-Homelessness is a housing crisis.
-Governor Inslee has big plans
for the upcoming legislative session,
asking lawmakers to put
a $4 billion housing measure in front of voters.
-It's a big lift to get that through
because that requires a referendum.
-Also on the agenda, a debate over banning assault weapons
and other gun-safety measures.
-We know we're losing people.
-Plus, how will lawmakers fix a problematic drug-possession law?
-There's just a lot of untreated drug use.
-As the busy 2023 session begins,
what bills will likely pass or fail?
-Young people need more
intensive support than ever before.
-Our panel of lawmakers weighs in.
-And also, I think there's an acknowledgment
that the war on drugs didn't work.
-A preview of the upcoming legislative session,
next on "City Inside Out."
♪♪
Welcome to this edition of "City Inside Out."
I'm your host, Brian Callanan.
With the new year comes a new state legislative session,
where lawmakers will take on several well-known challenges,
ranging from public safety and gun violence
to homelessness and housing, climate change,
health care, and education, too.
But with several new faces now representing Seattle
at the state level, following the November elections,
it's less well known what impact
those political newcomers will have.
This week, we're looking at the priorities
the city of Seattle wants Olympia to focus on
as we preview an action-packed,
105-day state legislative session ahead.
As Washington's largest city, Seattle has a major impact
on policy decisions at the state capitol.
But the question now for Mayor Bruce Harrell
is how the November elections will play out in Olympia.
-So there's a lot of new faces and new people.
-With a number of veteran lawmakers
from Seattle area districts deciding not to run again,
voters picked several political newcomers,
making the city's annual task
of setting its state lobbying agenda
that much more difficult.
-We don't know the views of a lot of the new legislators,
and that will be a big factor.
-Mayor Harrell is pushing for many public-safety measures
in the wake of a spike in gun violence.
-We have an unprecedented opportunity
to look at gun safety.
As in years past, he's asking the state
to grant Seattle and other cities
the ability to pass their own stricter gun laws.
-Just giving cities an opportunity
to not be exempted through state law
and perhaps to impose reasonable regulations
to protect their cities.
-Harrell is also supportive of a plan
to build a new system of police academies statewide
to get a bigger and more diverse group of officers
through the training pipeline faster.
But the mayor says police officers
are just part of the public-safety picture.
So he's also asking the state for more flexibility
on how the city spends its real-estate excise taxes
with an eye towards more investments in mental health.
-So we're hoping to use some of that revenue to come up
with more non-police interactions to help people.
-Mayor Harrell says, as Seattle continues to work with Olympia
on homeless encampments around state highways,
more wraparound services like addiction treatment
should be made available, too.
-As the state cleans up the right of ways,
we want them to message and nurture the same people.
That's the same demographic, and -- and I'm very optimistic
that there will be funding for this kind of work.
-That issue of drug treatment is also a priority
for Senate majority floor leader Jamie Pedersen,
who serves on the Senate's Law and Justice Committee.
-The current system, I don't think,
is really making anybody happy.
-The state Supreme Court's Blake decision in 2021
struck down Washington's felony drug-possession law
and the temporary fix lawmakers made
to recriminalize drug possession as a misdemeanor
will expire July 1st of this year.
But the system in place now,
requiring mandatory diversion to drug treatment
on a person's first two arrests,
gives law enforcement no way to properly track offenders,
and there aren't enough
treatment services available either.
-There's no question that we need to make
dramatically more significant investments in the system
that can give people care that they need
because it's really a health-care problem.
It's not a criminal-justice problem.
-Pedersen, who's also working on an assault-weapons ban,
says, after a November election where Democrats increased
their majorities in the state House and Senate,
he's less open to a plan from Republicans to roll back
2021 police reform measures like limits on car chases.
-I think the voters have delivered a verdict to us
that they feel more threatened by gun violence
and would like us to address public safety in that way
than they do by the police reform work that we did in 2021.
-That's one of many priorities
for Representative Joe Fitzgibbon,
the Democrat from the 34th District
who's taking on a new role in Olympia.
-As House majority leader. I think I'll be
dealing with a broader range of issues.
-The former chair of the House Environment and Energy Committee
is following through on some big issues,
like creating a more efficient statewide recycling system,
making it easier to build clean-energy facilities,
and figuring out where to invest money
that will come in this year from the state's top polluters
via the 2021 Climate Commitment Act.
