For the first time, three Washington state local governments, including Pasco, will need the state’s OK before implementing new voting policies due to their histories of diluting the power of Latino voters. 

The 26-member council, which includes Columbia Basin College president Rebekah Woods, will serve as a venue for “candid discussions,” Ferguson said, adding that he plans to attend every quarterly meeting. The Democratic governor said Washington hasn’t convened such a panel in two decades.

Over 200 new Washington state laws took effect June 11. Among them are tax hikes, enhancements to the state’s Voting Rights Act and guidance for retailers on the penny phase-out. 

Washington’s rural counties, including Franklin County, 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. 

A year into Washington’s limit on residential rent increases, the state has yet to collect a cent in civil penalties from landlords.

The conservative political committee Let’s Go Washington plans to soon begin gathering signatures as part of its push to overturn the state’s new income tax on high earners. 

Washington’s Supreme Court on May 4 denied a conservative political committee’s request to pursue an attempt to repeal the state’s new income tax law with a referendum this fall.

A statewide civic leader, longtime legislator and sitting member of the WSU Board of Regents died April 25 of complications from leukemia. He served as a Pasco City Council member and taught at Pasco High School.

Washington state has sued Albertsons over allegations it has been overcharging customers for years via buy one, get one free offers. 

Washington boasts 221 housing-related programs across 30 state agencies. 

But despite all of these initiatives, Lt. Gov. Denny Heck thinks the state is still going in the wrong direction developing affordable housing.

“We’re not doing a very good job at all, because the hole is getting deeper,” Heck said last week. 

Heck is part of a group of elected officials, state agency staff, tribal members, local government advocates and developers tasked with devising ideas for Washington to set up a new state Department of Housing.