West Seattle, Washington
04 Friday
West Seattle’s State Sen. Joe McDermott is one of the sponsors of a bill that’s getting a lot of buzz in the State Legislature’s waning days: SB 6250, with the official title “providing fiscal reform,” but the bottom line, it would ask voters whether to implement income tax for those making more than $200,000 a year. Sen. McDermott explains the bill in the video clip above, shot and shared by Senate Democrats staff; it got a public hearing Thursday night in the Senate Ways and Means Committee (of which he’s a member). This report from our citywide-news partners at the Seattle Times suggest it might not have much hope of passage this time around.
More than a year and a half after the West Seattle attack that left then-Officer Jason McKissack with brain damage that has kept him from returning to work – and weeks after the city ended his employment because he cannot return – the State Senate has just passed a bill that will keep catastrophically injured public-safety personnel like him from going without medical coverage. (46 senators including West Seattle’s Sen. Joe McDermott voted for it – no one against it – there were 3 abstention/absences.) If you’ve been following along with us, it was no slam dunk – a version of the bill stalled in the State Senate last year; this year, public-safety advocates lobbied hard for it – Jason McKissack and his wife Kim both testified before committees in Olympia — and lots of public support ensued. Next step (3:32 pm update, thanks to legislative expert Gary Gardner) – we’re told it has to go back to the State House for them to sign off on an amendment that the Senate had made. So one more hurdle to clear. 4:41 PM UPDATE: Advocate Renee Maher says in the comments that this would be retroactive both for the McKissacks and also for a Seattle firefighter who suffered a catastrophic injury on the job 7 years ago. We asked her for formal comment – first, her reaction:
This is a day to celebrate! No longer can we say that officers and firefighters are better off dead for the sake of their families. Today is one of those days that you reflect upon for a long, long time. Every single person who called their legislators or wrote an email on behalf of this bill, you should know that you deserve to celebrate this day as well. A very big thank you goes out to the West Seattle Blog. Please hold your head high and know that your coverage was a huge part of this effort! If ever there was a perfect example of a community coming together to support our heroes, this was it!
She also explains how the bill applies:
The bill creates a new section in the enumerated benefits given to catastrophically disabled officers and firefighters. It will apply to EVERYONE in the Law Enforcement Officer and Firefighter Plan (LEOFF) 2 pension system (which includes all officers/firefighters hired after October 1977 to present) and the Washington State Patrol (WSP is in a different pension system). In other words, anyone who currently qualifies as catastrophically disabled, no matter when the disability occurred, will now start receiving this benefit. That includes Jason McKissack. Mark Jones, a Seattle Firefighter who was catastrophically disabled in Dec 2003, will also be covered by this legislation.
We’ll keep an eye on the House’s concurrence calendar, and we are already on the governor’s press-info list, so we’ll have the information on where and when a signing would happen, once it’s announced. (Signings aren’t always in Olympia – last year we covered the governor’s signing ceremony for the Alaskan Way Viaduct/Tunnel bill, held at the Seattle Aquarium, with a slew of other, unrelated bills signed afterward.) ADDED 5:13 PM: An official news release from the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild – read on:Read More
If you’re tracking something in the State Legislature, we’ve discovered while covering the progress of EHB 1679 – now the “Jason McKissack Act” – its website has a multitude of ways to follow along. One such way: The calendar. And for those following along with this bill’s hard-fought progress, we see it’s on today’s calendar for a full State Senate vote – choose Regular Calendar, scroll way down, and you’ll see it. According to another feature of that page – Senate Display Board (showing what they’re up to now) – they’re currently “at ease.” (Just coming in on this story? There’s background in yesterday’s report.)
