Author Archives: bookerstallworth

Wagoner: Property-tax hike most destructive bill this session

Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley and a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement today on Senate Democrats’ plan to vote on Senate Bill 5770, which would allow local property taxes to annually grow up at triple the rate now allowed by law.

“The proposed increase in local property-tax authority under Senate Bill 5770 makes it the single most destructive and far-reaching bill of the 2024 session. 

“Implementation will undoubtedly drive up home-ownership costs as well as force crushing increases in rental rates – the last thing Washingtonians need during the middle of a historic affordable-housing crisis.

“This unimaginative non-solution is both politically and practically dangerous and is tone-deaf to the voices of taxpayers who have been crying out for relief for years. It has the potential to devastate every household budget in our state at a time when families are already struggling under an oppressive tax burden.

“Under one-party rule in Olympia, Washingtonians are already experiencing rampant inflation, brutally high fuel costs, food insecurity and housing prices that have put home ownership out of reach for far too many. When will the majority party take responsibility for its bad policy decisions and reverse course?

“Democrats in the Legislature want to literally pass the buck and the political blowback from their policies to local government. Communities in which this increase is inflicted on tax-weary citizens will never be able to pass another school or public-safety levy again. Trust will have been shattered with the taxpayers, and it may never be rebuilt. 

“Proponents tout it as badly needed funding for struggling local governments. Whether you agree or not with this perceived need, there are better, less damaging, options.

“For one, state government has been oh-so-willing to fix its budget problems on the backs of local government; it’s time to reverse that trend. In 2012, when the state got out of the liquor business, those funds were swept from local government to the state’s general fund. My Senate Bill 5568 would return those funds to local government. 

“Also in 2012, voters passed Initiative 502 with the hope and understanding that cannabis revenue would solve a myriad of funding shortfalls. That promise has fallen far short as the Legislature again swept most of the funding to the already bloated general fund.  Counties receive a mere 1.5% and cities 3.5%.  Another proposal I have put forward, SB 5404, would double the cannabis revenue to local government.

“These two bills offer a better solution, a ‘new tool,’ not just a heavier hammer to meet additional local-funding needs. And they would accomplish this without devastating Washington families.”

SB 5770 is sponsored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, and cosponsored by 18 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus. The measure cleared the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 5 on a Democrats-only vote and could come up for a vote by the full Senate as soon as Thursday.

Senator Wagoner on Fish Hunt NW (Root Sports)

Host Duane Inglin’s interview with Senator Keith Wagoner, who is the primary sponsor on Senate Joint Resolution 8208 “Enshrining the rights to Hunt, Fish & Gather for WA St Citizens” Duane & Tommy will also follow-up with take-aways from the Public Hearing in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks on Monday and how many false statements and scare tactics organized groups are puking-out in opposition to this Constitutional Amendment. Sportsmen in WA St are clearly under attack.

Wagoner: Another attack on Second Amendment Rights!

If you think the anti-gun people were out of ideas for threatening our 2nd Amendment Right, think again. Senate Bill 5963 would REQUIRE homeowners that own guns have special firearm owner insurance as a rider on your home owners’ policy. I encourage concerned citizens to sign-in and testify on this bill.
SB 5963 – Concerning insurance requirements relating to the ownership of certain deadly weapons.
Submit Written Testimony for the Official Legislative Record Here: https://ow.ly/LzVN50Qv1WA

Wagoner: No need to raise property taxes and rents; there is a better way to get needed funds to local governments

Legislative Democrats recently held a hearing on Senate Bill 5770, which would triple the allowable growth rate of property taxes and almost certainly drive record-high rents up even more.

While proponents point to the tax proposal as a way to get much-needed funds to local governments, Sen. Keith Wagoner has introduced two bills to accomplish that goal without punishing already-struggling property owners and renters.

“I’ve seen a lot of bad ideas in Olympia but raising property taxes and rents during a housing-affordability crisis may be one of the worst – and the cruelest,” said Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, who serves on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax and budget policy.

“Washington ranks fifth-worst in the country in housing affordability; Tripling the rate of annual growth of property taxes would only add more costs and make homeownership an even more distant dream – especially for young families.

“As I heard repeatedly as a member of the Tax Structure Work Group, increasing property taxes disproportionately affects lower-income renters, as property-tax increases are inevitably passed along in the form of higher rent.

“My legislation would reject this cruel, unfair and regressive approach, and instead provide local governments with a larger share of the liquor and cannabis tax revenue they were intended to receive in the first place.”


This graph shows the dollar amounts and destination of cannabis revenue. Source: The Liquor and Cannabis Board Annual Report.

