We had the good fortune of having visits to our county Democrats meeting Saturday from both Rep. Ramel and Congressman Larsen. Here is a summary of our meeting.
State Rep. Alex Ramel addressed us at noon. He first talked about Covid19. The curve on Covid19 is flattening lower than where we thought it might be. Luckily our hospitals are not having to prioritize whom to treat but can treat anyone. The economic recovery will be done in stages as we bring different industries back to work.
The legislative session accomplished a lot on housing affordability and homelessness. Tenant protections were passed. The housing trust fund added $55 million for homes that will stay affordable. Preventing homelessness was addressed by putting $20 million toward a fund to pay temporary rent for 2,000 people. Shelter grants were approved. HB 1590 gives local government the taxing authority to raise revenue for local priorities; it can be used to match money from state and federal. All these priorities are focused on urban areas. There will be areas that are part of the Growth Management Areas to preserve land.
On climate, a community solar bill passed to try to make solar energy affordable for anyone. A commercial building retrofits bill passed. None of the bigger items on climate passed, though there was a bill passed encouraging more electric vehicles. Alex says that the virus can be used as an opportunity to start to transition on energy and that state legislators can have some input on this. We can use this sense of urgency to act. The oil and gas industry is on its heels: there had been a price war on oil in international markets, and this industry is hurting the worst it ever has. We can invest our time and energy in a different future, we can change the trajectory. When we have stimulus money to spend, it should be spent on clean energy, energy-efficient housing, not expanding roads which invites more cars, etc.
A question was asked about how to protect farmworkers, Rep. Lekanoff is the point person on this, she will be preparing a letter to the governor suggesting ways to help here. We need more social distancing in their housing and more PPE. We expect 25,000 people working on farms by July.
On ferries, the Elwha is not going to be repaired. We do need a fifth boat for the summer rotation. There was an effort in the state senate to privatize the international ferry run, but Senator Lovelett killed it. Privatizing will still be studied but there will be lots of local input. They are looking at a run from Fidalgo Island to Vancouver Island. Hybrid electric ferries are several years away. They will look at existing ferries to see if one of them can be a backup for the international run.
School levies are of concern in our county. Small communities with high property values are not being treated fairly, which leaves not enough funding for schools. Our three legislators offered bills to remedy this situation, but all were defeated. We need to be able to pay our teachers enough to be able to live here.
There are no challengers yet to our three state legislators in the upcoming election. If Alex does not have an opponent, he will work to help others who need help, and his campaign money will go to electing House Democrats. Susan suggested Alex sending us information on campaigns we can help with. Alex says it takes lots of allies, a coalition, to get things done, so it makes sense to help get other good people elected.
Our PCOs will be voting for delegates to the Congressional District selection process, which will choose delegates to go to the national convention this summer, and these delegates will also attend the state convention (unless it is also done remotely, which looks likely). There is still time to file to be a delegate for either Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders. While it looks like Biden will be the nominee, Sanders delegates can have influence on the party platform, so it is worth your while to be a delegate no matter who you support. And chances are it will all be done remotely unless you opt to attend the national convention in Milwaukee. If you want to run, go to waelectioncenter.com.
Congressman Rick Larsen addressed us on Covid 19 at 1:00. He said that this Monday the IRS will begin distributing the payments to people; it should be nontaxable income. Most people will automatically either receive direct deposit or a check if one of the following applies to you:
Individuals who filed a federal income tax for 2018 or 2019
Individuals who receive Social Security retirement, disability (SSDI), or survivor benefits
Individuals who receive Railroad Retirement benefits
However, if none of these apply, the IRS will not be contacting you; instead, you have to contact them. Go to https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/non-filers-enter-payment-info-here By the way, if someone contacts you claiming to be the IRS, it is not the IRS, it is a scam.
There will be filing on April 18 for unemployment assistance. Unemployment claims are 7 or 8 times higher than during Great Recession. Esd.wa.gov is the website for independent contractors and part-time people to file, those whose employers have paid into state unemployment will be covered through that. The Payment Protection Program is administered through banks for small businesses. Companies with more than 500 employees cannot participate in the Payment Protection Program, it is for small businesses. There is a wide range of loan amounts, the average being $500,000. They are looking at possibly raising the number of employees for companies to be eligible.