The “Jason McKissack Act” is EHB 1679, the bill we’ve been following closely, to keep catastrophically injured public-safety personnel from losing health coverage because they can’t work, renamed in honor of the now-former SPD officer attacked in 2008 while on duty in West Seattle. The bill, which stalled in the Legislature last year, already has won full House approval and, after an outpouring of public support, made it out of Senate Ways and Means earlier this week – now, we just got word from law-enforcement advocate Renee Maher that the Senate Rules Committee has sent it on to the floor. Just last night, Jason’s wife Kim McKissack posted a public “thank you” as a comment on an earlier WSB story – read it here.
This time yesterday, we were still gathering reaction to news that the State Senate’s Ways and Means Committee took an action some advocates had feared they wouldn’t – voting EHB 1679, now known as the “Jason McKissack Act” after the former West Seattle police officer, out of their committee. (This is the bill to keep catastrophically injured public-safety personnel like McKissack, who suffered brain damage from being attacked while on duty, from losing health coverage because they can’t work.) The W/M Committee’s recommendation was that Rules Committee members, who have it now, “do pass” the bill – and they have to, this week, in order for it to get to the floor for a full Senate vote. West Seattle’s Sen. Joe McDermott says he’ll work to get it out of Rules. For some more legislative context, we heard from Arbor Heights resident Gary Gardner of GRG Government Relations. He explains that while the Ways and Means Committee had to approve the bill because of its potential costs, the Rules Committee is a filter of whether to let the bill get to the floor. (More explanation here.) Gardner says the best way to express interest in getting a bill moved out of Rules is to let the leader of the appropriate house – in this case, the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Lisa Brown – know that you want to see this bill come up for a vote. Here’s her contact information (she also is on the Rules Committee, whose membership is listed here). He says this Friday is the deadline for this bill to clear its next hurdle, as the cutoff for advancing bills that originated in the other house (as did this one). ADDED 11:45 PM: Jason McKissack’s wife Kim, who testified twice in Olympia as the bill has progressed, left this message in comments on Monday’s story:
I am injured officer, Jason McKissack’s wife. I just want to thank the West Seattle Blog for staying on top of this for the past (almost) 2 years. I wish I could thank everyone in person, but I don’t think I’d make it thru all my tears of gratitude. I did give a big thank you to WSB last night on Q13, but they edited it out :( But did, thankfully, kept in my thanks to Ms. Margarita Prentice. This sure has been a ride I didn’t expect to take – but thankfully, I’ve met many wonderful people and did learn a lesson about how important our voices are. We were in the right place, at the right time, with the right message. Renee Maher, could not have done it without you and will always be grateful. So far so good. Hope to have the best news EVER really soon! Thank you all! The McKissack Family
ORIGINAL 1:26 PM REPORT, WHEN WE GOT WORD THE BILL *WOULD* BE VOTED ON TODAY: Just got that word from Sen. Joe McDermott and law-enforcement advocate Renee Maher – it’s now on the list for the Ways/Means Committee meeting that’s about to start. 2:53 PM UPDATE: The meeting is live on TVW – we’re watching online here. Looks like they are still in public hearings; the votes, described on the agenda (see it here) as “executive session,” generally come up afterward (the public hearing on this bill was held last Monday – we went to Olympia to cover it; here’s our story). As of a moment ago, they took a break to go into “caucuses” prior to those votes, but the live broadcast should resume soon. 4:18 PM: The live broadcast just resumed. 1679 is the next bill. 4:24 PM: Senate Ways and Means voted for it unanimously. It goes to the Rules Committee with a “do pass” recommendation. We’re checking on what exactly that means – and what happens next, as well as whether further expressions of support are still needed – look for an update. 4:48 PM: Sen. McDermott tells WSB he will keep working to move the bill ahead – getting out of Rules is apparently not a slam dunk; the bill’s history says that’s where it stalled last year.
