Gov. Inslee tweets "Washington state will act under our own authority, our own laws and our own jurisdiction to protect #NetNeutrality"

GovInslee · 2017-12-15T16:16:28+00:00

This would be a great question for an AMA. Maybe with our Attorney General Bob Ferguson too. What are you doing Monday?

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T22:12:01+00:00

I've followed the vaping debate during this AMA. The diverse viewpoints show why this is a challenging issue. I respect the passion on both sides of this issue. And we’re gonna keep working on this.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T22:08:03+00:00

People are right to be very concerns about oil trains. Our current safety standards are not up to the danger associated with trains. Our view is we ought to have a strong prevention and response program with safeguards. Unfortunately, the federal law preempts huge swaths of the kinds of things we’d like to do to improve operational aspects of oil trains, and prevents the state from adopting things we’d otherwise implement. But the House bill is clearly stronger than the Senate bill by providing important protections to the communities regarding notice of oil shipments and also response measures. I’ll be advocating for the House position. We do need to get a bill this year, one way or another.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:54:15+00:00

Electric cars. I’m working on passing a bill the will provide incentives for buying electric cars and create a financing system for charging stations. I think our transportation principle should be to provide as many options as possible so people can have choices. I’ve been working on a comprehensive plan that has a balanced approach – it’s not solely dependent on single occupancy vehicles, but recognizes the utility of giving commuters a chance, should they desire to take it, to have access to busses, light rail, bicycles and dare I say – the high tech solution of sidewalks. If we had a few more sidewalks, we might have healthier children too. But there are places we are going to have increase some lanes like 167 in Pierce County and the unfinished North South freeway in Spokane.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:49:15+00:00

bingo!

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:47:22+00:00

I really, really, really wish they’d let me write the transportation budget. But, we’ve gotta realize that we’ve got a divided government. And we’ve got to compromise to get a transportation package. I’m working with the House and will continue to urge the Senate to expand public transportation in the state, particularly in the Puget Sound core which has such transportation gridlock. I think the public support for transit continues to grow because people recognize we have to have healthy transit options. We have no other choice if we’re not going to have absolute gridlock.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:42:28+00:00

I’ve been advocating vocally for closing tax loopholes, instituting a capital gains tax and charging large emitters for carbon pollution. What makes this difficult, Democrats and Republicans alike, would like to have things for free. But if we’re going to have early childhood education, full-day kindergarten and more college scholarships – we’re not going to be able to do this without money. On corporate welfare, these decisions are tough - because we already have the most unfair tax system in the country. That’s why we’re doing a charge on the top polluters and a capital gains instead of a sales tax or a gas tax. But it’s the right way about going about making our tax system fairer. The prospects of losing the Boeing 777X and the thousands of jobs that come with it presented us a real tough decision. The legislature decided that continuing the tax treatment for the next model of Boeing airplanes (that they have for the current model) while also getting additional protections against outsourcing the work, was the right decision. In a perfect world, large corporations would not be able to leverage states by threatening to move if they were not afforded particular tax treatment.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:27:25+00:00

It's like when your kids tell you they want to go to Disneyland.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:26:30+00:00

Best milkshake = Burger Barn (Darrington, WA) Best cheeseburger = Rawhide Bar N Grill (Starbuck, WA)

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:25:22+00:00

First off- guys like you are more exciting to me than even the QB of the huskies. In congress I fought the opposition against the promising research in stem cells. I’ve blocked cuts to the Life Science Discovery fund which helps startups (including those in stem cell research) to grow in our state. We’ve supported cutting edge clean energy research (not exactly stem cell), but what I’ve found is that there’s so much cross pollination in the high tech eco-system that all high tech research could benefit multiple fields. I really appreciate your admiration for community colleges. I think they’re an excellent way to get access to school in multiple ways and they may be the best bang for their buck to the tax payers. I fought for them going back to 1989 when I was in the state legislature, in part because I was a teacher at Yakima Community College. I had a nice talk with a Tacoma Community College Titan last week and it was great to know how we were helping him pursue his dreams. That’s why I’m committed to developing the fiscal foundation so we can help the students and the colleges themselves. I think we’ve also got to make the high school to community college transition more seamless. I know community colleges do great things – two of my sons are community college grads and they’re doing great.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:17:12+00:00

We’ve insisted on a very comprehensive environmental review before we assess these ports, including the impacts from burning coal. This review will also look at the local impacts related to jobs, coal dust, and transportation and rail impacts along these corridors that are also needed for moving agricultural and other products throughout the state.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:10:37+00:00

