Morning Wire: Q&A w / Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley, Court Backlog, Spokane Conference

While it may not be immediately apparent, almost every article featured in Morning Wire this week is about labor.

We spoke to Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley about abolition and prison labor, gig worker organizers, Senator Claire Wilson about childcare, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about cleaning up Washington’s court arrears. These are all issues that affect a person’s ability to make a living. It’s also worth nothing that last week marked the end of pandemic unemployment benefits for an estimated 7.5 million Americans, with millions losing an additional $ 300 a week in benefits.

1. Discussions about the abolition with the MP Kirsten Harris-Talley

If you’ve followed the policing discourse closely over the past few years, you’ve probably heard the term “abolitionist”. Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley says she is the first open abolitionist to work at the state level, so we spoke to her to learn more about what that means and how it affects her role in the legislature.

The idea behind the abolition is to invest in communities to avoid interaction with the criminal justice system in the first place, while creating forms of justice that are free of punishment. From a legislative perspective, this could mean drafting laws to keep juvenile prisoners closer to their families and communities, and supporting drug reform laws, as we saw in the last session. It’s an approach we’re likely to hear more about in Washington State, as some of the candidates for the Seattle City Council position are. 9 and the city attorney are also abolitionists.

2. Gig workers are still organizing, just without unions

This week we spoke to Sage Wilson of Working Washington and Leonard Smith of the Drivers Union about working and organizing in the gig economy. Gig workers cannot form traditional unions, but Smith said they still act like a union that “through their solidarity and common purpose has taken sick leave, achieved unemployment insurance, achieved a minimum wage and a dispute settlement service.”

Minimum wage, sick leave, and the gig worker dispute settlement center are all unique to Seattle. Still, it matters to readers across Washington because, like the $ 15 Now campaign, Seattle standards could be expanded nationwide.

3. Cleaning up Washington’s court arrears

While the police reform bills passed last session sparked debate, largely along party lines, addressing the significant backlog of Washington lawsuits in Olympia has received bipartisan support. Despite the short session ahead, we are likely to see laws dealing with this.

Last week we spoke with Democratic Senator Jamie Pedersen and Republican Mike Padden and Rep. Greg Gilday, all of whom serve on the committees dealing with justice in their respective chambers. Strategies for dealing with the backlog include laws that allow parties to settle out of court, similar to the mediation process between landlords and tenants created in the last SB 5160 session, or empowering court commissioners to take on the role of elected judges.

4. Representing Bateman, Macri & Riccelli for Health Leadership

We have three representatives from the Democratic State of Washington to speak on health and financial policy at the 2021 Health Policy Conference in the Domestic Northwest State of Reform on Thursday. Reps Jessica Bateman, Nicole Macri and Marcus Riccelli are all on the House Health and Wellness Committee and will speak and answer questions on our Policy Leadership: Democrats panel.

Wire’s sister site, State of Reform, is hosting the event, which is one of the largest health policy conferences in the state. Check out our current and detailed agendas and don’t forget to sign up!

5. Questions and Answers with Senator Claire Wilson about childcare

Senator Claire Wilson previously served as an early education administrator in the Puget Sound Educational Services District for 25 years, previously teaching pregnant and parenting teenagers at Mt. Tahoma High School. This experience shapes her in her role as Vice Chair of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. This week we spoke to her to find out what legislation in the 2022 session might be on the way to address Washington’s childcare crisis.

Among the top issues she says she’ll keep an eye on are whether childcare allowances should count as income when people apply for unemployment, efforts to raise salaries for childcare workers, and how capital gains tax should help finance childcare programs could contribute.

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