ORIGINAL 1:55 PM REPORT: We have been following the progress in the Legislature of EHB 1679, the bill that is meant to fix the situation that has left catastrophically injured public-safety personnel and their families without health coverage if they cannot return to work. First, it was heard in the state House Ways and Means Committee (WSB coverage here), and passed the House unanimously; then last Monday, it was heard in the Senate Ways and Means Committee (WSB coverage here). But that committee has to bring it up for a vote to get it to the floor – and Renee Maher, law-enforcement advocate/lobbyist and an officer’s widow, e-mailed us today to say EHB 1679 is in danger of NOT coming up for a vote in Senate Ways and Means. The Senate is also where a version of this bill died last year – before the well-publicized case of Jason McKissack, who was on duty as a West Seattle-based Seattle Police officer, trying to break up a fight a year and a half ago, when he was kicked in the face repeatedly and suffered brain damage. He is unable to return to work and received a letter from the city last month saying his employment was ended; he and his wife testified in the House hearing, but he was not well enough to attend last Monday’s Senate hearing. From Renee Maher:
Somehow EHB 1679 – the Jason McKissack Act – has slipped through the cracks in the Senate Ways and Means committee. We need to get the word out to people to ask them to contact Senate Ways and Means Chair Margarita Prentice, 360-786-7616, and ask her to vote EHB 1679 out of the committee. The deadline is Monday!
The full list of Ways and Means members – with each name linking to the senator’s site and contact info – is here. Among them, West Seattle’s 34th District State Senator Joe McDermott, who had said he’d do everything he could to move this bill this year; we have messages out to him – the committee is in session again today, though this bill is not on its published agenda.
ADDED 4:14 PM: The Seattle Police Officers’ Guild has sent a news release with an open plea to the public to help rescue this bill.
The Seattle Police Officers Guild and the Council of Metropolitan Police and Sheriffs need the public’s assistance. Engrossed House Bill 1679, also known as the “Jason McKissack Act”, which would provide health insurance to Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters who are catastrophically injured in the line of duty faces the possibility of not passing. This bill passed the House of Representatives unanimously on February 3, 2010. On February 22, 2006, testimony regarding the bill was heard in front of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. Officer McKissack’s wife Kim testified along with the President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, the President of COMPAS and the Executive Director of COMPAS, stating the importance of this bill, and how the state needs to take care of their law enforcement officers and firefighters, should they ever become catastrophically injured in the line of duty.
If this bill is not voted out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee by THIS Monday, March 1, 2010, the bill will die. Currently the bill IS NOT SET to be voted on, on Monday.
The news release continues after the jump:Read More
And now, there are three declared candidates for 34th District State House Representative, Position 2, which Rep. Sharon Nelson says she’ll leave to run for State Senate (since Sen. Joe McDermott is running for County Council): Arbor Heights-residing Democrat Sabra Schneider has just announced she’s running; previous announcements have come from Democrat Marcee Stone and independent “Mac” McElroy. Read on for the news release sent by Schneider’s campaign:Read More
(Photo added 5:20 pm – those here for previous bills have left, public safety folks now seated for 1679)
3:47 PM, ORIGINAL NOTE: We are in Olympia for the State Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing that will include EHB 1679, to remedy the situation that has left former SPD Officer Jason McKissack and his family losing health coverage because a 2008 attack in West Seattle left him unable to work. Public testimony is expected. The state House already passed the bill, but the Senate is where it stalled last year.
4:43 PM: 1679 hasn’t come up yet – 6851, the Clean Water bill, was up first … 39 witnesses. (Added 5:25 pm – among them, speaking in the photo above, West Seattle resident Martha Kongsgaard, on behalf of the Puget Sound Partnership, one of the supporters.) It was preceded by testimony on a few others including one that Sen. Joe McDermott (who is on this committee and here at the hearing) tells us can affect financing for the Fauntleroy Community Services Agency and Fauntleroy Schoolhouse’s future.
5:27 PM: 1679 is up. Looks like they are running out of time and may not have any public testimony – Sen. McDermott tells us a Senate floor session is coming up at 5:45 to take up amendments to the bill that suspends I-960, a hot topic at the Town Hall in West Seattle last Saturday. The legislative staffer who is speaking about 1679 now says it would cost the state about $800,000.
