The Republican-led Senate instead recognized an opportunity to deal with systemic flaws that put many students at a disadvantage. Those infirmities were limiting educational opportunities, especially for children in school districts with lower property values.

During the first half of May, administrators at the University of Washington patiently negotiated with pro-Hamas protesters about voluntarily dismantling their illegal encampment at the center of the Seattle campus.

Senate Bill 5770, initially sponsored by 20 Democratic senators, would have tripled Washington’s long-standing 1% cap on the annual growth of property taxes.

Anyone who buys gasoline already knows how the price of a gallon of unleaded regular in our state has shot up since majority Democrats’ cap-and-tax law — the so-called Climate Commitment Act, or CCA — took full effect in 2023. The same gas costs significantly less in Oregon and Idaho, which are free of a cap-and-tax policy.

Republicans see absolutely no need for an income tax in Washington. Thanks to unanimous support from Republican legislators, Initiative 2111 was passed on March 4. It outlaws any income tax at any level of government in our state.

Knowing what the Legislature did and didn’t do this year with the six initiatives submitted to it by the people of Washington, I couldn’t help noticing what a big-city newspaper columnist recently wrote under the headline “The cost of repealing state laws on climate, health, and capital gains.”

In 2021, there was a three-way tie for the title of “worst bill” passed by majority Democrats. Their new cap-and-trade climate law, new tax on income from capital gains and new limits on law enforcement pursuits each took Washington in the wrong direction.

During the news conference he held minutes after the Legislature adjourned for the year, Gov. Jay Inslee praised his Democrat allies in the Senate and House because they didn’t “collapse” or go backwards by approving Initiative 2117, Initiative 2109 and Initiative 2124 while we were in session.

When the majority Democrats are on the wrong side of an issue, a setback for them is also a win for the people. Here are several examples from this just-concluded session. Each is important in its way.