The Department of Health at doh.wa.gov has health information.
Can this crisis be used for transitioning to clean energy? When Congress is in session, there will be a transportation/infrastructure package considered that will orient toward cleaner burning fuels, electrification, more efficient sewer and water systems, more efficient airplane transportation, broadband, etc.; all this is in the Moving America and the Environment Forward bill.
Will Congress try to provide leadership to providing supplies for the crisis appropriately instead of as a political favor the way the president has been doing? The governors have been trying to coordinate with each other. There is no way to fix the current system under this president, we need new people in charge who are trying to lead in an organized and helpful manner. In some cases the vendor has decided where to send its supplies. Congress set up a commission to look at this misappropriation. There are many committees doing oversight. Because Congress isn’t meeting for a few more weeks, it is hard to oversee everything going on. Hopefully they can exert the power of the purse to stop the administration from doing the wrong things.
Related to elections this year, $400 million was put in the second package to protect elections and run them in an election emergency including vote-by-mail, which Rick supports nationally. Congress is trying to fix the Voting Rights Act, which had been undercut by the Shelby decision. Congress has a big voting rights bill ready to pass. The Voting Advancement Act would work against voter suppression.
The Congressman was asked about employer-based healthcare coverage, has Rick changed his view on Medicare-for-All? With so many people losing their healthcare coverage along with their jobs, doesn’t it make sense to stop tying healthcare coverage to employment? Rick supports the Affordable Care Act and expanding it to include a public option plus a bill to make prescriptions negotiable for Medicare. He wants a special enrollment period to allow people to buy in. He wants to stabilize prices. He thinks this is the consensus among Congress right now.
Rick was asked about Boeing and all its workers in the Congressional District. Boeing was having some severe issues before the virus, what programs are being supported for them? Money has been included to provide loans to companies generally seen as critical to national security, but Boeing has yet to say if they are going to participate. This is frustrating to the employees’ union and Rick, he has contacted Boeing but received no response.
Rick’s campaign is up and running. He is running for his 11th term.
We need volunteers to be on the Charter Review Commission. There was a good article in Orcas Issues on this: https://orcasissues.com/charter-review-commission-to-be-elected-in-2020/ . The county website on this is https://www.sanjuanco.com/civicalerts.aspx?aid=856 . I will be trying to find out if this will be done remotely. This is a position for which you need to file during the filing week of May 11-15, you are then elected in the fall election.
If you have been waiting for a good opportunity to get involved with the county Democrats and you are somewhat tech-savvy, we really need a person to manage our Facebook page. Please contact me if you would be interested.
The filing period for this year’s election is May 11-15. If you have been thinking about running for Precinct Committee Officer (PCO), this will be the time for you to file with the county elections office, which you can do online. We will have a few open seats, which you can run for, or you can challenge an incumbent. I should know shortly which geographic seats will be open. Feel free to contact me to find out if your precinct will have an open seat or if you want to find out more about being a PCO.
Now that Senator Sanders has suspended his presidential campaign, we briefly discussed when and how to show support for Mr. Biden’s campaign. It was mentioned that nothing is for sure until the convention, and there could be any number of events between now and then that might prevent Mr. Biden from becoming the nominee. Therefore, especially with Bernie Sanders still collecting delegates and hanging on to those he already has, we will be waiting until the convention to do anything in this regard. We are all committed to supporting the Democratic nominee, as the number one goal has to be replacing Trump. So stay tuned.
Related to this, now that there is really no longer a presidential campaign, if you have been donating to presidential candidates, it may be time to move your money to one or more of the Senate races we would like to win. After all, even if we elect a Democratic president, it won’t mean a lot without a Democratic Senate to pass the appropriate legislation instead of holding it up on Mitch McConnell’s desk to die. Therefore, I am going to mention some Senate races where you might want to think about supporting the Democrat:
Maine…incumbent (I) is Susan Collins
Kentucky…I—Mitch McConnell, the Grim Reaper
South Carolina…I—Lindsay Graham (need I say more?)
Texas…I—John Cornin (Texas is turning blue)
Colorado…I—Cory Gardner (Colorado is purple with a gay governor & other senator a Dem)
Georgia…Has 2 seats up for election, one of which is open
That’s it for now. Stay safe and healthy. Let’s get through this crisis and then work to build a better America.