5:48 PM: The committee meeting is adjourned. They did wind up hearing very quickly from six people – including Jason McKissack’s wife Kim McKissack, and two Seattle Police Guild leaders, Sgts. Rich O’Neill and Ty Elster. Sgt. Elster read a statement from Jason, who did not feel well enough to be here. Next up – this committee will decide whether to advance the bill to the full Senate.
9:31 PM: Adding video — first, Kim McKissack and Renee Maher, the law-enforcement advocate who is also the widow of Federal Way Officer Patrick Maher, killed in the line of duty in 2003:
And the Seattle Police Guild leaders who spoke before them – Sgt. O’Neill is first, with the “help the officer” message he also gave the House Ways and Means Committee; Sgt. Elster, second.
No one signed up to testify against 1679. If you want to contact Ways and Means members about the bill, their names and contact info can be found here.
Some days, the inbox overflows with news releases that we pass on so you can read for yourself … some days, it’s quiet. Today’s one of the overflowing days. Latest one of potential interest, the Seattle City Council announces its 2010 priorities – read on to see if they dovetail with yours:Read More
We’re at High Point Community Center, where West Seattle’s three state legislators are leading a “town hall” meeting to let constituents know what’s happening in Olympia – and to find out what constituents hope to see happening. Sen. Joe McDermott and Reps. Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson are your 34th District legislators. They have given toplines on the legislation they’ve been working on, and a presentation on the state-budget dilemma ($2.8 billion shortfall in the current biennium and what to do about it). Now they’re taking audience questions – first question was about the corporate-personhood ruling and campaign financing. One interesting point – in the photo at left, you see Reps. Nelson and Cody holding copies of surveys they sent out. Nelson sent out 20,000 by e-mail, Cody about 21,000 by postal mail. The postal rate of return was 1,300+; the e-mail rate of return, fewer than 200. About 75 people are here, by the way; questioning is now turning to education financing.
1:39 PM: The meeting ended at the top of the hour, though the legislators lingered to speak with people who lined up to have a one-on-one word. The overall point seemed to be – the state has to close a budget gap but it’s almost impossible to figure out how – the budget presentation showed that $7.7 billion of the budget is the only part that can be cut (roughly a fourth), and while they expect an income-tax initiative this fall, if it passes, it would face years of court challenges, so it wouldn’t solve anything any time soon. What about raising revenue by privatizing liquor stores? they were asked. We rolled video as Reps. Nelson and Cody replied.
Town-hall meetings like these are being held in a number of legislative districts around the state today. The legislators promised they would do their best to get the budget-explaining slideshow onto the Web next week; meantime, one other account of the meeting is online so far, from PubliCola.
More than two weeks have passed since the State House of Representatives approved SHB 1679, known as the Jason McKissack Bill, after the now-former Seattle Police officer who has been unable to work since a vicious attack while on the job in West Seattle a year and a half ago, and is losing insurance coverage as a result. We just got word from law-enforcement advocate Renee Maher that they’re hoping for another show of support – like the one that turned out for the bill’s first major hearing on January 25 (photo right) – when the bill gets a public hearing next Monday in the State Senate Ways and Means Committee. She says the hearing’s set for 3:30 pm Monday, Room 4 in the Cherberg Building, and: “We’d love to have everyone down there supporting Jason and his family!” (The Senate is where last year’s version of this bill stalled, so support there could be even more important than the support showed while it was going through the House. It’s one of the topics likely to come up when 34th District legislators – State Sen. Joe McDermott and State Reps. Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson – hold a Town Hall at High Point Community Center tomorrow, Saturday 2/20, 11 am.)
