Washington State Standard

Washington State Standard The Washington State Standard is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Washington state government.

State Attorney General Nick Brown wants the conservative U.S. Supreme Court to wade into Washington’s partisan-fueled ti...
06/08/2026

State Attorney General Nick Brown wants the conservative U.S. Supreme Court to wade into Washington’s partisan-fueled tiff on the boundaries of legislative districts.

Last Tuesday, he told the high court that it should accept a case contesting the political maps for the state Legislature, then send it back to a lower court to decide if the manner in which the lines were drawn complies with the justices recent ruling in a Louisiana case.

Brown, a Democrat, says his reason isn’t all that complicated.

The decision in Louisiana v. Callais significantly rewrote how the federal Voting Rights Act is applied in redistricting by significantly curtailing the use of race in drawing boundaries.

This transformed the legal landscape compared to early 2024 when U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik approved redrawn maps for Washington legislative districts to enhance the political voice of Latino voters in the Yakima Valley. Later that year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his decision, concluding race was not the predominant factor in shaping the redrawn map.

“When we have a substantial change in the underlying case law that the original decisions were based on we think it’s important that the court follow the current standard and the current precedent,” Brown said in an interview late last week.

“We’re asking them to take the case but we’re not asking the Supreme Court to decide the case,” he said. “We have to make sure that the court here gets it right.”

State Attorney General Nick Brown says it is prudent to have the U.S. Supreme Court involved in Washington's redistricting legal battle.

State agency leaders received a dire warning from Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office on Friday that they’re headed toward “what ...
06/06/2026

State agency leaders received a dire warning from Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office on Friday that they’re headed toward “what will likely be the most challenging budget any of us has yet faced.”

“There will be significant budget shortfalls next biennium in both operating and transportation budgets,” the governor’s budget director, K.D. Chapman-See wrote in a three-page memo.

Chapman-See added: “This year’s revenue forecasts will likely not provide sufficient support for the maintenance of current programs, let alone any expansions.”

She emphasized that it’s still unclear how large a gap the governor and lawmakers will have to solve. But she said that, “A ‘business as usual’ approach will not meet the need of this moment.”

Agency directors will have until Sept. 14 to submit their budget requests to the Office of Financial Management. Chapman-See told them they should plan to pause the phase-in of most new programs and not propose new ones.

State agency leaders received a dire warning from Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday that they’re headed toward “what will likely be the most challenging budget any of us has yet faced.”“There will be significant budget shortfalls next biennium in both operating and transportation budgets,” the g...

Three environmental groups are suing to block the logging of nearly 400 acres of state forestland in Washington’s Elwha ...
06/05/2026

Three environmental groups are suing to block the logging of nearly 400 acres of state forestland in Washington’s Elwha Watershed.

Filed Monday in Clallam County Superior Court, the lawsuit against the state’s Department of Natural Resources argues the agency failed to adequately assess the environmental harm of two timber sales, known as “Parched” and “Tree Well.” Logging the land would pose a “direct threat” to Port Angeles’ drinking water, which is sourced solely from the Elwha River, the lawsuit contends.

“We are so lucky to still have some of these forests left,” said Elizabeth Dunne, an attorney with Earth Law Center, one of the groups behind the lawsuit. “There’s only about 800 acres of structurally complex forests left in the watershed. And nearly half of those are these two timber sales that we appealed.”

Under the Department of Natural Resources’ standards, only trees that predate 1850 are considered old growth and set aside for conservation. The oldest stands proposed for harvest in the Parched sale are around 140 years old, dating back only to the 1880s. Both sales include stands more than 100 years old.

Dunne described the trees as “the old growth of tomorrow” — mature forests that provide wildlife habitat, store carbon, retain moisture in soils and help support summer streamflows in the Elwha River.

The river is the site of one of the country’s largest dam removal projects.

The lawsuit argues that the state failed to study possible environmental harms of cutting the forests, which include trees that are 140 years old.

Electric utilities in Washington and Oregon are turning to gas to meet rapid and growing energy demand from data centers...
06/05/2026

Electric utilities in Washington and Oregon are turning to gas to meet rapid and growing energy demand from data centers, according to recent reports.

Two analyses from the Hood River-based conservation organization Columbia Riverkeeper and the Seattle-based think tank Sightline Institute show that a growing number of Northwest utility companies are spending on new gas-powered energy infrastructure or buying gas-powered energy from other states to power new demand from data centers.