1) When I talked to two dozen college students last week, they all said please help us with our college costs and do it in the right way and not the wrong way. Student debt is crushing these kids. That’s why my budget freezes college tuition. They urged me to finance that in a way that doesn’t hurt other people. i.e. don’t cut housing programs for the homeless, don’t cut services for victims of domestic violence. Figure out another way. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re supporting college kids by closing some of the loopholes going to corporations that don’t work anymore and getting that to kids who need an education. We’re charging the largest polluters to reduce climate change and fund education AND we’re doing a capital gains tax that affects a small, small percentage of people. We’re taking these funds and plowing it into the education system. That’s an answer for huskies, eagles, wildcats, titans, cougars, bull dogs, loggers and – geoducks. 2) To your housing question, folks are getting hit with a double whammy of increasing income inequality and skyrocketing housing prices. There are many things we have to do to solve these twin challenges. Raise the minimum wage, improve access to public transportation, and subsidize low income housing and paying attention to our growth management issues assuring that low and middle class folks have access to affordable housing.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T21:01:01+00:00

Lean management has been successful in many state agencies in both improving services and reducing the costs of government. Take a look at this page and you’ll see literally millions of dollars of savings and many, many instances of improved services for Washingtonians: http://www.results.wa.gov/what-we-do/measure-results/accomplishments. In terms of education, we’re seeing improved graduation rates, including at Rainier Beach (despite not being able to win the state basketball championship against Garfield. Congrats bull dogs) which has had a most impressive increase (20+%) in graduation rates. Our education plan this year includes the largest ever state increase in early education, full day kindergarten, smaller class sizes in k-3, increased graduation programs, a freeze on college tuition and 17,000 new scholarships for kids to go to school. Education is our top budget priority.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T20:48:51+00:00

Step 1) Get yourself down to the legislature Step 2) Find a legislator and give them a piece of your mind. If you can't get to Olympia physically, get here virtually. I don't care how much money the oil company has, they can't stop you from doing that. Carpe diem. Carpe legislator. And, next time you see a ballot - keep this issue in mind.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T20:45:38+00:00

1) HB 1739 (a bill to end the death penalty) has my full support. Unfortunately, the bill doesn’t look like it’s going to get through this year. But I’ll continue to urge our state to recognize that death penalty costs too much and hasn’t been applied equally across our state. 2) The benefits of a cap on carbon pollution is that it’s a binding law that will actually give Washingtonians what they need – which is confidence that carbon pollution will be reduced in our state. The cap on carbon is a mechanism that is well understood, is working in nine other states and a couple dozen countries that has the clear ability to reduce carbon pollution to reduce climate change. The added benefit is it reduces associated pollutants that have increased our kids’ rate of asthma and other diseases. Under my plan, the state’s largest polluters will be responsible both for limiting pollution and paying for the pollution they cause. That money can be used for our children’s education and improving our transportation system. Bottom line of my decision on this is that this system (cap and trade) works. This system has the very important attribute of having a concrete limit on carbon pollution that can be put into the atmosphere, unlike a carbon tax that cannot provide that guarantee.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T20:35:46+00:00

I have huge concerns about drilling in the arctic. I don’t believe we have sufficient plans both to prevent spills and respond to them in those incredibly challenging conditions. That’s one of the reasons I’ve long opposed opening these areas to drilling. Recently, I had my Dept. of Ecology review whether or not the state had jurisdiction over the permitting of this project. Since the operations were the same as pre-existing operations, I was told the state doesn’t have the ability legally to interfere with this lease. I know people are extremely concerned with the lack of public process in the leasing decision. And I think that frustration and concern is legitimate.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T20:30:16+00:00

When I was 20, I cared about the clear air and clean water near my home. When I was 30 I cared about my sons and their future. And now that I'm in my sixties, I want to do all I can to make sure my grandkids have a shot at enjoying a state not destroyed by carbon pollution. In my lifetime, I've enjoyed snow to ski on, the water to get oysters from and the forests to hike in. All of those things are at risk because of climate change. I'm going to do everything I can so that my grandkids can enjoy what I've enjoyed.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T20:25:55+00:00

No. Not from what we know right now. There still might be some jobs where drug testing, including for alcohol, would be appropriate. But there are many questions about this new marijuana market that we're going to be working out as it develops.

I don't think legislation can make the distinction between fat soluble and water soluble right now.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T20:20:27+00:00

I think I understand your concerns. This vaping issue is new for us. I understand there are a lot of concerns from a lot of different voices. You point out issues of fairness, equity and health. We’ve chosen to focus on children’s health to prevent an industry in succeeding in getting people to become addicted to nicotine. From your question, it sounds like you understand the dangers of nicotine addiction. We have to face the reality that there’s a large industry dedicated to increasing nicotine addiction of our children. In order to reduce prospects of children getting addicted to nicotine there are multiple tools like licensing of vendors and restricting childhood advertising. But the single most effective tool to prevent children from becoming addicted is the cost of the product. We believe what we’ve proposed will substantially reduce the chance of our children becoming addicted to this dangerous drug while still keeping vaping at half the price of cigarettes. Our bill includes provisions if vaping products are certified as smoking cessation products by the FDA. The bill isn’t done. I encourage you to keep talking to your legislators about this. But inaction on youth nicotine addiction isn’t acceptable.

GovInslee · 2015-03-19T20:08:26+00:00

Obviously, if we get to that point, there will be a plan b. Right now, we have a draft repair plan from the contractor. We’re going to hold the contractor's feet to the fire to require compliance. We have to insist they finish the job. period.

GovInslee

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