14 CapitalPress.com
December 22, 2017
Inslee to propose Washington carbon tax
Governor sees twin
benefits
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Washing-
ton Gov. Jay Inslee presented
a budget Thursday that relies
on a two-year $1.5 billion car-
bon tax to expedite and sustain
higher teacher salaries ordered
by the state Supreme Court.
Inslee, speaking at a press
conference, said putting a price
on greenhouse gases will help
K-12 education and respond to
climate change.
Washington “is being rav-
aged by climate change. We
saw the ash on the hood of our
cars this summer,” said Ins-
lee, referring to smoke from
wildfires that blew over Puget
Sound. “We need to act, and
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says a carbon tax would help fund
education and curb climate change.
this is one way of doing it, at
the same time we fill this edu-
cational mandate.”
The budget proposal will
Washington
AG: State not
overreacting to
culvert order
Case put on Jan. 5
conference calendar
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Puget Sound tribes and the
U.S. Justice Department are
wrong to downplay the sig-
nificance of ordering Wash-
ington to remove hundreds of
fish-blocking culverts, accord-
ing to the Washington Attorney
General’s Office.
The attorney general, in a
brief filed Dec. 11, again urged
the U.S. Supreme Court to re-
view a circuit court’s ruling
that the culverts violate trea-
ty rights. Washington said it
doesn’t object to not “destroy-
ing” fish runs, but the order tees
up more lawsuits holding the
state responsible for providing
enough fish for tribes to earn a
“moderate living.”
The 9th Circuit Court’s opin-
ion, the brief states, “imposes
ill-defined burdens on the state
of Washington.”
Northwest farm groups are
closely watching the case. The
Washington, Oregon, Idaho and
Montana farm bureaus joined in
a separate brief in October ask-
ing the high court to hear the
state’s appeal. The farm groups
echoed Washington’s argument
that if left standing, the order
to remove culverts could be cit-
ed as precedent in challenging
other land uses seen as harming
fish, including agriculture.
Washington’s petition was
placed on the Supreme Court’s
Jan. 5 conference calendar. The
calendar includes dozens of ap-
peals. At least four of the nine
justices must agree to take up
a case.
The tribes and the U.S. Jus-
tice Department argue that the
case isn’t important enough for
the Supreme Court to bother
with. The circuit court’s ruling
only concerned state-owned cul-
verts and doesn’t have broader
implications, according to the
tribes and Justice Department.
Washington responded to
that argument in Monday’s brief
filed.
“The Ninth Circuit opinion is
not a narrow restriction on ‘de-
stroying’ salmon runs. If it were,
Washington would not have
sought” review, the brief states.
“In reality, the panel held that
the treaties make a promise be-
yond the state’s control: ‘that the
number of fish would always to
be sufficient to provide a moder-
ate living to the tribe.’ “
The state argues the circuit
court opinion conflicts with the
U.S. Supreme Court’s Fishing
Vessel decision in 1979. In that
case, the court said Puget Sound
tribes were entitled to up to half
the available fish, though the
percentage could be reduced if
tribe membership dwindled, as
long as the remaining members
were allowed to catch enough
fish for a moderate living.
Washington claims the cir-
cuit court misinterpreted Fish-
ing Vessel to impose a duty to
provide a certain quantity of
fish. Tribes say Fishing Ves-
sel was about sharing fish and
that the pending case is sim-
ply about whether the state can
build roads across streams and
destroy fish runs.
go to the 2018 Legislature
and would amend a two-
year $43.7 billion spending
plan that lawmakers passed
in June. Inslee’s plan would
increase the budget to $44.6
billion.
Some $950 million would
go to increase pay for public
school employees. The bud-
get passed in June provided
for the pay increases begin-
ning with the 2019-20 school
year, but the Supreme Court
ordered lawmakers to raise
salaries a year sooner.
A carbon tax would not
be needed to balance the cur-
rent budget. But the revenue
would be needed to maintain
the salaries and restore a re-
serve fund tapped to expedite
the pay hikes.
The Legislature has not
acted on previous carbon-tax
proposals from Inslee, who
has made climate change his
signature issue. The Wash-
ington Farm Bureau’s poli-
cies include opposition to any
carbon tax, which would pre-
sumably increase the cost of
fuel and other manufactured
goods, such as fertilizer.
Inslee said he will pro-
pose what he called a “carbon
pricing plan” in January, but
declined to reveal specifics
Thursday.
“We’re going to have all of
these details for you in Janu-
ary,” Inslee said. “We are still
working on some of the de-
tails of the proposal”
Senate Republican Leader
Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville,
said he was concerned about
Inslee’s proposal to tap the re-
serve fund.
“I also worry the gover-
nor’s as-yet-unveiled ‘carbon
pricing plan’ would affect
family jobs in Washington. If
he can’t explain the difference
between a carbon tax and a
carbon pricing plan, then it’s
a tax. It is an energy tax,”
Schoesler said in a written
statement.