In some counties, public utility districts are permitting gas-powered generators to provide data centers with backup energy, rather than waiting for them to get more power from the grid, and some data center companies are hooking up their own on-site gas generators. For their part, data center companies said they are investing in communities when they show up and working with utilities to find the cleanest energy possible.

The effect is that both Oregon and Washington are at risk of missing established emission reduction targets meant to help curb the impacts of global warming, researchers found. And a growing number of utilities are using booming data center demand to justify skirting climate rules in both states that mostly ban the build-out of new gas infrastructure, citing the need for regional energy reliability.

“In the absence of enough renewable energy supply, we’re seeing utilities turn more to gas in this situation,” said Audrey Leonard, staff attorney at Columbia Riverkeeper and one of the authors of the group’s report. “That is new, because up until the last few years we were making progress towards our clean energy targets in Washington and Oregon. We were really diversifying our clean energy mix, and it was always going to be a challenge — we definitely had work to do — but the way I characterize this is that data centers are turning that challenge into a crisis.”

Utilities in Washington and Oregon are increasingly reliant on buying gas-powered electricity and gas generators to meet data center demand.

Despite passing some of the nation’s first laws barring federal law enforcement agents from concealing their identities,...
06/04/2026

Despite passing some of the nation’s first laws barring federal law enforcement agents from concealing their identities, Oregon and Washington have yet to receive the same response from the Trump administration as other Democratic states.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued California last year over a law criminalizing the use of masks by federal and local law enforcement, winning a federal court order blocking that policy in February. The Trump administration also sued New Jersey and Connecticut in recent months seeking to strike down similar laws, which have gained traction in state legislatures nationwide amid concern about aggressive instances of federal immigration enforcement with little accountability.

But the administration has yet to challenge similar laws in two Northwest states, even though Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed those measures into law weeks before Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed his state’s mask law.

Some legal observers say the timeline is a function of how Oregon’s and Washington’s laws are designed to be enforced and a reflection that they don’t pose an immediate threat to hampering the federal government’s actions. Both states also fall under the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the federal government recently scored a key legal victory that has cast doubt on the future viability of state mask laws targeting federal agents. They also both rely upon civil suits to enforce their bans on facial coverings.

The federal administration has yet to sue two Northwest states, Oregon and Washington, for laws against federal agents wearing masks.

Last week, petitioners hoping to ban fishing and hunting in Oregon reached a milestone in their attempt to change state ...
06/04/2026

Last week, petitioners hoping to ban fishing and hunting in Oregon reached a milestone in their attempt to change state law.

Initiative Petition 28, led by Portland-based animal rights activists, aims to expand animal cruelty laws and criminalize injuring, breeding or killing animals except in cases of self-defense or for veterinary care, such as spaying, neutering or administering euthanasia.

On Friday, the group surpassed the required 117,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot — submitting more than 126,000 signatures to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.

The office must verify those signatures using statistical sampling procedures before the petition can officially make it to the November ballot. If those signatures are valid, the new signatures bring the state closer to outlawing methods essential to some of its key industries.

It’s likely some signatures will be rejected, but petitioners can still submit signatures until July 2. Petition circulators generally aim to gather about 150% of the required signatures to account for invalid or duplicate signatures.

Last week, petitioners hoping to ban fishing and hunting in Oregon reached a milestone in their attempt to change state law. Initiative Petition 28, led by Portland-based animal rights activists, aims to expand animal cruelty laws and criminalize injuring, breeding or killing animals except in cases...

The state of Washington on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a challenge against the state’s political maps...
06/03/2026

The state of Washington on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a challenge against the state’s political maps, then remand it to a lower court to determine if the way the lines were drawn complies with a recent ruling in a Louisiana case.

“The lower courts should be given the first opportunity to apply that decision to the facts of this case,” reads the 19-page brief filed by Attorney General Nick Brown.

That scenario could lead to the state’s legislative district boundaries changing again before they’re next scheduled to be redrawn in 2031.

Jose Trevino and state Rep. Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, who opposed the redrawn maps for the state Legislature, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in January to take up the case. It centers on the map that U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik approved in early 2024 to enhance the political voice of Latino voters in the Yakima Valley.

