A new series of rankings from personal finance website WalletHub recently prompted a report in a popular regional news channel with the headline, “Why Didn’t Washington Make the Top 20 Most Livable States?”
Top 20? We didn’t even make the top 30.
Washington ranks 35th on WalletHub’s list of most livable states, released on August 12, based on five key dimensions the website describes as affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life and safety.
Our state ranked 36th in affordability, the category that gave the most weight to cost of living. In terms of safety, property crime rates and the number of police officers per capita were given the most weight. Washington ranked 50th in this category, which is the very last place.
The 35th place out of 50 looks even worse when you look back a few months when WalletHub released its list of the “best and worst economies,” where Washington came in at number one out of 50.
Think about it. Even though our state’s economy was rated better than everyone else’s, it wasn’t even enough to put Washington in the top 30 most livable states when other important factors are taken into account.
In recent years, Senate Republicans have placed affordability and public safety at the top of their legislative priorities.
We know that Washington’s economy has been stable for years, but that’s of little value when families are crushed by high living costs and feel unsafe.
According to a writer at WalletHub, our state “could potentially move up the rankings if politicians focused on reducing crime rates and making housing more affordable.”
Unfortunately, that’s a big “if.”
Democrats were not concerned with reducing crime when they passed the law prohibiting police officers from conducting chases based on reasonable suspicion.
Fortunately, the hundreds of thousands of voters in Washington who introduced Initiative 2113 to the House earlier this year care about fighting crime.
Thanks to unanimous support from Republicans who also want to reduce crime rates, I-2113 was passed during the session. It took effect in June and repealed the Democrats’ pro-punishment law.
When Democrats passed the cap-and-tax law (officially known as the Climate Commitment Act (CCA)), they were not concerned with making housing more affordable.
In addition to driving up heating costs, the CCA inspired Democrats to ban natural gas in our state, starting this year with legislation they passed that limits choices for the 900,000 natural gas customers of our state’s largest monopoly utility.
This fall, voters in Washington can and should repeal the CCA by passing Initiative 2117 and block the attempted natural gas ban by passing Initiative 2066.
The passage of Bill I-2117 will not only reduce residential energy costs, but will also lower the overall cost of living in our state, as the CCA has driven up gasoline prices.
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in our state is still well third in the country, behind Hawaii, which has shipping costs, and California, the only other state with an emissions trading system.
We are still about 35 cents per gallon above Oregon and 60 cents above Idaho. Our neighbor to the east ranked sixth on the list of most livable states – with the breakdown including fourth place for safety and sixth for affordability.
And then there was the bill Democrats wanted to triple-check: the voter-approved cap on annual property tax increases at one percent—another way to make housing even less affordable.
Although this bill was withdrawn this year due to enormous pressure from the public and Republicans in the Senate, no one doubts that the Democrats will try again as long as one-party rule continues in Olympia.
Voters can help by sending more Republicans to the Capitol, for example from Washington’s Fifth District, where Democrat Bill Ramos, a member of the House of Representatives, is seeking promotion to the post left vacant by Democratic Senator Mark Mullet’s unsuccessful bid for governor.
In a statement to voters ahead of the Aug. 6 primary election, Ramos claimed that during his time in Olympia he had “prioritized affordability, safety and quality of life.”
Let’s see: In the affordability category, Ramos has contributed to an increase in energy costs and the general cost of living through his support of the Climate Commitment Act.
He also supported the first step toward a full state income tax – that is, the tax on capital gains, which can be abolished this fall with the passage of Initiative 2109.
Ramos helped push through the controversial deal that will cost that utility’s natural gas customers up to $70,000 per person if they replace gas appliances with electric ones. Again, voters can overturn this terrible precedent and protect energy choice by approving I-2066.
But what really sets Ramos apart is his record on public safety legislation – and for all the wrong reasons.
In addition to his support for the Anti-Prosecution Act, he also supported at the committee level bill HB 2178, which would have exempted sex offenders from parole, and bill HB 1268, which would have reduced prison time for violent offenders, firearms offenses and gang members.
Fifth District voters were expected to elect former Assemblyman Chad Magendanz to replace Mullet.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson has his own issues with the two that have caused our state to slip so far down WalletHub’s list of best places to live.
It’s important to remember that Ferguson’s cost-of-living plan also included handing out checks earlier this year to tens of thousands of Washingtonians who believed they were being hurt by high chicken and tuna prices—whether or not they were.
The fact that Ferguson’s name was prominently printed on the checks and that the handouts were sent long after he had run for governor says a lot about his judgment – or lack thereof.
And on the public safety side, stay tuned for more revelations about Ferguson’s office’s role in releasing sex offenders. Details are yet to be released, but reports suggest these may include offenders who were quietly released into society, sometimes without supervision.
Add to that the attorney general’s refusal to answer questions from candidates from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, even as Ferguson promises to hire more officers if elected – officers who would serve under the sheriffs and police chiefs he ignores.
Republicans are focused on advocating and implementing policies that make Washington a better place to live, including lowering the cost of living and making our communities safer. If that gets our state into the top 20 on WalletHub or elsewhere, that would be a bonus.
Washington voters can help: They must pass all the initiatives on the ballot—vote yes, pay less—and definitely put more Republicans in office this fall.
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Senator John Braun of Centralia represents the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.
