ourselves to solve the issue. Considering how much time we have left this session to enact a long-term solution, this admission of defeat is deeply disappointing. You deserve better than what you saw this week from your state representatives.

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Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Union, has served the 35th Legislative District in the state House since 2013. He serves as assistant ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, and also sits on the House Capital Budget and Health Care and Wellness committees.

Invest in Mason County’s future by building a diverse economy

Last week, the top story around town was the recently announced sale of Simpson Lumber to California-based Sierra Pacific Industries. Timber has been the bread-and-butter of our regional economy for more than a century, employing generations of Washingtonians and building our expanding nation. The Simpson family has invested in our community for the past 125 years, and I am grateful for their contribution.

Those of us in Mason County, and many others across timber-rich Washington, are closely connected to our logging heritage. Whether it’s cheering on the Highclimbers, celebrating Forest Festival, or taking pride in a larger-than-life Paul Bunyan parading down Railroad Avenue, forestry is part of the fabric of our community. I believe we will carry these proud traditions well into the future.

Many, though, are calling the Simpson sale the “nail in the coffin” for Shelton and Mason County. And while job losses are difficult to absorb with Mason County’s unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, I have an unwavering belief in the people of this community. With Sierra Pacific’s commitment to build a new state-of-the-art mill on Shelton’s waterfront by 2017, we have an opportunity to revitalize the city and usher in a new era of timber production and economic growth.

We should also take this opportunity to invest in a diverse economy that will meet the needs of generations to come. This begins in the Legislature with fully funding education and providing career and technical education opportunities for students. Additionally, we must enact B&O tax reforms, including those I proposed earlier this year, to simplify and modernize a tax code that is a barrier to economic growth.

Locally, we must attract new businesses to Mason County and develop planning codes that are fair, flexible and allow for competition in the marketplace.

Most importantly, we must come together as a community to support those affected during this time of transition. I am committed to working with all parties to ensure they are connected to critical resources and are able to meet their obligations in the weeks and months to come.

We must not miss this opportunity to strengthen and diversify our economy. With the right investments, I am confident Mason County’s best days are ahead.

Together we can build a bright future for Mason County.

Reps. Drew MacEwen and Derek Stanford: Get back to building job-creating projects

It’s time to go to work. All across Washington, tens of thousands of people are looking for jobs. In Olympia, we have a chance to work together and foster opportunity so these people can get back to work. Through a state-and-local partnership, we can create jobs and build projects to help the health and economic development of our communities for decades to come.

We have a proven system in place to make this happen; all we need to do is get it moving again. The Public Works Assistance Account helps local governments provide clean water, working sewers and other projects that open the path for new economic development. For 30 years, our state has supported vital, local priorities with this fundamental PWAA partnership. This program offers loans to local communities — and, as the loans are repaid with interest, the money goes right back into the account. There has never been a default in the program. Our bipartisan measure, House Bill 2244, will bring this program out of a state of limbo.

One of the tough choices the Legislature made during the recession was to temporarily cut these investments in local public works. Consequently, our communities are struggling to meet their needs for reliable infrastructure. This means risks to public health as drinking water and sewer systems fail. It also means some businesses can’t add jobs or new facilities because basic utilities aren’t up to the task.

Historically, the account has enabled communities to undertake critical public-works projects that fuel economic growth. Since the raid on the PWAA, however, no new projects are funded for this 2013-2015 budget cycle and many local governments have been forced to turn to the private bond market. But that strategy isn’t an option for some towns. Even small differences in interest rates can have a huge impact on local construction. For example, a $2.5 million project in one city grew to a cost of $4.3 million through the volatile bond market. Another city lost a $9.75 million federal transportation grant because matching PWAA dollars were cancelled. These higher bond rates and costs translate to more expensive utility rates.

The measure we’re advancing will directly address these problems — and generate thousands of jobs in the process. We believe this new direction will go a long way toward:

Rebuilding our state’s partnership with local communities;
Creating opportunity for men and women who want to work; and
Providing long-term health and economic benefits of reliable public utilities.

Our legislation has gained support from the Association of Washington Business, the Washington State Labor Council, and mayors from across the state who testified in support. We hope Senate leadership will bring this legislation to a vote. We need to take this step for jobs and healthy communities.

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Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Union, and Rep. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, are the assistant Ranking Minority Member and the Vice Chair, respectively, of the House Capital Budget Committee.

Change the culture of doing business in Washington state

Like many of you, I dreamed and planned for the day I could break away from the company I was working for too venture out and live the American Dream of owning my own business. I certainly had trepidations, but, thanks to my service in the United States Navy Submarine Force, I also had nerves of steel.

I entered the investment business in the late 90s, and saw how fast a firm could be built. By August 2001, things were slowing a bit, but what could go wrong? Apparently, a lot can go wrong and it did on September 11, 2001.

I dug deep, refusing to lose despite the hit to our economy and my business. While I would never want to go through the experience again, I learned valuable lessons that have kept me in business for more than 12 years. This is the American Dream. It is what drives people like us and gets us up every morning and make a better life for ourselves, our family, our customers and our employees.