Democrats regained con-
trol of the Senate in a special
election in November. Dem-
ocrats have been in control
of the House during Inslee’s
administration but have not
passed a carbon tax.
Inslee focused on fund-
ing education when he talk-
ed Tuesday about the carbon
tax. “It also skins another
cat, which is to fight climate
change,” he said.
Under the plan approved
by lawmakers earlier this year,
base teacher salaries were to
be increased from $36,521 to
$59,333 in 2018-19 and then
$65,385 in 2018-19. The Su-
preme Court wasn’t satisfied
and ordered lawmakers to
boost pay to the higher level
by next school year.
Judge orders anti-development petition to be filed
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A judge has ruled that
an effort to ask voters to overturn a
planned development on 350 acres
of irrigated farmland and 1,050
acres of grazing land in the foothills
just north of Boise may proceed.
Members of a group called the
Dry Creek Valley Coalition want
to ask Ada County, Idaho, voters
to overturn a Feb. 21 ordinance
passed by the Ada County Board of
Commissioners that made amend-
ments to the development plan.
They are using a section of the
Idaho Code that allows people who
gather a certain number of signa-
tures to put a county decision that
is legislative in nature to a public
vote.
After Ada County Clerk Chris-
topher Rich rejected the group’s
initial petition to start the refer-
endum process, Dry Creek Valley
Coalition founder Stephanie Rael,
a local farm hand, filed a lawsuit
that sought to force Rich to file it.
Boise Hunter Homes, the de-
veloper of the $80 million project,
asked the court to prohibit Rich from
filing the petition.
District Judge Jonathan Medema
on Dec. 13 ordered Rich to file the
petition. In his written ruling, he said
Ada County has granted its citizens
“the right to ‘repeal any ordinance.’”
He also said the county decided
its clerk shall file any petition with
20 valid signatures and added that
the county’s language on this issue
is plain.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press File
Stephanie Rael, a farm hand and leader of the Dry Creek Valley Coalition, stands near some of the 1,400 acres of farmland
that would be developed as a planned community north of Boise. A judge has ruled that the Ada County, Idaho, clerk must
file the coalition’s petition, which seeks a vote on the county commission’s approval of the development.
“The clerk has been given no
discretion in that regard,” Medema
wrote. “The coalition’s petition con-
tains the proper number and type
of signatures. Therefore ... the Ada
County clerk is hereby ordered to
immediately file the coalition’s pe-
tition....”
In a statement, Rael said the group
chose to pursue the referendum pro-
cess because its members believe the
community was “deprived of the op-
portunity to have their voices heard
and valued in any meaningful way
throughout this process.”
If the petition is approved by the
county prosecutor, coalition mem-
bers will have 180 days to collect the
estimated 40,000 signatures it will
take to prompt a special election.
BHH officials have told Capital
Press that all farmers and landown-
ers in Idaho should be concerned
if the petition succeeds because it
could threaten their private property
rights by allowing any land-use deci-
sion made by elected officials to be
challenged.
In a statement, BHH attorney
Hethe Clark said Medema’s decision
only requires Rich to process the pe-
tition “and nothing more. They may
elect to proceed with gathering sig-
natures for their petition; however, it
does not change the fact that Boise
Hunter Homes has vested property
Wilco celebrates retirement of longtime CEO
Doug Hoffman
served in position
for 23 years
Senator: GOP holding
firm on Hirst, budget
Inslee: ‘No
excuse’ for
no budget
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — Members and
employees of Wilco gathered
Dec. 14 to celebrate the retire-
ment of longtime president
and CEO Doug Hoffman,
who led the farmers’ coopera-
tive based in Mt. Angel, Ore.,
for 23 years.
Hoffman, 65, will offi-
cially retire Dec. 31, but first
the co-op sent him off with a
party at the Salem Conven-
tion Center featuring hors
d’oeuvres, speeches and a
13-minute video tribute.
Sam Bugarsky, president
of retail farm stores for Wil-
co, also presented Hoffman
with more than $91,000 in
donations raised by the co-op,
which will go toward charities
supporting Hoffman’s mis-
sionary work overseas.
The money, Hoffman said,
will go around the world to
help those in need.
“That’s the aspect which
I believe we need to our live
our lives,” he told the crowd
seated in the Willamette Ball-
room.
Throughout the event,
Hoffman was described by
friends and employees as
humble, generous and driven.
Steve Keudell, former
chairman of the Wilco board
of directors, praised Hoffman
for establishing a team-build-
ing culture at the co-op.
“Doug gets the job done,”
Keudell said.
Bugarsky said it wasn’t
always smooth sailing during
Hoffman’s nearly quarter-cen-
tury at Wilco. Over the years,
rights in these approvals that cannot,
under Idaho law, be challenged by
referendum.”