-We probably won't see as many
of the sort of the big headline-grabbing bills
this year on climate specifically,
but the work is not done.
-Fitzgibbon says there's also plenty of work to do
on housing and homelessness.
-The root cause of our homelessness crisis
is a housing shortage.
We just don't have enough homes.
-Governor Inslee wants to put a $4 billion bond measure
for housing in front of voters this year,
which the legislature will have to approve to put on the ballot.
Fitzgibbon says that may be a big lift.
Seattle voters will face a citywide measure
on social housing in February
and a proposal to increase the Seattle housing levy
in November, as needs for all levels of housing
continue to rise.
-We really need an all-of-the-above approach.
We have to be putting a dent in both market-rate
and deeply subsidized units
in order for them not to cannibalize one another.
-On top of all of those issues,
the state is also trying to implement
the controversial Washington Cares program for long-term care
and properly fund K-through-12 education
amid falling enrollment numbers.
It's a steep learning curve ahead
for some new Seattle area lawmakers
and the local leaders hoping to influence them
as a new legislative session in Olympia gets underway.
And joining me to discuss a little bit more
about what's happening in Olympia,
I have with me Representative Nicole Macri,
the Democrat from the 43rd District
from downtown up North -- Northeast Seattle.
She's also a vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee
and the budget lead for the Democrats in the House.
Thank you very much for being here, Nicole.
-Thanks for having me, Brian.
-And also we have with us Senator Joe Nguyen,
the Democrat from the 34th District in White Center,
West Seattle out to Vashon, and new chair of the Senate
Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee.
Good to have you, too, Joe. -Thank you for having me.
-Let's jump right into it, and, Representative Macri, I'll start with you.
The legislature has one of its long sessions ahead,
meaning it'll craft a two-year budget over a 105-day period.
That's the plan. The budget work is the main job
of your Appropriations Committee You're the Budget Lead.
And I just want your thoughts
on the governor's recent budget proposal here.
Are there major changes needed? What are the big
budget priorities on the table right now?
-Yeah, well, I was very glad
to see the governor's budget proposal.
I think the governor's budget draft really builds on the work
that Democrats did last year and the year before,
as we were navigating through the COVID pandemic,
really looking to invest in the communities
who needed the state support the most.
We made historic investments over the last two years
in housing, behavioral health, long-term care.
And the governor sustains a lot of that
and doubles down on a lot of it.
And we can see his priorities in our health-care workforce,
particularly in behavioral health,
and unprecedented investments
in -- in housing and homelessness.
-And we're going to pull apart some of those issues, too.
But thank you for breaking those pieces down.
Senator Nguyen, I'll go to you.
The governor wants to ramp up spending by about 10%,
pushing the budget over the $70 billion mark.
Some Republicans in the Senate, and I know you know them --
they're concerned this isn't the right time
to be spending more with continued high inflation
and a possible recession on the horizon.
I just want to make sure I put that in perspective there.
Some overall thoughts on what you're focused on
with the budget as the session begins.
-Yeah, no, and it's great to see that proposal come out as well.
What I will note is that it's a little bit different
in the legislature versus Seattle or King County.
We -- We don't generally adopt what the governor proposes.
And oftentimes there's gonna be robust discussions
associated with it, so it's a great place for us
to see kind of how he's thinking.
I know that we have a lot of values
that are very much aligned in terms of affordability,
in terms of mental-behavioral health, in terms of climate
and environment and stuff like that as well.
But -- But I will say, at least in -- in the Senate side,
you know, we are gonna be mindful that the economy
is not as strong as we would like.
We're very fortunate that the forecasts
and things have been going well. We do have additional funds
coming in from the Climate Commitment Act, right? -Yeah.
-So we have to be thoughtful in how we spend these funds
and these resources in partnership
with our local jurisdictions, even the federal government.
-Yeah. -But -- But expect some changes.
Okay. All right. Good to know. -Yeah.
-And, Senator Nguyen, I want to talk with you about the CCA,
the Climate Commitment Act, and this is a big part... -Yeah. Yeah.
-...of the work you're doing on your committee there.
So the CCA aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in our state.
I'll try to break this down here.
It actually sets a price on those emissions
that bigger businesses will have to pay for
through an emission-allowance auction process. -Yeah.
-Walk us through the weeds here, if you could here.
How is this gonna work? And please also touch on where
the money that's coming in from this -- where's that gonna go?
-Yeah. So the high level is that California, Quebec --
other jurisdictions already do this.
