Author Archives: Laudan

Senate proposal needlessly starving transportation infrastructure

Democratic leaders on the Senate Transportation Committee unveiled their funding proposal this week to deal with what they’re calling the “I-976 crisis” and to restart delayed transportation projects. I offered the following statement to the press.

“I supported this supplemental budget, but it’s really just a band-aid. It is needlessly starving our state’s transportation infrastructure and fails to address long-term solutions that we need to act on now. That is being exacerbated by the ill-advised pausing of critical projects by Governor Inslee which has cost taxpayers untold millions of dollars. The overwhelming majority of those projects are funded by the gas tax and have nothing to do with this so-called ‘I-976 crisis.’ It’s simply political retribution against voters wanting to keep more of their tax dollars.

“Since joining the Senate, I’ve been fighting for a solution that actually addresses the underlying problems with funding transportation in our state. The Legislature is taxing working people and families to death with usage-related policies when the problem is inflation. If we simply used the existing sales tax on motor vehicles, we could fund all our transportation needs and then some with money people already send to Olympia.

“Taxpayers don’t distinguish between general fund and transportation accounts; they just expect results from what the state is taking out of their wallets. It’s our responsibility to use those dollars wisely.

“The Legislature should act now to give voters what they want – $30 car tabs. We can do that without a significant hit to our transportation funding like the somewhat flawed initiative does with all the other things in it.”

 

Fortunato’s $30 car tab legislation to receive public hearing

Before the 2020 legislative session, state Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, advocated for a special session to address the $30 car tab legal challenge that placed the needed tax-relief measure on hold. Now, Fortunato’s “clean” bill to avoid single-subject concerns that precipitated the Initiative 976 lawsuit will receive a public hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee.

“I’m very pleased that the Senate at least is giving the public a fair shot to have their voice heard on this issue,” said Fortunato. “After the court once again cited the ‘single-subject’ requirements in the state constitution as a reason to ignore the will of the voters, I have dropped a clean, one-subject bill to avoid further legal issues.”

Similar single-subject arguments were made nearly 20 years ago when voters approved Initiative 695 which resulted in the court overturning the initiative. “This legislation will give taxpayers what they want, what they voted for – affordable car tabs,” Fortunato added.

“The battle over $30 car tabs that has played out for decades is emblematic of the problems with Olympia,” Fortunato said. “Who down here is actually listening to the voters? It’s really a simple concept that I’m fighting for – trust the people when they tell you what they want. I fought for the original fix back then and will continue to do so.”

The public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in the John A. Cherberg Building, Hearing Room 1. You can watch the hearing live on TVW by clicking here.

The 2020 session is underway

Greetings from Olympia,

It has been a busy three weeks in Olympia. Early on, the Senate took to the floor to push through legislation that was left over from last session. Unfortunately, not much of what was passed will help address the pressing issues of homelessness, rising costs of health care, or public safety. In fact, a couple of notable pieces of legislation that passed along party-lines would do the opposite.

I’m concerned about finding solutions to real-world problems, not pandering to special interests.

Expanded protections for criminals?

Consider that in the first week of the legislative session, one of the priorities of the majority (I used that term very loosely) was to expand protections for people in the country illegally. You may recall that last year Washington became a sanctuary state. Since then, we’ve seen horrendous crimes committed by those who should have been deported, but because police cannot communicate with immigration officials, they are set free. The legislation approved by the Senate makes citizenship status a protected class against discrimination. Watch my short video by clicking here.

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Please follow me @SenatorPhilFortunato to receive updates on my work here in Olympia. Invite others in our district to follow and like my page!

More than just money

We all know that homelessness and affordable housing are a serious problem in our state. That is why last week I announced my comprehensive plan to deal with this. The current majority has done little to move our state forward besides proposing that we take $300 million from the state’s rainy-day fund to ‘fight’ homelessness. The state spends $625 million already and we aren’t getting results you deserve. I don’t think throwing more money at the problem will actually solve it. What do we need to do? Watch my news conference to find out more.

Watch my news conference to find out more.

Keeping our communities safe

My heart goes out to the victims of the recent shootings in Seattle. It is a sad commentary on policies at the state level and a local criminal justice system that is failing the city’s residents. The simple fact is that we are too soft on crime. Prosecutors aren’t pursuing charges when they should, and result is that two criminals who had 65 arrests between them were free to engage in a gun battle on a crowded downtown street. I say no more.

The answer isn’t more gun control on law-abiding citizens, but that’s exactly the response from many in Olympia. I’m sure that these two criminals who were illegally in possession of those firearms really cared about the concealed-carry class requirements or magazine-capacity ban. Watch my video on how I think we should address this problem and keep our communities safe.

Standing up for property rights

Some people just don’t get that we have a right to control property that we own. That is especially lost on some with the Seattle City council. A committee recently approved an arguably unconstitutional ban on evictions during the winter.

Don’t get me wrong, eviction is a terrible thing for people. But, in perspective, that proposal is a ‘solution’ in search of a problem. Evictions are costly, take a long time, and are rare. In addition, there are numerous resources to help those going through that process to prevent them from becoming homeless that doesn’t require stripping people’s private property rights.