We’re among a dozen-plus journalists at City Hall (7th floor conference room) in a “brown-bag” Q/A session with Mayor Mike McGinn. Not that anybody’s actually lunching, of course. So far, he’s fielded questions on everything from municipal broadband to Highway 520 to funding the bicycle plan to the new Youth/Families Initiative; we asked about library funding, given that two West Seattle libraries have been cut back to five-day-a-week operation. He said it’s too soon to say but he’s hoping not to have to cut libraries further. 12:10 PM UPDATE: The Q/A session is now over. Look for coverage in a variety of places in addition to here – PubliCola, seattlepi.com, The Sable Verity (whose author/editor we just met for the first time), Crosscut, Q13. We got in the last question – why is he pursuing White Center (etc.) annexation now? The answer seemed to boil down to it being an exploratory matter more than anything, and might not ultimately make budget sense, but they’re pushing forward with finding out what the people who live in the prospective annexation area think. We got most of the session on video and will post some excerpts later. (Thanks to Diane for noting on Twitter that mayoral staffer Aaron Pickus had tweeted a photo of some of us – that’s your editor with the glasses and the MacBook.) ADDED 1:53 PM: Video of the mayor’s answer to our library-funding question:
A few more clips later.
Followup to our story late Wednesday night about three graffiti-vandalism arrests in West Seattle and our request for your thoughts on this particular category of crime: We’ve learned that West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and his colleague Councilmember Tim Burgess – respective chairs of the Transportation and Public Safety (etc.) Committees – have asked for an audit of how the city handles graffiti and litter, which they describe as “street disorder.” Specifically, they asked the City Auditor earlier this month to review 7 points, including the city’s graffiti and litter laws, the rate of arrest/prosecution of offenders, intradepartmental coordination of city cleanup efforts in both areas, and “innovative efforts other cities have implemented that Seattle might replicate.” Rasmussen and Burgess asked auditor David Jones to get this done by June 1. We received their letter to the auditor from Rasmussen’s office after they saw our Wednesday night story; read the entire 2-page document here.
More than 60 people were at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center last night for U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott‘s “winter 2010 community meeting.” The big topic was the same as it’s been for months – health-care reform (McDermott, you may recall, also happens to be a doctor) – which he’s been involved with for years.
He said he remains optimistic a health-care-reform bill will be passed, but whatever is finally approved, won’t necessarily be “final” – his example was Medicare, first passed in 1965, worked on every year since then. McDermott said he would like to see the 1945 act creating state insurance commissioners repealed; his view is that one central set of controls would represent a more efficient system. Asked about voter anger, McDermott suggested that the most infuriating thing for a voter is to see her/his representatives do nothing – those are the people, he says, who will get voted out. On another hot topic, he said he supports ending the filibuster rules in the U.S. Senate that so often slow progress there to a standstill. Last but by no means least, he believes legislation will be introduced within a few months to negate the U.S. Supreme Court‘s ruling on “corporate personhood.” Got something to say to Rep. McDermott? His contact info is here. Meantime, three more elected officials who represent you are having a Town Hall meeting tomorrow – the 34th District legislative trio, State Sen. Joe McDermott (no relation to Jim), Rep. Eileen Cody, and Rep. Sharon Nelson. They’ll be at High Point Community Center, 11 am tomorrow (Saturday).