So for us to decarbonize, there's a couple of ways.
Carbon credits is one
which hasn't passed in Washington state.
What did pass was the Climate Commitment Act,
which is basically a cap and invest program.
It's a market-based solution to help us decarbonize.
And what's interesting is that one actually had support
from larger corporations
who I think wanted to do that anyways.
It gives them a market mechanism to decarbonize
in a very thoughtful way.
So we are gonna have our first auction in February.
California's been doing it. Quebec has been doing it.
We may link with them in the future as well.
So essentially, depending on your -- your company
or your business, you have to decarbonize a certain amount.
-Right. -And you have offsets,
you have credits, you can mitigate some of those things,
and if you choose to do so voluntarily,
you can then auction off your excess credits
to then raise funds to then pay
for some of the work that you're doing.
So it's a market-based solution to decarbonize.
It's forcing us as a state to reach carbon levels
like half of what it is in 2017
and be able to do that in a thoughtful way that --
that is actually supported by the business community as well,
which, candidly, haven't always been on board
with some of those efforts. -Right.
-And -- And what we're seeing is that the -- the funds
associated with it will likely get to
about $1 billion per year,
which is fairly significant. -Wow. Yeah.
And where's that money going? -Exactly.
-Yeah. -So that's -- that's the biggest conversations
that we're gonna have right now. -Okay.
-So largely decarbonization.
There's strong provisions in that proposal
around climate justice and equity.
So you'll see a lot of funding go towards communities
that have been historically impacted.
So a lot of the work that we're doing
isn't just to set ourselves up for the future.
We're gonna actually try to fix
some of the things from the past as well.
So everything from energy projects,
sitings, facilities, transmission,
you know, electrification, stuff like that.
-Okay. Thank you. A lot of different pieces there.
-Yeah, yeah. -I'm anxious to see what happens
with that auction next month.
Representative Macri, I want to talk about the work
you're doing on the Health Care and Wellness Committee
'cause you also work there as well.
When it comes to behavioral health, of course,
you're working with the Downtown Emergency Service Center
here downtown in Seattle.
There's a lot of focus on this in Seattle this year.
The city's gonna be launching some new 911 alternatives.
It's happening in the early part of this year,
providing some social workers
with the training that go out to some of these lower acuity
mental-health and drug-treatment calls
so police don't have to go to them as much.
I know this is something you're very connected to.
Can you talk to me about, I guess,
what's happening in Seattle and also your top priorities
when it comes to behavioral health
and public health this year?
-Yeah, I'll say House Democrats surveyed our caucus,
and what -- there were two issues that came out
as sort of the top issues that folks were hearing about.
And don't forget, in the House,
every single member was out for election.
And so a lot of conversations happening with neighbors
across the state.
And the top two issues were housing and homelessness
and behavioral health, and in behavioral health
in particular, concerns about crisis response,
which, as you say, was a big area of conversation... -Yeah.
-...during the city budget. -Yeah.
-And behavioral health supports for kids --
for children and youth.
And so I think we'll see a lot of focus on that.
That certainly is gonna be a focus
in the Health Care and Wellness Committee,
but also in our budget deliberations.
So we were first in the nation... -Okay.
-...to roll out the 988 crisis line... -Right.
-...suicide prevention and crisis line in the country... -Yeah.
-...after some federal efforts to get that going. -Right.
-And we will see work led primarily
by a Senator Manka Dhingra and Representative Tina Orwall
to build on the policy that we've done in the past,
which will, I think, align really nicely with the efforts
that both King County and Seattle
have been promoting over the last couple of years.
-Right. -And then for our young people,
we know, in our schools -- in our K-12 schools --
that we need more support, including in special ed,
but in counseling and social work for students. -Yeah.
-Any parent can tell you the challenges
of supporting kids right now who are going to school.
And then we have seen that young people
need more intensive support than ever before.
So we'll see investments kind of
on that deeper end of the behavioral-health spectrum.
-Thank you, and I want to shift a little bit
from behavioral health to addiction
and dealing with some of these issues... -Yeah.
-...specifically with drug treatment,
And I'm gonna try to segue as best I can to the Blake decision
that I know the legislature is dealing with.
So this is the state Supreme Court case from 2021.
Washington's felony drug possession law was struck down.
The legislature recriminalized that as a misdemeanor.
But there's this mandatory diversion into drug treatment
for the first two arrests.
From both parties, I have heard this is just not working.
