Sen. John Braun Commentary: Make life in our state better by passing initiatives, electing more Republicans
Friday, August 23, 2024
A new set of rankings from WalletHub, a personal-finance website, recently prompted a report on a prominent regional news outlet, with this headline: “Why didn’t Washington make the top 20 in best states to live?”
Top 20? We didn’t even make the top 30.
WalletHub’s list of best states to live in, issued Aug. 12, ranks Washington 35th based on what the website calls five key dimensions: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life and safety.
Our state ranked 36th for affordability, the category in which the most weight was given to the cost of living. When it came to safety, the factors given the most weight were the property-crime rate and the number of law enforcement officers per capita. Washington ranked 50th in that category, as in dead last.
Being ranked number 35 out of 50 looks even worse when you go back a couple of months to the release of WalletHub’s “best and worst economies” list, which ranked Washington first out of 50.
Think about that. Although our state economy was rated higher than all others, it still wasn’t enough to pull Washington into even the top 30 of the best states to live in, once other important factors are considered.
For the past few years, the top legislative priorities for Senate Republicans have started with affordability and public safety.
We appreciate that Washington’s economy has remained steady for years. Still, that’s worth only so much when families are being crushed by a high cost of living and don’t feel safe.
Our state, according to a writer for WalletHub, “could potentially climb the rankings if leaders focused on reducing crime rates and making housing more affordable.”
Unfortunately, that’s a big “if.”
Democrats weren’t focused on reducing crime rates when they passed the law prohibiting law enforcement officers from engaging in vehicular pursuits based on reasonable suspicion.
Luckily, the hundreds of thousands of Washington voters who put Initiative 2113 before the Legislature earlier this year care about fighting crime.
Thanks to the unanimous support of Republicans, who also want lower crime rates, I-2113 was passed while we were in session. It took effect in June, repealing the Democrats’ criminal-friendly law.
Democrats weren’t focused on making housing more affordable when they passed the cap-and-tax law, officially known as the Climate Commitment Act (CCA).
The CCA has not only driven up home-heating costs but inspired the Democrats’ move to ban natural gas in our state. That began this year with the legislation they passed to restrict choices for the 900,000 natural-gas customers of our state’s largest monopoly utility.
This fall Washington voters can and should repeal the CCA by approving Initiative 2117 and block the attempted natural-gas ban by passing Initiative 2066.
Passing I-2117 will not only reduce home energy costs but also lower the general cost of living in our state, because of how the CCA has driven up gasoline prices.
The average cost of a gallon of regular in our state is still firmly third-highest in the nation, behind Hawaii, which has to deal with shipping costs, and California, the only other state with a cap-and-tax law.
We’re still about 35 cents per gallon higher than Oregon and 60 cents higher than Idaho. Our neighbor to the east ranked sixth on the list of best states to live in — with the breakdown including fourth for safety and sixth for affordability.
Then there was the bill Democrats pushed to triple: the voter-approved 1% limit on the annual growth of property-tax rates — another way to make housing even less affordable.
While that legislation was pulled back this year in the face of intense pressure from the public and Senate Republicans, no one doubts the Democrats will try again as long as one-party rule continues in Olympia.
Voters can help by sending more Republicans to the Capitol, from Washington’s Fifth District, for instance. That’s where Democrat Bill Ramos, a House member, is seeking a promotion to the position made vacant by Democrat Sen. Mark Mullet’s unsuccessful run for governor.
In a statement to voters ahead of the Aug. 6 primary, Ramos claimed to have “prioritized affordability, safety and livability” while serving in Olympia.
Let’s see: In the affordability category, Ramos helped increase the cost of energy, and overall cost of living, by supporting the Climate Commitment Act.
He also backed the first step toward a full state income tax — meaning the tax on capital-gains income, which can be repealed this fall by passing Initiative 2109.
Ramos helped pass the controversial deal, which stands to cost that one utility’s natural gas customers up to $70,000 each to replace gas appliances with electric versions. Again, voters can derail that terrible precedent and protect energy choice by approving I-2066.
But it’s his record on public-safety legislation that really sets Ramos apart, for all the wrong reasons.
Besides supporting the anti-pursuit law, his votes at the committee level included support for HB 2178, which would have let sex offenders off community supervision, and HB 1268, which would have reduced time served for sentencing enhancements for violent offenders, firearms offenses, and gang members.
Voters in the Fifth District should choose former House member Chad Magendanz to succeed Mullet.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson has his own issues when it comes to the two issues that drove our state so far down WalletHub’s list of best places to live.
Remember, Ferguson’s idea of lowering the cost of living includes distributing checks earlier this year to tens of thousands of Washington residents on the belief they were harmed by the price of chicken and tuna, whether they actually were or not.
The fact that Ferguson’s name was prominently printed on the checks, and the handouts continued long past the time that he had filed to become a candidate for governor — those things say a lot about his judgment, or lack thereof.
Also, on the subject of public safety, stay tuned for more disclosures about the role Ferguson’s office has played in the release of sexually violent predators. Details are still emerging, but reportedly this may include offenders who were released quietly into communities, and sometimes without supervision.
That’s on top of the attorney general’s refusal to answer candidate questions from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, even though Ferguson vows to hire more officers if elected — officers who would serve under the sheriffs and police chiefs he is ignoring.
Republicans are focused on advocating and adopting policies that will make Washington a better place to live, which includes bringing the cost of living down and making our communities safer. Should that lift our state into a top-20 ranking on WalletHub or somewhere else, it’ll be a bonus.
The voters of Washington can help: Pass all of the initiatives on the ballot — vote yes, pay less — and by all means, put more Republicans in office this fall.
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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties, from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.