The controversial revamp shifted more than 300,000 people across 13 legislative districts in eastern and western Washington, revising boundaries the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission approved in 2021.

Tuesday marked the deadline for the different parties to tell the Supreme Court where they stood on the petition.

The state of Washington on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a challenge against the state’s political maps.

Washington’s rural counties saw the largest drops in insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act after the Republic...
06/02/2026

Washington’s rural counties saw the largest drops in insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act after the Republican-controlled Congress failed to extend subsidies that helped consumers afford the plans.

About 250,000 Washingtonians are enrolled this year through the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, down roughly 36,500 from 2025. That amounts to a nearly 13% reduction, the biggest falloff since the marketplace launched in 2013.

The decline isn’t as steep as had been feared.

State officials estimated last year that as many as 80,000 people could forgo coverage with Congress not extending tax credits for these policies. The issue was at the heart of last fall’s lengthy federal government shutdown as congressional Democrats wanted to see the subsidies extended while Republicans refused.

Premiums rose an average of 21%, due in part to the loss of the enhanced tax credits, which started during the COVID pandemic. The increase was in line with similar hikes nationwide. But losing the subsidies meant even steeper price hikes for some customers.

Those most likely to drop their coverage were young and lower-income.

Washington’s rural counties saw the largest drops in insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act after the loss of federal subsidies.

Gov. Bob Ferguson is rejecting a lead Republican’s proposal to temporarily suspend Washington’s cap-and-trade program to...
06/02/2026

Gov. Bob Ferguson is rejecting a lead Republican’s proposal to temporarily suspend Washington’s cap-and-trade program to decrease prices at the pump.

In the last three months, retail gasoline in Washington has increased by $1.63 a gallon on average, according to the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And on Monday, the average price for a gallon of regular here was $5.70, $1.38 more than the nationwide average, according to AAA.

State Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, urged Ferguson in a May 20 letter to use his emergency declaration power as governor to temporarily suspend the Climate Commitment Act. The law requires companies to buy allowances from the state for their air pollution.

“The cost of gas already has been higher in Washington than all but one or two states for the past few years,” wrote Gildon, who is Senate Republicans’ lead on the operating budget. He suggested pausing the law could reduce the wholesale price of gasoline by about 50 cents per gallon “immediately,” and that prices would begin to fall at the pump within a week.

Asked about Gildon’s letter, a spokesperson for Ferguson dismissed the idea.

“The high gas prices caused by President Trump’s war in Iran does not constitute an emergency that allows the governor to exercise his extraordinary emergency powers,” said Brionna Aho, communications director for the Office of the Governor.

“While the governor appreciates Sen. Gildon’s extremely broad interpretation of the governor’s authority, a more constructive way to address the dramatic recent increase in gas prices would be to contact the man responsible for that increase: President Trump,” Aho added.

Gov. Bob Ferguson is rejecting a lead Republican’s proposal to temporarily suspend Washington’s cap-and-trade program to decrease prices at the pump.

A ginormous cost increase to construct a new bridge linking Washington and Oregon is forcing state leaders and program m...
05/29/2026

A ginormous cost increase to construct a new bridge linking Washington and Oregon is forcing state leaders and program managers to rightsize public expectations for the megaproject.

And, some say, downsize the vision for a marquee component — light rail.

City officials in Vancouver, Washington, are incensed that plans for bringing light rail service into town, near the local library, are getting put off indefinitely. They worry the end of the rail line could be a station perched high above freight train tracks near the city’s waterfront because there’s no timeline for designing the final leg of the long-promised route.

As it is, service on the initial stretch to the waterfront is at least a decade away and requires federal funding that isn’t locked in.

Overseers of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program have sliced the $14.4 billion undertaking into critical pieces in response to ballooning costs. They say the first funded phase, which would be paid for with $6 billion in hand, consists of building the new span and highway connections to it, tolling infrastructure, transit design and removal of the existing bridge.

The future bridge would be built to accommodate an extension of light rail from Portland into Vancouver. Installing tracks and running trains, however, hinges on securing a billion-dollar federal grant. Whether that money can be secured won’t be known for a few years.

Rising costs to construct a new bridge linking Washington and Oregon are forcing political leaders to revise plans for light rail extension.

Address

Olympia, WA

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Washington State Standard posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Washington State Standard:

Shortcuts

Share

Category