There's no way to track offenders properly. -That's right.
-There aren't enough treatment slots out there.
What does a fix to Blake look like?
The temporary measures the legislature passed
expire in July of this year.
So you're really up against it. What's going on?
-Yeah, so I think the good news is that what --
from what I can tell, everyone on both sides of the aisle
is interested in figuring out
what the right diversionary strategies are
to get people the help that they need.
There will be a lot of debate about the criminal charge --
what's the right criminal charge?
As you know, the Supreme Court invalidated
the felony charge that we had
in statute previously. -Right. Right.
-The legislature implemented a misdemeanor charge,
but as you say, with a pre-arrest diversion. -Right.
-And so a lot of the conversation
leading up to session is sort of what is the right
criminal charge, and then what is the right mechanism,
the right sequence for diversion.
But I've heard no backing off the fact
that we need to make more investment in communities
across the state for that addiction support. -Yeah.
-And as we see in Seattle, the --
the needs are changing, right?
The -- The old style of inpatient treatment... -Right.
-...is -- is maybe not the best approach
for the kinds of substance use.
As we've seen, fentanyl use is way up.
-Oh, gosh, yes. -Methamphetamine use is way up.
And there is, of course, this huge intersection
with poverty and homelessness.
And so there's not a quick fix to it. -No.
-But I think we'll see
new approaches. -Yeah.
-And in addition to the debate on the criminal charge,
what we have -- as you know, the AG,
the attorney general has been working
with other attorney generals across the country
on opioid settlement resources...
-Right making those companies -- yeah. -...so we have dollars
coming in.
The governor included them in his budget.
There will be a lot of conversation.
As -- As Joe said, the governor's budget
is a starting point for our conversation
in the legislature about how those strategies work. -Yeah.
So I expect there's gonna be a lot of intersection
between our conversation about the spending
of opioid-settlement dollars
and the best response to the Blake Supreme Court decision.
-Thank you. Very comprehensive answer to that, and I appreciate it.
Joe? -Yeah, and then it's a little bit of context, too.
That decision was made halfway through a session, so what we did was --
-Right, you didn't have time to respond to it, really.
-It was very rushed, and it was on purpose, right?
-Yeah. -So we wanted to be able to revisit this right now,
So that's -- that's correct, and also, I think
there's an acknowledgment that the war on drugs didn't work,
so we have to find alternative ways to do this.
And thankfully, at least in Washington state,
we have examples of what success could look like --
DOSA, the Drug Offenders Sentencing Alternatives.
There are ways for us to actually alleviate
the recidivism associated with drug offenses,
and there's mechanisms to do it now.
So this isn't so much of a guessing game.
It's how do we invest in the right things that we know work
for this to actually play out well?
So that's -- that's the conversation.
We're -- We're in a decent spot
where -- where we know how to fix it.
It's obviously gonna be very, very difficult,
but there are strategies that we have in place.
-Yeah, I know. And I -- there's a whole other conversation
we could have about investing and making sure that --
that people are paid properly for this work,
'cause I know it's difficult to have people --
-Providers are the hardest ones. -That's a big, big piece of this too.
-Absolutely right. -Put that on hold for a second.
-Yeah. -'Cause I want to make sure I cover some ground here.
Senator Nguyen, I want to stick with you and ask about
another issue law-enforcement officers
have raised concerns about with car chases. -Yeah.
-The legislature passed this measure a couple of years ago,
said officers have to have a probable cause in most cases,
not just reasonable suspicion, to chase after a subject.
Some officers say they can't do their jobs.
And I know there's a lot of back and forth on this.
-Yeah, yeah. -Let me know about this.
Republican lawmakers are trying to bring back
this reasonable-suspicion standard.
Do you support that? What's going on?
-Well, personally, I don't, right?
So I tend to be fairly progressive
in terms of what public safety looks like.
And everybody in their community should feel safe, right?
I think that's the number one priority.
How we do that might be a bit different than other folks.
-Yeah. -So what's interesting is that,
in that debate, like you mentioned, we had
some great conversations with law-enforcement officials,
We said, "This is basically our practice anyways.
We cancel 99.9% of pursuits
'cause they're too dangerous," right?
So -- So we -- we weren't doing anything
that wasn't already being done.
We just kind of codified policies that folks already had
that cause some of the division. -Yeah.
-Obviously, that is a point of contention right now
that we're debating, kind of figuring out what that potentially looks like.