He said Medema “merely decided
that the issue is not yet ripe and will
not become so unless and until the
coalition obtains more than 40,000
signatures and hoodwinks a majority
of county voters into accepting their
extremist view that voters can take
away an individual property owner’s
property rights.”
Clark said BHH is confident that
even if the coalition gathers the sig-
natures and prompts a special elec-
tion, “the courts will prevent this
attempt at ‘ballot box zoning’ from
having any effect.”
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
George Plaven/Capital Press
Sam Bugarsky, right, president of retail farm stores for Wilco,
presents outgoing president and CEO Doug Hoffman with a plaque
announcing the co-op has helped to raise money to go toward
Hoffman’s mission work overseas.
he was faced with a number
of difficult, often unpopular
decisions that saw the co-op
divest itself of several busi-
nesses, including the tire sales
and grass seed cleaning oper-
ations and gas stations.
Hoffman made those de-
cisions with the long-term
future of Wilco in mind,
Bugarsky said.
“We definitely wouldn’t be
where we are today without
Doug,” Bugarsky said.
Today, more than 3,000
agricultural producers from
across the Willamette Valley
are members of Wilco, and
the co-op has grown during
Hoffman’s tenure from 70 to
900 employees.
Hoffman said he could not
have accomplished what he
did at Wilco without the sup-
port of his employees.
“It’s a team effort. I could
work 10,000 hours a day and
not get done what we’ve got-
ten done,” he said.
Hoffman and his wife, Jan,
will continue to live in Keiz-
er and serve on humanitarian
missions overseas in Africa.
His first trip is already sched-
uled for March 2018 in Kenya
and Togo.
He said he will also contin-
ue to support local organiza-
tions including FFA, Corban
University and the Resource
Education and Agricultural
Leadership Program of Ore-
gon.
“I’ve enjoyed my career
here at Wilco, no doubt about
that,” he said. “It’s because I
enjoy working with farmers.
You’re the salt of the earth.
You’re the seed.”
Tim Ramsey, the for-
mer CEO of Oregon Cherry
Growers, is poised to become
the next president and CEO at
Wilco, and will oversee the
organization’s recent merg-
er with Hazelnut Growers of
Oregon
But the night was all about
Hoffman, whom Bugarsky
described as the hardest work-
er in the company and a man
who was never satisfied with
business as usual.
Bob May, a former board
member, said Hoffman’s in-
tention was always to do
what’s best for Wilco.
“Thank you for your lead-
ership and your friendship for
the last 23 years,” May said.
OLYMPIA — Wash-
ington Gov. Jay Inslee
said Dec. 14 that Senate
Republicans should stop
the “high jinks” and pass a
capital budget, but the GOP
lawmaker who held up the
budget said he believes
Republicans will hold firm
until Democrats embrace a
“good Hirst fix.”
Sen. Jim Honeyford,
R-Sunnyside, said a plan
outlined Dec. 14 by Dem-
ocrats to reopen some
rural areas to new wells
isn’t sufficient. The pro-
posal would introduce
new fees and new limits
on water withdrawals.
“We need a good Hirst
fix and the latest proposal
is not a good fix,” Hon-
eyford said in an email
to the Capital Press. “I
believe the R’s will hold
firm.”
Honeyford, the Senate
capital budget chairman
during the 2017 session,
made passing a $4.5 bil-
lion capital budget con-
tingent on Democrats
agreeing to reopen rural
Washington to new house-
hold wells. The state Su-
preme Court’s 2016 Hirst
decision blocked new
wells to provide more wa-
ter for fish.
Democrats picked up
a Senate seat in a Novem-
ber special election and
gained a 25-24 majority.
However,
a bill to
fund the
capital
budget re-
quires 30
votes.
Sen. Jim
At
a
Honeyford
press con-
ference,
Inslee renewed his call
for Senate Republicans to
yield and addressed them
directly.
“You went AWOL
from a basic obligation,”
Inslee said. “Now, you
wanted to use this as
leverage. We all under-
stand that. But I believe
that is a virus that if it
infects our Legislature,
we’re not going to be able
to have functioning gov-
ernment in our state.”
Inslee has placed a
higher priority on many
other issues, but his ad-
visers have been engaged
with lawmakers in craft-
ing a Hirst bill.
“There has been some
really good discussion
about some way to deal
with some of this water
issue, and it’s been pro-
ductive. And I hope it’s
successful. But there’s
no excuse for not passing
a capital budget,” Inslee
said.
Honeyford and Sen.
Judy Warnick, R-Moses
Lake, have been at the
forefront of negotiating
a Hirst bill. Warnick said
Tuesday after a hearing
on the Democrats’ pro-
posal that she also be-
lieves Republicans are
still determined to get a
Hirst bill before passing a
capital budget.