Washington lawmakers are still grappling with the levy cliff while the GOP loses it’s Senate majority (if only temporarily). All while elected officials are being asked to respond to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Elected officials rejecting Trump
Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Ed Murray criticized anti-immigrant executive orders pushed by President Donald Trump this week.
Murray hosted a press conference Tuesday wherein he, Seattle Police Department Chief Kathleen O’Toole and city council members, strongly affirmed Seattle’s role as a “sanctuary city.” Murray said he was willing to reject every federal dollar appropriated in the city budget (which would be $75 million of an approximately $5.6 billion budget), if the administration linked it to targeting people with an undocumented immigration status.
.@MayorEdMurray hosting live presser responding to Trump's executive action against "Sanctuary Cities" like Seattle https://t.co/TYb9ao0J9l
— Erin Fenner (@erinfenner) January 25, 2017
“The executive orders are counter to our constitution and a threat to our city’s values,” Murray said.
At a press conference Wednesday, Inslee spoke to state lawmakers’ efforts to fund education, but he also took time to criticize Trump’s executive orders and stances. He insisted Washington would move forward in its efforts to deal with climate change, that Washington State Patrol officers would not check people’s immigration status and that the state would also stand by the marijuana industry.
Regarding climate change/carbon tax @GovInslee "In this state facts rule, not alternative facts."
— Erin Fenner (@erinfenner) January 26, 2017
No majority in the senate
Republican leadership said they hope departing Sen. Brian Dansel, R-Republic, will have a replacement appointed by Feb. 6. Democratic leadership is pressing Republicans in the meantime. With Dansel gone, there’s a 24-24 split in the Senate.
Levy cliff
According to multiple reporters, including Melissa Santos with the Tacoma News Tribune and Joe O’Sullivan with The Seattle Times, Senate Democrats may push a vote to delay the levy cliff, so schools can rely on steep levies to cover the gaps in funding while the legislature determines how to fully fund education.
Dem Floor Leader Marko Liias says senate Dems will take action tomorrow on bill to delay levy cliff in the currently-tied chamber. #waleg
— Joe O'Sullivan (@OlympiaJoe) January 26, 2017
Sen. Marko Liias, D-Lynnwood, said Senate Ds will try to force vote Fri on levy cliff bill. Bckgrnd: https://t.co/n52PkUAQQ2 #waleg #waedu
— Melissa Santos (@MelissaSantos1) January 26, 2017
House lawmakers passed a bill that would delay the levy cliff. School board budgets need to be filed by May, and it’s not certain that a solution for fully funded education will come out of Olympia before then, as explained in this report from The Spokesman Review, by Jim Camden.
“That extra year would keep school districts from wasting time preparing two budgets, one without the money from the extra levy authority and one with money that would come from levy or whatever solution the Legislature reaches, Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, said.
Some Republicans said it was too soon to approve an extension of that extra levy authority, arguing that could take the pressure off the Legislature to develop a comprehensive plan for public schools. If negotiations stall later in the session, they’d be willing to vote for the delay,” reads Camden’s report.
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