The consequence of this policy is to allow people to live rent free in the winter and move out in the spring, while the landlord runs the risk of foreclosure. That is why I introduced legislation that would prevent local jurisdictions from messing with the state’s carefully crafted landlord tenant laws that we just enhanced last legislative session.

Read my news release here.

It is an honor serving as your state Senator.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any concerns you have about your state government.

Sincerely,

Fortunato Signature

Phil Fortunato,

Your 31st District State Senator

Announcing the Tax Watchdog Committee

Last year, legislative Democrats approved $26 billion in new taxes over the next decade. One the proposals in that package included an increase in the regressive business and occupation (B&O) tax on everything from health-care providers to housing services. Despite the state Department of Revenue indicating the bill violates four of five sound principles of taxation and whether the estimated revenues could be collected, Democrats passed a similar ‘fix’ in the third week of the 2020 session, shutting down amendments to ease tax burdens on small businesses. The original bill left a $200-million hole in the account that funds higher education.

Voters spoke clearly in last year’s General Election, rejecting a majority of the tax increases in advisory votes, but this week’s second bite of the apple has spurred Senate Republicans to focus their efforts on relentless tax increases by forming the Tax Watchdog Committee.

Members of the committee include:

“This B&O tax bill is our first alert,” said Fortunato. “Reimbursement rates for nursing homes haven’t kept up and they are struggling to stay open and looking for state assistance. So, what’s the solution to this problem? The majority is raising taxes on those same facilities. It’s shortsighted and emblematic of the problems with how the majority budgets. They create a problem, raise taxes to ‘fix it’ and leave taxpayers holding the bag.”

More Verbal Camouflage – Tax Increases are now Reforms

It’s verbal camouflage. Just like Initiative 976 that is tied up in the courts because of a “confusing” title, the Senate just approved a bill over my objection that “reforms” the state’s regressive business & occupation tax. What it really did is just make sure more small businesses are paying the higher tax rate. We have a crisis of nursing home closing in our state and what does this bill do? You guessed it, raise taxes on nursing homes. Watch my remarks on the Senate floor.

 

Fortunato proposal ices Seattle winter eviction ban

State Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, has introduced legislation, Senate Bill 6651, to preempt efforts by local jurisdictions that undo the state’s carefully crafted landlord tenant laws concerning evictions.

In an extraordinary and arguably unconstitutional move, a Seattle City Council committee approved a policy sponsored by Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant that would ban evictions during the winter months.

“We’ve done a lot of work in Olympia regarding evictions and rental housing,” said Fortunato. “Last session, that is practically all we did on housing, besides raise taxes. What we don’t need are more bad ideas from Seattle that are just a ‘solution’ in search of a problem.”

There are currently over 160,000 rental units in Seattle. In 2017, 1,218 evictions were filed resulting in only 558 actual removals, or 0.3 percent of all units in the city. In addition, the Seattle Mariners contributed $3 million for the Home Base fund, which is managed by the United Way for purposes of helping those going through eviction to prevent homelessness.

“The proposal in Seattle is clearly an unconstitutional taking of private property,” Fortunato added. “The state cannot allow a patchwork of landlord tenant laws that result in people’s property rights being eroded.”

The Sawant-led proposal is very roughly modeled on policies used in Paris, France, but does not include other provisions such as insurance policies or narrow qualifications to have an eviction postponed. The proposal that was approved late last week includes none of these requirements and would ban eviction for nonpayment of rent.

“What this policy will end up doing is incentivizing more evictions,” said Fortunato. “If the eviction ban goes through, Seattle will just have to look forward to an eviction season come spring. It seems some members on the council want to rule by fiat. They should consider banning winter all together.”

Raiding state’s rainy-day fund is ‘stupid but not unconstitutional’

State Sen. Phil Fortunato is disappointed that Gov. Jay Inslee’s supplemental budget proposal seeks to raid the state’s constitutional rainy-day fund to the tune of over $300 million. Fortunato, R-Auburn made this statement regarding how the governor’s proposal could leave Washington vulnerable in the event of an economic downturn.

“In 2018 the state had a significant surplus yet the Legislature’s new Democrat majority diverted $700 million from the Budget Stabilization Account,” said Fortunato. “The state treasurer pleaded with them to not set that ‘dangerous precedent.’ Now Inslee wants to tap the savings account even more. It’s like the brother-in-law who borrows $700 million and says he’ll pay you back by borrowing another $300 million. When will the taxpayers get their billion dollars back?

“The rainy-day fund is supposed to be safeguarded in the event of an emergency or economic downturn.  Even though the state’s coffers are bursting at the seams with taxpayer money, due in large part to federal tax cuts and deregulation, the governor want to break the piggy bank and spend even more? It is, to quote Justice Scalia, stupid but not unconstitutional. When is enough, enough?

“The reality is the state’s budget is so bloated that even the sizable reserves in the treasury won’t last long in the event of a downturn. For that reason, withdrawing anything is a wrong move. We need smart policies to address our state’s homelessness situation, not the governor’s approach of throwing more good money after bad.”