Senate panel considers Brown bills to modernize renewable energy mandate

Published on January 29, 2015
Measures would include ‘incremental’ hydro and nuclear power The public weighed in today on three bills sponsored by Sen. Sharon Brown, which would expand the options for utilities seeking to meet the state’s clean-energy mandates. “It’s really important that as we look at energy going forward, we take an all-of-the-above approach,” said Brown, speaking in... Read More

Legislature’s ‘aviation caucus’ to spotlight historic wartime flights

Published on January 28, 2015
Kicking off the first 2015 meeting of the state Legislature’s “Aviation Caucus” Thursday will be a visit from two members of the BRAVO 369 Flight Foundation, a Bellingham-based group dedicated to recreating a flight along the historic Alaska-Siberia air route used in World War II. The little-known air route represented a dangerous 6,000-mile journey from Great... Read More

Sen. Baumgartner targets cargo crunch at ports

Published on January 28, 2015
OLYMPIA…  A memorial introduced Wednesday by state Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, seeks federal assistance in resolving a long-running labor dispute that appears to have slowed traffic at Pacific-coast ports and snarled international trade for Washington importers and exporters. Senate Joint Memorial 8009 asks the feds to help longshoremen and shippers reach agreement on a master... Read More

Bailey and Pearson introduce bills addressing local water-access issues

Published on January 27, 2015
Two north Puget Sound lawmakers have introduced a package of bills aimed at improving public access to water. Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, and Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, introduced the legislation to address restrictive interpretations of instream-flow laws.  Restrictions on water flow have led to many people, especially those in the Skagit River Basin, being... Read More

Pearson bill would help identify the next Oso or Mount Saint Helens

Published on January 23, 2015
On Thursday the Senate Natural Resources and Parks Committee held a public hearing on a measure sponsored by Sen. Kirk Pearson that would establish the Department of Natural Resources as the official depository for a library of LiDAR mapping, which would be accessible to municipalities, disaster-relief workers, builders and the general public. “It wasn’t long... Read More

Victims of revenge porn could seek civil liability under Orwall and Padden bills

Published on January 22, 2015
A couple of bills introduced in the Washington State House and Senate could give victims of revenge porn some restitution by making a person civilly liable for distributing intimate images of another intentionally and without consent. Revenge porn is the online posting of explicit images of people without their permission. The identical measures were introduced... Read More