Last year, our caucus was candidly split.
You can see the votes, right?
So it's not -- I'm not divulging anything. -Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
-And then for us to actually address some of the --
the root causes of what people are concerned about,
I really think it's more around recruiting
and training and retention. -Yeah. Yeah.
Which I know is improving this year with new academies
around the state, yeah, so... -Exactly.
-So for -- for me, I think the investment should be made
thoughtfully, in a way where, how do we get quality law enforcement officials
who can feel as if they belong in their role,
who aren't doing too much,
who have access to training facilities
within their communities, not just in -- in West --
in Burien... -Yeah.
-...and can -- can be able to get folks
from all over the state, right? -Yeah.
-So right now, it's very difficult.
And even, candidly, the -- the recruitment process
had a bottleneck that we had to fix, right?
-Right. -So -- so there's all these things associated
with the lack of resources for law-enforcement officials
in terms of their training and recruitment. -Yeah.
-But I think if we solve those problems,
this might be different.
-Okay, thank you, and -- and, Representative Macri,
can I have you touch quickly on the possibility
of an assault-weapons ban?
I talked about this with Senator Pedersen.
I know you've co-sponsored measures like this before.
You have, too, Joe. -Yeah.
-But is this the season -- this is the -- the session
that this is gonna pass? I know the Dems
have higher majorities in the Senate and the House.
-Yeah, well, again, I'll go back to House members
being out on the campaign trail.
Gun-violence prevention has been a top issue,
and particularly given some of the mass-shooting events,
you know, again, unfortunately, we've seen
from around the country, I think it does feel... -Yeah.
-...like this is the right session.
We are really fortunate to have a number of leaders
in both the Senate and House Democratic caucuses,
along with the governor who've been working on this.
So I'm glad -- I'm glad for the partnership
with the attorney general, and I -- and I -- I'm hopeful
that we'll see progress. -Thank you.
-I'm gonna switch gears to housing,
and, Representative Macri, start with you.
$4 billion bond measure the governor's talking about.
Wants to put it on the ballot.
I'm also thinking about this in relation to what Seattle voters
specifically are considering this year,
a social-housing measure in February,
the possible renewal
of the Seattle housing levy in the fall.
Your -- Your colleague, Representative Fitzgibbon,
told me the governor's plan for the housing levy here
at least -- or this bond measure -- is a big lift.
Do you agree? Where are we with this housing piece?
-Yeah, it is definitely a big lift.
I really commend the governor for putting that out there
as the centerpiece of his budget rollout
that we have to go big on housing in Washington State
in all corners of the state.
And so I think that is the starting point
for the conversation, whether or not the bond measure,
the -- the constitutional amendment that we need
for the -- for raising the debt limit --
whether or not that goes.
I am -- it's not clear.
I try not to read the crystal ball
of what's gonna happen during session 'cause I have found out
through experience that, when I do, I'm almost always wrong.
There's lots of twists and turns...
-These things happen, yeah. -...during the legislative session.
But to start the conversation that we have to go big
on investments in housing for the lowest income people
in our state, but also in making sure
that we can create an environment
where all communities can and should be building
more housing for people at every income level
is really important, so I think the capital budget investments
go hand in hand with the policies
that we've been working on,
including the middle-housing policy
to zone in a greater diversity of housing,
make it easier to have permitting... -Yeah.
-...for new construction... -Yeah.
-...reduce parking requirements, similar to as we've already done
here in Seattle to reduce the cost of new development. -Yeah.
-So all of those things go hand in hand, I think.
-Senator Nugyen, just kind of dovetailing on that,
this bond measure is a big piece on this.
-Yeah. -Missing middle housing --
I know we talked about that a lot last year. -Yeah.
Yeah, zoning's gonna be a very big deal --
being able to actually have the developments
we need to provide affordable housing.
And it's been interesting because we're seeing
some pretty strong bipartisan support as well.
We have kind of references from California
and other jurisdictions that are, besides California,
smaller that have done something similar.
So I think we can build upon some of their work
in a more thoughtful way as well,
to make it fit for Washington state.
It will be a tough lift, but I do think
it's one of those things where, you know,
we want to partner with our local jurisdictions,
but also have kind of a floor
of how do we get some affordable housing,
And then obviously they'll have the say as well.
So that -- that is the key part... -Right.
is anytime you mess with local jurisdictions
and their ability to do something,
it's always gonna be a tough conversation.
