Higher pay, higher taxes and a constitutional quarrel in Olympia

OLYMPIA — We’re one-sixth of the way through the legislative session, and the bills keep on coming.

On Tuesday, Rep. Clyde Shavers, D-Oak Harbor, dropped a measure that would up the pay for paraeducators across the state.

Beginning in the 2024-2025 school year, House Bill 2380 and its companion, Senate Bill 6082, would increase the pay for full-time paraeducators by $7. By the 2026-2027 school year, the hourly wage of paraeducators would have to be at least $22.67.

The two bills, filed at the request of the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, share the support of several Snohomish County lawmakers.

Readers may remember back in October, when Everett paraeducators rallied at district offices, making a case for competitive wages.

Under Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed supplemental budget, paraeducators’ wages would increase by an average of $3 an hour, a $64 million investment.

In other news, several Snohomish County leaders signed in to support two bills that would provide localities with more revenue for public safety.

County Executive Dave Somers testified in support of House Bill 2211, which would allow jurisdictions to up the sales and use tax rate allocated for criminal justice.

Public safety needs are “cannibalizing” other services, he told the House Local Government Committee on Tuesday, arguing they need their own revenue stream. The county spends about 75% of its general fund on public safety, he said.

Everett Police Chief John DeRousse and Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring signed in as supporters of House Bill 2231, which would provide more revenue for localities to recruit law enforcement officers, through a credit against the state’s sales tax.

Onto every Democratic lawmaker’s favorite topic these days — initiatives.

On Monday, the House Democratic Caucus unanimously rejected a motion that would guarantee Initiative 2113 a prompt public hearing.

Republicans disapproved of this move, citing the state Constitution:

“Such initiative measure shall take precedence over all other measures in the legislature except appropriation bills and shall be either enacted or rejected without change or amendment by the legislature before the end of such regular session,” article 2, section 1 reads.

I-2113 is one of six conservative-backed initiatives aimed at reversing recent Democratic policies. The first one to be certified would remove certain restrictions on police officers when engaging in vehicular pursuits.

As a reminder, if lawmakers don’t act on the initiative by approving or passing a modified version, it gets routed to the voters on their November ballots.

On Tuesday, the secretary of state’s office certified I-2117. It would repeal the state’s new cap-and-trade program, the Climate Commitment Act, which brought in $1.8 billion last year for climate-related projects.

Finally, here are a few other things that happened this week that I’m keeping my eye on:

The House Education Committee unanimously approved House Bill 2058 on Thursday. The bill would require all public schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to any student, no matter their income.

Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, sponsored the bill and will now see it headed to the appropriations committee for their consideration.

Senate Bill 6099 would allocate $7 million each year for tribes to address the fentanyl and opioid crisis. Native Americans have been adversely affected by the opioid crisis, the bill’s sponsor Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, said in a public hearing Monday.

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