Senate Bill 5568 would restore liquor-sales revenue distributions to local governments. Under the bill, 10 percent would go to counties, and 40 percent to incorporated cities and towns.

Senate Bill 5404 would increase cannabis-revenue distributions to local governments. The bill would dedicate 3 percent of cannabis revenue to counties, cities, and towns where licensed cannabis retailers are physically located; and 7 percent to counties, cities, and towns on a per capita basis. Under the bill, counties must receive 60 percent of the distribution based on each county’s total proportional population.

“While the state’s coffers continue to benefit from years of excessive revenue surpluses, and a property-tax increase is not needed at the state level, I realize some local governments are in desperate need of additional revenue,” said Wagoner.

“Rather than raising taxes on hard-working Washingtonians, the two measures I have introduced would provide local government with more resources without increasing the burden on property owners.”

At the Jan. 18 committee hearing on the Democrats’ proposed property-tax hike, the public weighed in loud and clear. More than 8,290 people signed in, with 91.4% opposed to the idea.

“As Washington faces a home-affordability crisis, the approach legislative Democrats support is just more than families and individuals can afford,” Wagoner added. “We want to give people meaningful property tax and rental relief instead, and help our counties and cities in a way that doesn’t put additional burdens on the backs of taxpayers.

“Washingtonians deserve better, and my proposals to increase the share of alcohol and cannabis dollars going to local government are an opportunity for the Legislature to do better.”

IN THE NEWS: Compass Health Breaks Ground on Intensive Behavioral Health Services Center

By Antoinette Alexander | 425 Business | Oct 16, 2023

Pictured: From left to right: Everett City Councilmember Paula Rhyne, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, Compass Health President and CEO Tom Sebastian, Sen. Keith Wagoner, Rep. Julio Cortes, and Compass Health Board Chair Alex de Soto.

Compass Health, a provider of behavioral health care, officially broke ground on Phase II of its Broadway Campus redevelopment in Everett, a new facility designed to address the region’s most complex behavioral health needs.

The facility is expected to be completed in summer 2025 and will include space for intensive behavioral health services, including a 16-bed evaluation and treatment unit; a 16-bed crisis triage center; intensive outpatient behavioral health services; and offices for crisis prevention, outreach, and community-engagement teams, a release said. It anticipates serving nearly 1,300 clients.

Compass Health, a provider of behavioral health care, officially broke ground on Phase II of its Broadway Campus redevelopment in Everett, a new facility designed to address the region’s most complex behavioral health needs.

The facility is expected to be completed in summer 2025 and will include space for intensive behavioral health services, including a 16-bed evaluation and treatment unit; a 16-bed crisis triage center; intensive outpatient behavioral health services; and offices for crisis prevention, outreach, and community-engagement teams, a release said. It anticipates serving nearly 1,300 clients.

Click here to read more.

IN THE NEWS: Construction begins on Compass Health’s $68M care facility in Everett

By Sydney Jackson | Everett Herald | Oct. 12, 2023

The next phase of the Everett campus — a 72,000-square-foot facility on Broadway — is expected to serve 1,300 people per year starting in 2025.

Compass Health broke ground Thursday on the second phase of its Broadway Campus redevelopment in Everett: a 72,000-square-foot intensive behavioral health facility.

The new facility, set to open in 2025 and projected to cost $68.5 million, will serve about 1,300 people each year, according to the nonprofit. Planned services include a 16-bed inpatient evaluation and treatment unit, a 16-bed crisis triage center and various outpatient services. Plans also include a two-level parking garage. …“Large state facilities are needed,” said state Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Woolley. “But people do better when they are closer to home.”

Facility upgrades will also help attract and retain up to 200 “world-class” employees to keep the building staffed 24/7, according to the nonprofit. Sebastian said the current workforce shortage is behavioral health care’s biggest challenge.

“Eighty cents on the dollar goes to our workforce, as it should,” he said. “We want people to feel respected for the work they do.”

Of the $68.5 million cost, the state has provided $39.7 million.

Click here to read more.

Flag of Israel flies proudly in front of the Washington state Legislative Building in Olympia.

We strongly urge you to demonstrate Washington’s support for the people of Israel by flying their flag at the state Capitol and directing that all Washington state flags be flown
at half-staff. The surprise attack by HAMAS on Saturday, Oct. 7 resulted in the largest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust.

…Lowering our Washington and the United States flags to half-staff will say that we stand with all who have been murdered and oppressed by HAMAS. Flying the Israeli flag over our Capitol will say that, in our corner of the world, we stand with our friends on the front lines whose blood is being shed in the defense of freedom and the quest for peace.

Click here to read the full letter of support. 

Click here to watch video of the Israeli flag flying over the Capitol.