Last month, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee released his two-year transportation spending plan. Buried among the $58 billion in proposed projects, amid the pages of tables and schedules, is a delay on something some Spokane motorists have been clamoring for since Truman was president: the north-south freeway. For about a decade, officials have said the North Spokane Corridor would be completed by 2029. Now Inslee's recommendation is to have the freeway first envisioned in 1946 done sometime in the mid-2030s. His punt on the project may not last the legislative session. Greater Spokane Inc., the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce and Inland Northwest Associated General Contractors all lined up to criticize Inslee's proposal, saying in a joint statement that "stripping the project of funding at this juncture will cost our region millions in the long run." Spokane's trio of Democratic legislators — Sen. Andy Billig and House members Timm Ormsby and Marcus Riccelli — quickly followed suit, saying the delay "does not have our support." (NICHOLAS DESHAIS)
TRANSPARENTLY OPAQUE
Four years after courts rejected the Washington Legislature's last attempts to dodge the Public Records Act, state lawmakers have fashioned a new ploy to refuse to share their communications: "legislative privilege." Already, communication from the office of Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, a Spokane Democrat, is being withheld using that term, which is not specifically found in statute. "I'll leave it up to the attorneys to give the legal justification for it," Billig said at a press conference last week. Meanwhile, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, also a Democrat, defended the concept, claiming that "legislative privilege is an exception of privilege that is grounded in the [state] constitution," but should be rarely used. But while the Washington Constitution does protect legislators from "civil action or criminal prosecution for words spoken" as part of legislative debate, it does not explicitly exclude lawmakers from the Public Records Act. Republican House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox, meanwhile, has stressed that Democrats, not Republicans, were the ones using the controversial tactic. "The idea that things that are difficult can be concealed seems counter to what the [public records] debate was about a few years ago," Wilcox said. (DANIEL WALTERS)
SHORT STAFFED
It's part of a national trend that some have described as a "labor shortage," and others have described as a lack of jobs willing to pay workers what they deserve. Regardless, Washington state agencies are having trouble finding staff. In a recent Medium post, Inslee reported that the turnover rate for state employees has jumped significantly — to 20 percent in the current fiscal year from a five-year average of 13 percent. "When state agencies don't have enough employees, Washingtonians notice," Inslee wrote. "At best, a consequence might be long wait times. At worst, someone could be hurt." Inslee's proposed two-year budget includes general wage increases for most positions, and targeted increases for specialized or high-turnover positions. He writes that several agencies are also looking at changing their telework policies to attract more employees. While the impact of the shortage has been widespread across industries, Inslee specifically pointed to ferries and hospitals as two especially challenged areas. (NATE SANFORD) ♦
