Login   |   Join Now

Are McKenna's Bills Heading for Oblivion?

Bills Aimed at Reining in Government Power Over Property Owners Still Haven’t Gotten a Hearing

 


Attorney General Rob McKenna

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

 

OLYMPIA, Feb. 1.—Whether it’s a matter of hard lobbying by city and county organizations or plain-old bare-knuckle politics, a pair of proposals from Attorney General Rob McKenna to rein in government power over property owners appear to be going nowhere in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

            The measures would forbid city and county governments to use their condemnation powers to take private property and resell it to developers for economic development purposes. The most political of the bills advocated by McKenna this year, the measures are supported not just by property rights organizations but also by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

            Yet with a deadline fast approaching for committees to pass bills newly filed this session, none of the measures has even gotten a hearing.

            The reason may be that McKenna is widely seen as a leading Republican candidate for governor in 2012. Or that city and county lobbying organizations are putting up a fight. Or that foundations weren’t laid and traditional courtesies were not observed. Or any of a number of reasons that have led lawmakers to speculate about the peculiar motivations and conflicts of their colleagues.

            But the upshot is that the bills seem to have stalled, and one of the oddest coalitions ever formed in Washington politics doesn’t seem to have swayed the committee chairmen who play the gatekeeper role in the Legislature.

            “These bills are very significant and they should at least be heard,” McKenna said. “If they think these bills are wrong, they should get in front of the TV cameras and say why. They shouldn’t do it from the shadows.”

 

            Majority Leader Concerned

 

            Property rights normally are seen as a conservative issue, and McKenna’s bills are supported by conservative Republicans as well as right-leaning groups like the Washington State Farm Bureau, the Washington Policy Center and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. But the measures enjoy much broader support in the Legislature, with sponsors that include Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma, one of the Legislature’s leading liberals, and House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

            Kessler said House leaders have taken an interest in the issue and are asking Rep. Jamie Pedersen, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to schedule a last-minute hearing and vote on House Bill 2425, which would prohibit local governments from using eminent domain proceedings for economic development. A second measure, House Bill 2423, which would amend the state’s Community Renewal Act, already has died in the House Local Government Committee.

            “Several of us at the leadership table want to work on this because of the way people are being treated,” she said.

            Current law allows local government agencies to take “blighted” property and resell it to private developers. But Kessler said a landmark case in Connecticut in 2005 called attention to the potential for government abuse: In that case, the city of New London forced property owners to sell their homes for a plant that was never developed, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the city’s right to do it – and to keep the property. The case prompted 43 states to pass laws limiting government excess; in Washington, Kessler said numerous similar cases surrounding Seattle’s failed monorail project have demonstrated the problem exists here as well.

            “Those people lost their houses for nothing,” she said. What’s worse, she said –now they can’t get them back.

             Kessler said House leaders won’t force the issue by removing the bills from committee and advancing them to the floor. They don’t feel comfortable going that far. But “a little push” is a different matter.

            There isn’t much time left, though. House policy committees face a deadline on Tuesday.

            Kessler said part of the reason for the trouble is a concerted lobbying effort on the part of the city and county associations. But McKenna’s potential candidacy also may be a factor in the reluctance to take up the issue.

 

            Call Came Too Late

 

            It’s not that at all, said Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington, chairman of the House Local Government Committee, where the bill amending the Community Renewal Act died quietly on Thursday, the last hearing date before the cutoff. The problem is that McKenna’s staff didn’t call before the session to make a pitch for the bill.

            “McKenna’s staff fell down on the job,” he said.

            Tim Ford, McKenna’s legislative liaison, called the day after the session started to set up a time to discuss the bill, and Simpson’s staff got him in a week later. At that point, Simpson told him it was already too late – the schedule was full.

            For his part, Ford noted that the bill was filed last year as well, but last year it was sent to the House Judiciary Committee. The assignment to Simpson’s committee on the first day of the session came as a surprise.

            That’s silly, Simpson said. “When you’re changing the powers of local government, you have to think it might be possible that it would go to the local government committee.”

            Simpson said he hasn’t heard a thing about the measure from the city and county lobbying organizations. It’s just that an issue like that one is too large to be dealt with at a last-minute hearing. “It’s not easy to dig into a substantive issue in 12 minutes,” he said. “If he had contacted me and explained to me why it was necessary, there is a very good chance we would have held a hearing, even if the cities were against it.”

            Critics note that the local government committee took action on bills introduced after Ford met with Simpson, and that Simpson’s district contains the city of Auburn, where a stalled urban-renewal project has become a poster-child for eminent domain opponents.