The latest issue to get a round of public meetings organized by the city: “Creating a Great Central Waterfront.” One of the four meetings will be in West Seattle. Read on for the news release that just came in:Read More
(Marcee Stone, left, and 34th DDs chair Tim Nuse; photo by Dina Johnson)
The biggest news from Wednesday night’s 34th District Democrats meeting – the group’s State Committeewoman, campaign-reform advocate Marcee Stone, announced she is running for the State House seat currently held by Rep. Sharon Nelson (who has said she’ll run for the State Senate seat that Sen. Joe McDermott would leave if elected to County Council this fall). Stone talked about her local roots, including growing up in White Center and attending the University of Washington, and about her campaign pledge, which you can read here, as linked from a new writeup on the 34th DDs site. (Her announcement comes days after Triangle Pub‘s “Mac” McElroy declared he’s running for the seat as an independent.) Another big announcement: Seattle’s Congressman Jim McDermott will lead a community meeting in West Seattle on February 18, 7 pm at Youngstown Arts Center (that’s two days before the current 34th District legislative lineup presides over the Town Hall noted here). Other notes from the meeting, including a new push for extra school money from the feds, ahead:Read More
Just in from your 34th District state legislators: State Sen. Joe McDermott and Reps. Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson invite you to a Town Hall meeting on February 20, 11 am-1 pm, at High Point Community Center. That’s less than three weeks before the current session in Olympia is scheduled to end; their main focus is expected to be the economy, but the announcement promises they’ll also talk about schools, health care, public safety, transportation and the environment.
On your to-do list for today, if you haven’t done IT already: VOTE. Tuesday is Election Day, and there are two measures on West Seattle voters’ ballots: Seattle Public Schools‘ levies Prop 1 (capital) and Prop 2 (operations). If you’re recovering in-person voters like us, keep in mind the drop boxes in Delridge and White Center are BOTH gone, so you can’t engage in almost-old-school voter behavior like dropping off the ballot at the last moment, unless you go to one of the two remaining boxes (downtown and Tukwila) – get your ballot in the postal mail, with a stamp, ASAP. Meantime, to find out more about the levies – go here. And Laurie Rasmussen from Alki Elementary PTA has forwarded their endorsement for your consideration – read ahead to see it:Read More
Got word of this from Erika Schreder at the Washington Toxics Coalition: On Thursday, Dr. Molly Jones Gray from West Seattle Natural Medicine spoke to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health, during its hearing “Current Science on Public Exposure to Toxic Chemicals.” Dr. Gray participated in the WTC’s biomonitoring study “Earliest Exposures,” and Erika says her testimony was about the toxins found in her body while she was pregnant with her now-7-month-old son Paxton. WTC says the subcommittee is working toward an update of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. Dr. Gray and others are asking for tougher laws to keep toxic substances out of products. You can read excerpts of her testimony and get a link to the video, by going to the WTC’s website.
The first guy you see as soon as you hit the “play” button on that newly available Seattle Channel video from last Sunday’s Citizens Budget Conference at Seattle Center is West Seattle activist/advocate/volunteer Chas Redmond, chair of the City Neighborhood Council, co-chair of the Southwest District Council (which meets tonight). The conference was offered as a chance for citizens to have a say on the head end of the city budgeting process – how do YOU think your money should be spent? Chas was one of several West Seattle participants; we asked afterward for reflections/comments on what happened, and you can read on for his response:Read More
Just out of the inbox – Triangle Pub owner Geoffrey McElroy says he has filed to run for State House Position 2 in the 34th District this fall. That’s the seat now held by Rep. Sharon Nelson. The news release we received doesn’t stipulate a party, but his Facebook page says “independent.” (Nelson is a Democrat.) ADDED WEDNESDAY: Seattle Weekly’s Mike Seely (a West Seattleite) interviewed McElroy after the announcement; here’s his story (including details of the Friday night kickoff event).
For those interested in Mayor McGinn’s push for a White Center vote this November on annexing to Seattle (as reported here last Wednesday) – the City Council briefing has wrapped up, and we’re writing up toplines as fast as we can on partner site White Center Now – see the story here. The timeline laid out this morning is: First the council would vote March 8 on indicating an interest in the November vote – but wouldn’t have to commit to it till August; in the meantime, the rest of the process – including the state/county Boundary Review Board – proceeds. Next step, prior to the hoped-for March 8 vote, would be a February 19 hearing before the Development/Sustainability committee chaired by Council President Richard Conlin. ADDED 1:51 PM: Just got the requested copy of the PowerPoint presented at today’s briefing – converted it to PDF and you can see it here.
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