Subduction Zone

Northwest Dealings

Author: ed itor

Idaho

An Idea That Should Catch On

Something is quite broken if we can’t get along with each other without a spate of new laws being rolled out by legislatures each year. This is a refreshing idea from Idaho: As they plan for a future state capitol renovation, state officials have always factored in a need to hold one or two years’ legislative sessions outside the building during construction. House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, offered a different plan today: Why not skip a year? Great idea! One that should be made permanent and one that should be contagious.

Oregon

Oregon House Dems Have a Blog

The new blog started by the Oregon house democrats is an interesting idea. On the main page you get a normal blog format with the usual sequential entry listing. Alternately, each member is a category and you can click a link on the left sidebar to get all the entries from a specific politician. Yep, they are politicians and it will be interesting to see if all we get is politician speak or if these folks are ready to open themselves up as real people. I’d be happily shocked if it is not the former. It would be a treat...

Oregon / Taxation

Oregon’s Proposed Mileage Tax

As some of you may remember Oregon is planning to evaluate a proposal to replace their gasoline sales tax with a per mile assessment. For residents they contemplate equipping each vehicle with a GPS system and have special readers at gas stations that will add your mileage assesment to your refill bill. Out of staters would continue to pay a gas tax at the pump as they do today. The privacy issues and the cost to implement and administer should stop this dead in its tracks. But governments are driven to maximize their revenue so unless plenty of folks step...

Washington

516 Bills?

Washington’s current governor is pretty excited: I just finished signing 516 bills passed by the Legislature, a new record. 516 bills?? A record?? This is something to be proud of? Did she veto anything besides the tobacco reallocation? Did any of these bills remove old, obsolete or inappropriate laws from the books? Sorry, I’m just having a little trouble visualizing how 516 new laws is a good thing. I could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. So, from time to time over the next couple years I’ll pull one up and we can evaluate it together. Via Josef...

Economics / Law Enforcement / Seattle

Who Is the Seattle City Council Protecting?

The Binary Circumstance suggests that there may be more than “protecting the community” to Seattle’s strip club moratorium: Locally it has been suggested that the real purpose of the moratorium has been to insure that existing strip clubs don’t lose their monopoly on the market Well Kauf von Bactrim online , sure, monopolies are the natural result of any government imposed restriction on entry whether it is stip clubs, hospitals, lawyers, pharaceuticals, or….well, the list is near endless.

Taxation / Vancouver

Port Commission Wants to Harm Local Business

Over at Columbia Watch Stilwell notes: I suppose the local GOP will rise up in outrage at this socialized-business approach. Shouldn’t the free market provide all the port development we need? Oh, right. Republicans only oppose taxes when they can make political hay out of it, not when their buddies are proposing them. He’s right. It is quite wrong to conflate republicans with free market economics. With regard to the Port Commission’s desire to raise $60.1 via taxes: well , just say no. The local businesses should be up in arms about this as it is taking money right out...