 

            Senate Chair Not Convinced

 

            Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, said he hasn’t decided whether to let Senate Bill 6200 advance in his Senate Judiciary Committee. That’s the Senate version of the bill barring eminent domain for economic development. Senate deadlines give Kline’s committee until the end of the week.

Kline said he participated in McKenna’s eminent domain task force, but thought the deck was stacked toward property rights advocates. “I told him so, too,” he said.

He said he has been lobbied by local government officials, and he thinks they have a point. City-sponsored economic development efforts can play a role in creating jobs, beautifying cities and creating public places, he said. “This is a subject on which people can be aroused to demand political action,” he said. “I don’t think this an opportunity for passion, but for a thoughtful, very considered view, and I’m not going to be quick about this solution.”

            Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said that if McKenna’s eminent domain bills meet oblivion this year, it’s not because he might be running for office, or because local government officials carry more weight with the Legislature than the attorney general’s office. It’s because the Legislature has bigger things to worry about, like the state’s $2.6 billion shortfall and measures that respond to last fall’s police shooting deaths. “This is not a priority for me this year,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of other things on my plate.”


EmaildividerPrintdividerComments (0)dividerBack to top






Comments On This Articlesubscribe to this comment thread Subscribe to this comment thread

- no comments yet.



Add Comment

Your Name:


Your Email Address: (Not displayed with comment.)




Comments:


Spotlight
House Approves $690 Million Package of Tax Hikes
House Approves $690 Million Package of Tax Hikes
By: Associated Press
After five hours of debate, Democrats in the state House passed a $690 million tax increase. Now the key decisions on the tax increases you'll be paying will be made by a legislative negotiating panel, behind closed doors.

-- Story inside
Oil Tax is Back – Green Lawmakers Making Big Push in Final Days of Session
Oil Tax is Back – Green Lawmakers Making Big Push in Final Days of Session
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | March 9, 2010

A last-minute effort to raise taxes on oil and other hazardous substances is being mounted by enviromental groups and green-minded legislators. The new plan would more than double the tax, and devote money to water cleanup, not the general fund.

-- Story inside
Love Letter to Our Neighbors --Idaho is Open for Your Business
Love Letter to Our Neighbors --Idaho is Open for Your Business
By: C.L. "Butch" Otter, Governor of Idaho | Special to Washington State Wire | March 9, 2010

Idaho governor invites Washington businesses to beat high taxes by relocating in the Gem State.

-- Story inside

The Question No One Asked
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 5, 2010
The Washington State Senate took a baby step in the right direction yesterday when it showed the courage to at least discuss an income tax. For those in attendance, or virtually attending, we heard the same old crap. Yes, our state’s sales tax is regressive; yes, our constitution probably requires an amendment for a graduated income tax; and yes, unless we overhaul the whole revenue scheme, an inc...
Comments (0)Read more...
Oh Sweet Wheat!
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 2, 2010
As the House Democrats roll out their economically-counterintuitive tax increase in the middle of a the great recession, it could be praised by advocates as a simple little tax. There is nothing much complicated or new about it. The proposed substitute bill for HB 3191 raises a lot of money, and from what I read none of it is temporary!

So the first issue is that, if and when our state’s ec...
Comments (0)Read more...
Yellow, Webbed Feet, Quacks? Ducks and Redistribution of Wealth
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Feb. 27
During the push of getting a budget out, the legislators need to go outside and walk around the lake. I did decades ago as a member of the budget committee. I did it to think about what an old-timer had told me. He was a very conservative Democratic old-timer from Eastern Washington. I was young and he was old and he suggested I see government for what it really is.

