Olympia

55 Stories

With clock ticking, WA lawmakers race to cover $16 billion shortfall in budget plan

With a potential $16 billion shortfall looming, legislators in Olympia are scrambling to find budget fixes with less than two weeks left in the session. Jerry Cornfield writes for The Washington State Standard. He spoke to KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about his new article, which outlines the latest options being considered.
- Kim Malcolm
Late Washington state powerbroker Frank Chopp left a lasting legacy

Pluribus News staff writer and former longtime public radio Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins covered Chopp for many years. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm talked to him about the influential legislator's legacy.
- Kim Malcolm
Rent cap, parents rights survive key cutoff deadline in WA Legislature

With lawmakers in Olympia just past the halfway point of this year’s legislative session, scores of policy proposals have been left behind. Here's what made it through the cutoff and what didn't.
- Jeanie Lindsay
Olympia protest joins national day of action in state capitols across the USA

After a viral online organizing campaign, hundreds rallied in Olympia Wednesday, protesting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk as part of a national day of action.
- Jeanie Lindsay
Credit card convenience comes at a price. This Olympia bill aims to change that

A Washington state senator wants to bar credit card bar fees on sales taxes and gratuities.
- Ruby de Luna
First bills drop ahead of Washington's 2025 legislative session

Washington lawmakers have begun teeing up legislation ahead of the 2025 session. Permanent standard time, immigration policies and fentanyl penalties were among the proposals prefiled on Monday, Dec. 2.
- Washington State Standard
What's an 'entheogen'? Magic mushrooms are now a low priority in Olympia

The Olympia City Council has knocked psilocybin, and similar drugs, down to a "low enforcement priority" for Olympia police, essentially decriminalizing the drugs in the city.
- Dyer Oxley
King County judge finds state agency in contempt for keeping teen in adult jail

A King County Superior Court judge held the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) in contempt of court Friday for failing to transfer an 18-year-old convicted of robbery to a state juvenile rehabilitation facility.
- Ann Dornfeld
Why Washington state Democrats passed 3 Republican-backed voter initiatives

Most of the bills lawmakers pass in Olympia include bipartisan support, but many Democrats are skeptical of, or outright oppose, these initiative measures. So why did Democrats join with Republicans to enact them?
- Jeanie Lindsay
Strippers' rights win, tenants' rights lose: The fate of key bills in Washington state

During the penultimate week of Washington's 2024 legislative session, lawmakers left behind some major bills, committees held public hearings and voted on some high-profile initiatives, and several measures crossed the finish line.
- Jeanie Lindsay

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