The Washington State Senate took a historic step toward fixing the state’s notoriously regressive tax code when it approved a 9.9% income tax on earnings over $1 million. Incumbents will almost certainly tout that vote as evidence of their progressive credentials if left-wing challengers emerge in their upcoming elections. What they are less likely to highlight is the substantial corporate tax relief baked into the legislation. On Monday, the Washington State Senate passed th

The Washington State Senate passed Senate Joint Memorial 8014, formally urging the Federal government to investigate the death of Seattle resident Ay ş enur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed by an Israeli sniper in the West Bank in the fall of 2024. Ezgi Eygi's family and supporters worked with lawmakers to adjust the language of the resolution multiple times, hoping for bipartisan support for what should be an uncontroversial issue. Even so, 17 Republicans still voted “no” and two

Mayor Katie Wilson once again failed to commit to blocking a major expansion to the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) surveillance capabilities that the City approved last fall, but has yet to implement. Wilson sided with advocates for immigrants rights, reproductive justice, and civil liberties, opposing the expansion the former Mayor championed and the City Council passed during her campaign. But now, while she still holds concerns about privacy for vulnerable populations,

The Washington State Democrat’s flashiest bill of the session, the millionaires tax, passed 27-22 off the floor of the Washington State Senate Monday afternoon, mostly on party lines. Three Senate Democrats from — Sens. Adrian Cortes (D-Battle Ground), Drew Hansen (D-Bainbridge Island), and Deborah Krishnadasan (D-Gig Harbor) — voted no, borrowing progressive, populist rhetoric about the unfair tax burden on working people to justify it. However, these Democrats did not propo

Southwest Washington’s switch-hitter Democrat Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez changed her stance on a Republican-led effort to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters to crackdown on the imaginary threat of non-citizens infiltrating U.S. elections. After facing intense national scrutiny for her fascism-enabling voting record, Gluesenkamp Perez may be feeling the pressure to take less morally reprehensible votes — or at least differentiate herself from her moderate Republican c

Washington State’s tax policy is long past due for an overhaul, but the current efforts being put forward by Jamie Pedersen perfectly encapsulate the continuously insufficient and out of touch response to Trump era policies by leaders of the Democratic party both federally and statewide. Once the sunsetting business taxes and real estate loopholes are accounted for; SB 6346, the “Millionaire’s Tax”, is just another slogan trying to overshadow a lack of real substantial progre

Undocumented-led mutual aid group Super Familia has launched a letter-writing campaign demanding Washington elected officials intervene on behalf of community organizer Frank Gabriel Yzaze Yegres, whose whereabouts remain unclear despite ICE records indicating he is still in custody. Sources close to the situation tell The Burner  that Yzaze called his main point of contact in Washington state on Friday to say he was going to be deported to Venezuela that weekend, after sever

While advocates shame the Washington State Senate for being too lax in its bipartisan bill regulating fascist-enabling Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology, Seattle City Council Member Bob Kettle and the City's top legislative advocate both lobbied for a major exempt for the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) entire existing ALPR program.  Seattle officials have heard the case against ALPRs countless times at City Hall — that the technology has been used to help IC

Mayor Katie Wilson’s office said the public could “expect” to “hear more” from her about the “potential for federal agents to abuse surveillance technology” in the first week of February in an email to The Burner. That week came and went and still, Wilson has not made a clear, public response to community demands to turn off or scale back the City’s surveillance system that advocates worry could help ICE or Border Patrol kidnap Seattleites amid the Trump administration's brut

An impressive 26 Democrat Washington State Senators signed on as co-sponsors of Majority Leader Sen. Jamie Pedersen’s (D-Seattle) long-anticipated millionaires tax, the official text of which officially went live on Tuesday morning. That means just four Senate Democrats have not pledged their support and it’s exactly who you would expect — Sens. Adrian Cortes (D-Battleground), Drew Hansen (D-Bainbridge Island), Marko Liias (D-Edmonds), and Deborah Krishnadasan (D-Gig Harbor)