The entire state govern...
Comments (0)Read more...
Read more CapitolStuff  

Latest News
Moeller to Continue as FERC Commissioner
Moeller to Continue as FERC Commissioner
Local Boy Makes Good -- Was Former Staff Director for State Senate's Energy and Utility Committee
By: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Susan Hutchison to Challenge Patty Murray?
Susan Hutchison to Challenge Patty Murray?
Former Television News Reader Built Name During King County Race
By: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Lawmakers Pass Evergreen Point Bridge Bill
Lawmakers Pass Evergreen Point Bridge Bill
Allows Construction to Begin, Doesn't Address Local Snit Over Design
By: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
House Approves Transportation Budget
House Approves Transportation Budget
Measure Maintains Highway Funding -- No Startling Changes to Last Year's Plan
By: Associated Press
Lawmakers Endorse Pair of Bills Limiting Bail
Lawmakers Endorse Pair of Bills Limiting Bail
Voters Will Have Final Say
By: The Olympian
Senators Restore Funding for Seattle Elections Panel Funding
Believe City Needs Own Watchdog
By: Seattle Times
Legislature Sends BPA Bill to Governor's Desk
Legislature Sends BPA Bill to Governor's Desk
Would Ban BPA-Plastic Baby Bottles, Sippy Cups
By: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tax Debate Could Extend Session
House and Senate are Far Apart -- Point of No Return is Approaching
By: Seattle Times
Boeing Has No Competition in Tanker Contest
Boeing Has No Competition in Tanker Contest
Has Inside Track on $35 Billion Tanker Contract
By: McClatchy Newspapers
UW Pay Freeze is Upheld
UW Pay Freeze is Upheld
Court Says School Was Within Rights to Block Pay Raises Last Year
By: Seattle Times
Read more Latest News

"Boxers" by Brian Fairrington

By: Kaiser Health News
SNL's Take on Health Reform
SNL's Take on Health Reform
A Funny Saturday Night Live Video take on Obama-Care
By: SNL NBC
53% Remain Opposed to Health Care
The President still looks for votes, ignoring the public. 42% favor the plan while 53% are opposed. These figures include just 20% who Strongly Favor the plan and 41% who are Strongly Opposed.
By: RAMUSSEN Reports
57% Predict Health Care Plan Will Hurt The Economy
25% believe it will help the economy,and 78% believe it is likley to raise taxes on middle income families.
By: RAMUSSEN Reports
Obama and the L-Word
At the State of the Union Address the President said to have “stopped the revolving door between government and corporate lobbying.” More then 40 former lobbyists work for the administration. Pro-reform lobbyists outspent anti-reform lobbyists on advertising by a factor of 5 to 1.
Obama Attacks Insurers, Rallies Public To Press Congress To Approve Health Reform
Obama Attacks Insurers, Rallies Public To Press Congress To Approve Health Reform
President Obama launched a major health reform offensive of words Monday when he rebuked insurers and urged the public to stand up to Congress and fight for passage of a health care overhaul.
By: Kaiser Health News
A Teaspoon Of Sugar to help the Medicine Go Down
A Teaspoon Of Sugar to help the Medicine Go Down
As the power of the placebo, or sugar pill grows, researchers note that it is twice as powerful as it was in the '80's. A little faith in science can go a long way.
By: NPR
Obama and Pelosi on There Own
Obama and Pelosi on There Own
With a vote count not quite high enough, the President and Pelosi are on there own to push for health Reform. "I don't have the votes," Pelosi told the group, according to National Assn. of Public Hospitals and Health Systems President Larry Gage, who was at the meeting.
By: Los Angeles Times
Medicade To Childless Adults
Medicade To Childless Adults
Obama Care to set liability singles, 15M more in the next ten years.
By: Kaiser Health News
Massa: Democrats Ousted Me Over Health Care
Massa: Democrats Ousted Me Over Health Care
"Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill," Rep.Massa(D-NY)said. A "No" vote for health care, now under investigation from the Ethics Committee.",they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me, and it will pass. You connect the dots."
By: Politico
Ignoring Americans, Obama continues his fight
Ignoring Americans, Obama continues his fight
For the first time in American History 'reconciliation' is to be used without the support of both parties or the American public. From the Bush Tax cuts to Welfare reform in '96, the voice of America was loud and clear.
By: Real Clear Politics
Obama's New Adversary
Obama's New Adversary
Sen.Paul Ryan, a key player at Obama's Health Summit last week, broke down the math behind the bill. Ryan correctly stated that the bill projects that Medicare will lower reimbursements to doctors by $371 billion over the next 10 years.
By: The Washington Post
Health Secretary Sebelius Demands Transparency
Health Secretary Sebelius Demands Transparency
After the Wellpoint and Anthem Blue Cross hikes the Secretary of HHS Kathleen Selbelius along with the President meet with the Top Five insures to discuss justification on the rate increase.
By: New York Daily News
Sweeping Processed-Food Recall is Announced
A contaminated batch of an obscure but ubiquitous flavor enhancer sparked recalls of foods ranging from dips to flavored tofu. The Food and Drug Administration said the recalls are a precaution to prevent illness.
By: National Public Radio
Obama Seeks To Mollify Democrats On Health Overhaul Plan, Costs
President Barack Obama intensified his push for health care reform by lobbying small groups of Democratic lawmakers Thursday.
By: Kaiser Health News
Read more YourHealthCareToday