Today, our American Dream seems to be under constant bombardment from all levels of government. Politicians and bureaucrats wonder why company “X” moved out of state for lower workers’ compensation insurance, why company “Y” moved to a state where a project permit was issued in less than 4 weeks and why company “Z” moved out of state to realize significant economic relocation benefits.

If Washington state aims to remain competitive in the 21st Century, retain and grow the companies located here, and encourage others to move to the state, we must change the state’s culture that impedes business growth and retention.

We cannot fill potholes along the way to benefit just one industry or company. If it is good for Washington, then it is good for Boeing and Microsoft. This means it is good for your local insurance agent, bakery, restaurant and shipyard.

We don’t need 100-point plans. We need solutions that could include:

Reasonable and understandable regulations that can be implemented without undo hindrance or burden. State agencies must change their culture to encourage cooperation. They need a “how can we help you with this regulation” attitude as opposed to the “do this or we shut you down” atmosphere.
Allow competition for workers’ compensation insurance. For some companies it may make sense to utilize the state system, others to self-insure and others to shop for private coverage. Competition lowers prices. Economics 101 does work.

Reform the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The Skagit River Bridge collapse occurred in May. Today, a new bridge is in place, less than six months later because we cut the red tape. That should be the rule, not the exception. We can lower transportation costs by removing the sales tax on road projects and streamlining permitting. It is time to make WSDOT accountable with projects that specifically provide congestion relief and increased freight mobility.

Provide relief from Business and Occupation (B&O) taxes. One way to alleviate this costly burden would be to create a deduction that a business can take each year. This could include writing off the costs of goods sold, employee compensation up to $300,000 per year, or 30 percent of revenue. Let the business choose what it needs and give it the ability change each year based on what is most favorable to job growth. Flexibility allows for investments, job creation, better benefits and higher employee pay.

By doing these things we will make Washington more competitive and be a job-creation leader in this nation. We cannot maintain the status quo and expect our market share to increase. By changing the culture of doing business in Washington, I firmly believe we can, as President Ronald Reagan said, “make it morning again in America.”

State Rep. Drew MacEwen is a small-business owner and serves the 35th Legislative District, which includes Mason County and parts of Kitsap and Thurston counties. He is the assistant House Republican Whip.

Can you afford the Belfair Bypass? Bypass can be viewed as a model of the larger budget issues

Special to the Shelton Journal

Since taking office in January, I have been studying the Belfair Bypass project as well as all state government. What is happening with the construction of our bypass is the small-scale version of what is happening in every budget the state has proposed so far.

Essentially the state Legislature has chosen to ignore the bureaucratic problems, oppose fundamental reforms of the Department of Transportation and other agencies, and ask you, the taxpayers, for more money.

One of my goals, since I ran for office, has been to get the Belfair Bypass funded. This would greatly enhance freight mobility, congestion relief and be an economic stimulus to our region. I believe the bypass is important for our district.

What I believe even more strongly, is our district needs to keep the money it earns. We need to keep food on the table, a roof over our heads, gas in our cars and money in our local economy.

I’ve been disappointed to see the solution offered by many in the Legislature. That solution is for our state government to ask our hardworking families for more of their hard-earned money time and time again.

The latest transportation budget claims it would fund construction of the bypass – a claim that has been made before. Democrats who wrote this budget say construction can happen, but only with a new 13-cent per gallon gas tax. If it passes, we will pay 69 cents in taxes for every gallon at the pump and have the highest gas tax in the nation. There are many members of the Legislature that believe this is a fine bargain.

If you live in Seattle, maybe it is fine. If you live in Mason County, where 50 percent of the residents commute outside the county every day for work, your gas bill will increase by hundreds of dollars. Can you afford that? Even if it builds the bypass, can you afford to pay hundreds more per year, every year for the same amount of fuel? Without a doubt, this tax unfairly targets Mason County. It discriminates against citizens in rural areas and lower income families, while benefitting urban centers.

This isn’t the first time we have been asked to accept a tax. The architects of the 2005 state gas tax increase over-promised and under-delivered. The last gas tax increase built an off-ramp in the wrong place, a faulty ferry and flawed pontoons for the 520 Bridge replacement. Without creating any new standards of accountability they are asking us to accept a tax again.

If we look at what has happened with the Belfair Bypass as an example, we can understand how the Legislature works regarding their budget as a whole.

They have taken something that would make the lives of people better – a bypass that decreases congestion and increases property values – and held it hostage until we agree to pay more. They misspent the money we already sent them for transportation and have given no sign that they can or will spend new dollars more wisely.

House Democrats and the governor are doing the same thing on a larger scale with the operating budget.

They are taking something that improves our quality of life – a good education for our children – and are holding it hostage to agreement on increased taxes. The majority party proposes $1.3 billion in new taxes; including a 270 percent increase on service businesses, such as your local insurance and real estate agent.

Our state government misspent lottery money and other tax dollars we already sent and refuses to examine what didn’t work. Our state leadership has failed us financially and continues to pick politics over people and make excuses for breaking their promise not to raise taxes.

Every industry and labor group has lobbyists in Olympia working on their behalf. Who do the taxpayers have? I can assure you – you have me. I will fight against tax increases and fight for reforming state government so that we can get Washington working again.