But this is such a critical area that, I think,
you know, we'll have to have that conversation.
-Yeah, there's a floor, but we need a lot --
we need to get closer to the ceiling
on all these communities, that's for sure. -Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
-I want to try to, if I could --
Senator Nguyen, I'll ask you here --
a headline we haven't talked about that -- that you're engaged in.
I know there's a lot going on in your district.
Anything you want to break down here?
-Yeah. So, I mean, selfishly, being the new chair
of the Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee,
I think that is the future for Washington State.
So how do we address our energy policies to ensure
that we have sufficient amount of energy for our residents
so there's no blackouts, but also decarbonize?
So a lot of it's gonna be very boring stuff, to be honest,
implementing the really good things that we've passed.
So working through the auction process,
working through siting, working transmissions,
working through permitting, so all things that are
incredibly important, but probably won't make headlines.
-Improving recycling. I know there's a ton going on, yeah.
-Oh, that's probably can be the biggest bill in the committee... -Yeah.
-...is improving the recycling the RAP Act.
-Yeah. -So how do we actually reduce
the waste that we produce as well? -Yeah.
-So Washington state is -- Al Gore even mentioned this.
I saw him down in San Francisco, and he's usually doom and gloom,
and he -- and he paused for a second and said,
"Except for Washington state. They're doing great work."
So if we're doing things that makes Al Gore happy, I'm like,
"Wow, that's -- that's a big step."
-All right. All right. We'll see what happens there.
Representative Macri, another issue we haven't discussed
you want to draw some attention to?
-Yeah, I would say a couple things.
One, and you and I have talked about this in the past,
is protections around the big increases in rent.
And so, as we're looking to build
the supply of housing at all income levels,
and especially at -- for people who are low income,
who are really struggling to get affordable housing,
we have renters, and we're a majority-renter city
here in Seattle, who are struggling.
So I have been working with Representative Alex Ramel
from the Anacortes-Bellingham area
on strategies around stopping predatory rent increases. -Yeah, yeah.
-We've seen an increase in exploitative rent increases.
So we'll have... -Are we talking rent control?
I just want to make sure I throw it out there.
-No, we're not talking traditional rent control.
We're talking about
both giving the attorney general some authority
when we see predatory practices... -I see.
-...and considering renter -- protections for renters
in similar ways we consider protections for other consumers
when there's predatory business practices,
and then looking at the policy approaches
like they've taken in Oregon and California
to stabilize rent increases over time.
-Okay. -And the other big issue,
you know, of course, is around abortion access in our state. -Yeah.
-Washington state has been a safe haven for people
seeking abortion care, and there is work that we need to do
in the legislature this session to ensure that we maintain
and improve those protections for patients.
-Thank you very much. We need to wrap up here.
I can give you 30 seconds, Senator Nguyen.
Some final thoughts about what's gonna come out of this session.
You're dealing with a lot of new lawmakers down there. -Yeah, yeah.
-There's a lot to consider. -Well, also, this is the first year
that we've been in person for two sessions.
This is the third session, and it will be in-person, right?
So I'm -- I'm just excited to get down there... -Right.
-...to meet with legislators, to work with folks
to make Washington state better, candidly.
I think we mentioned this before in our conversations,
but 95% of the bills that we actually pass
in Washington state were bipartisan -- 95%.
-Yeah. -So we agree on a lot more
than we disagree upon, so we're lucky to be in Seattle.
We're lucky to be in Washington state, where we can lead
on some of these issues and do it thoughtfully.
-Got it. Your last thoughts here, Representative Macri?
-Yeah, I agree. I think we learned a lot
through the pandemic and how the legislative process
can work in engaging the public and constituents.
And so this session will be different than all others
'cause it'll be the first one where we're truly hybrid.
So that allows us to have those in-person connections
that I really, really missed during those remote sessions
we had the last couple years,
but also allow us to hear from people across the state
who can't get over the mountains to get to Olympia... -Sure.
-...to young people who are incarcerated, who can testify
so we can hear about how the state is treating them
and what policy improvements we need to make.
So I'm really excited about this opportunity
to kind of take the best of both approaches
to improve our policymaking this session.
-Thank you both very much. -Thank you.
-And we will be right back.
♪♪
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Coming up next week,
a debate over creating social housing in Seattle.
I-135 is on the ballot in February.
We deconstruct both sides of this controversial measure
next time on "City Inside Out."
I hope you join us.
♪♪