The legislature is back in session

Democrats have taken control of the legislature in Washington state and they plan to pass a number of bills that have been held up for years by those troublesome Republicans. Here is a list of some of their agenda:
Carbon tax – Liberals have been calling for a carbon tax for years as a program needed to fight the problem of Global Warming – strike that, Global Climate Change. Politicians love it because it gives them a new hidden tax that they can claim is needed to save us from the evils of human progress. Two problems with this tax; first, it is built on a hoax and second like any tax it will start small and go up whenever the lawmakers need more money to fund their next boondoggle scheme. The legislature is rushing to approve Governor Inslee’s plan before the environmental activists can get a ballot measure on the table for voters to approve. After all the big government crowd doesn’t really want interference from those pesky citizens – who incidentally rejected the measure by 20 points the last time it was on the ballot. To gain acceptance for their measure the Demoncrats have exempted Agriculture, and certain large energy dependent industries from the tax (for now), which means it will hit small local businesses who don’t have lobbyists to protect them.
Abortion – With shouts of “Abortion is Health Care” activists are in Olympia supporting taxpayer funded abortions for the fifth year in a row. Democrats are more than happy to oblige them. The bill would require health insurance companies to provide abortion coverage in all health insurance plans that include maternity, which means you get to pay for it even if you have a religious objection to abortion or birth control.
Suicide prevention – A bill has been introduced that allows individuals to “opt out” of their gun rights on an individual level. Sounds innocuous but think about it and ask yourself if you want to be on a government list of people who have considered suicide?
Capital Punishment – There are no crimes that are heinous enough to demand the death penalty. Drive your car into a crowd of people? Serial killer? Terrorist? We need more of these people loose in society?
Equal Pay – There are of course businesses that pay less to a woman than they do to a man for the same work. They are Neanderthals that give business a bad name and politicians an opportunity to impose more regulations on private industry. The net result is the regulations increase the cost of doing business even for those who are more enlightened. Like most liberal programs this is short on facts about just how wide-spread is the problem. The loud voices of a few activists drive the agenda. Wouldn’t you like to know if this is truly a big problem before we empower a bunch of lawyers to extort more money from small businesses?
Water Rights – The legislature has solved the problem of water rights. It is passed and signed into law. But does it really solve the problem? The 24-page bill looks to be another full employment for lawyers measure and reinforces the power of the department of ecology to make law regarding water rights. Here is an exact quote from the bill:
“No agency may establish minimum flows and levels or similar water flow or level restrictions for any stream or lake of the state other than the department of ecology whose authority to establish is exclusive…”
It looks like legislators were more anxious to get the Capital Budget approved than to address the issues raised by the Hirst Decision. Time will tell if the problem is really solved or if rural communities will be hogtied by legal costs of just trying to drill a well.
Gun Control – Nothing drives liberal politicians in controlling the public like gun control and this year the legislature is in full disarmament mode. There is little any of these laws will do to improve public safety. It may be hard to accept but it is a fact that gun laws do not remove guns from the hands of criminals. Gun laws only restrict the rights of law-abiding citizens. Look at communities like Chicago where gun laws are some of the most restrictive in the country and gun violence is the highest.
When the legislature meets we all need to be attentive to the attempts by our lawmakers to empty our wallets and restrict our freedom.
You can read about these issues and others on our website under State News in the Free News Tab. We have story feeds daily from the WNPA news Bureau in Olympia.