By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Some of the questions posed to State Sen. Joe Nguyễn during his Saturday morning Town Hall were about the biggest issues faced by state government – like school funding, public safety, and climate response.

Then, there was the attendee who wanted to know who had the power to keep the Blue Angels away.

Sen. Nguyễn, a West Seattle-residing Democrat in his second term as senator for the 34th Legislative District, spoke to and with more than two dozen people scattered around the back garden at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor). As announced, the Town Hall lasted an hour – we recorded it on video:

Many of the questions were about climate/sustainability, not surprising considering that Nguyễn chairs the State Senate’s Environment, Energy, and Technology Committee. But school funding carried the most immediacy, given that Seattle Public Schools‘ superintendent Dr. Brent Jones has cited inadequate state funding as a reason he’s considering closing ~20 schools.

Nguyễn noted that his wife is a teacher and their kids attend Seattle Public Schools. But he didn’t offer much hope for a near-term solution to the funding problem. In response to questions asked by attendees including a high-school student and a parent, he called the way our state funds education – mostly through property tax – “horrific” and “unnecessarily complex,” a funding model he blamed on a “split Legislature” before he took office. He suggested that legislators should “revisit” how schools are funded, including what resulted from the McCleary decision, but didn’t say whether he or anyone is actually working specifically on that “revisiting.” He did say that “allies” need to be found “across the state” in order to get the education-funding formula “shifted.” He also warned that if voters throw out the state’s relatively new capital-gains excise tax (which would happen if they approve State Initiative 2109), that would hurt education funding. Tax reform in general remains a major need, Sen. Nguyễn said, saying the state’s regressive tax system is often the root of many problems.

An attendee pointed out that what school districts find themselves having to do now to balance budgets has collateral damage – the savings have their own costs, such as school closures leading to fewer students being within walking distance of their schools, in turn meaning they don’t walk – which affects their health – and they have to use transportation that pollutes the air.

On the topic of climate/sustainability, Nguyễn had touted the Climate Commitment Act in his opening remarks, saying it was not only “building better future but undoing historical harm.” So an early question asked, what about the initiative, 2117, that would undo it?

While making it clear his remarks were not intended as campaigning against that initiative, he said its provisions already have raised $2 billion, and that it’s “the most transformative climate policy in the US so far … our state is probably the only state on track to meet Paris Accord (targets) …” He said that in his view 2117 is a “poorly crafted initiative” – the CCA can be “tweaked,” Nguyễn said, but “unwinding it and preventing future efforts is ridiculous.” He pointed out that it’s funding 30 percent of transportation budget, so you won’t want to support the initiative “if you care about ferries, roads,” etc. Yes, some of its provisions come with a cost for people, but he contended that there are ways they can get help with that, such as energy rebates. The CCA is not “perfect,” but he’s determined to defend it “for our kids” – against what he considers a “poorly written initiative funded by one guy who has an agenda and is trying to impose it on Washington state.”

Next climate/sustainability question was the one about the Blue Angels. An attendee explained they’re affiliated with the Seafair Climate Action Campaign, which among other things wants to “end military airshows” during the summer festival. The question was, who has the power to say “no” to the Blue Angels? they asked. “Some of us are offended by having carbon sprayed on us … our group is trying to find out who has accountability. There seems to be no one who feels they can say no.” They said they’ve taken their case to Seafair and its board already, but wondered who has veto power beyond that. The senator said he doesn’t know – it’s never come up. But, he said, sustainable aviation fuel is being worked on. (A few questions later, he said sustainable aviation fuel is most likely to work for “regional flights,” and that a future with electric planes is in view, observing that while we’ve flown hydrogen-fueled spaceships, we haven’t come up with a hydrogen airplane yet.

Another attendee asked about marine fuel, and Nguyễn talked about electrification of boats, from state ferries to the Port of Seattle’s shore-power push (including West Seattle’s Terminal 5). And there was a question about the chemical in tire dust that has proven lethal to salmon in Longfellow Creek, with the attendee wondering if electric cars being heavier is causing a worse problem with that. Nguyễn said the chemical, 6PPD, is starting to be removed by manufacturers.

The issue of public safety factored into one key moment in the Town Hall. District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka‘s chief of staff Elaine Ikoma Ko recapped Saka’s promise at Wednesday’s Alki community meeting to advocate for changes to a state law that prevents investigators from questioning juvenile suspects until they’ve talked with a lawyer (the law is from HB 1140, passed in 2022, with yes votes including Nguyễn and both of our area’s state House reps, including Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, who co-sponsored it). Nguyễn said any changes would have to be “nuanced,” but that it’s being worked on right now. He also suggested the law may not be as big a hindrance as some suggest, because “97 percent of the time” juveniles can be connected with a lawyer quickly, and it can be done by phone.

Other big issues discussed included homelessness; asked if there was a solution in sight, Nguyễn’s reply was a dismayed “God, no!” The “issues around homelessness are systemic,” he observed, adding that transitional and supportive housing are important, “you’ve got to just get people off the street. He said the state is “doing what it can with local jurisdictions” but – without naming any – noted that some jurisdictions “don’t want” that help. He suggested that many of the related problems can be traced back to “things that happened in the ’80s” but overall “we’ll never have enough resources to solve all our problems.”

In opening remarks. Sen. Nguyễn – after explaining that the two local House reps weren’t allowed to be there because it’s campaign season – offered a few datapoints about this past session of the Legislature: The average year sees more than 3,000 bills; last session, 381 were passed, “360 of those were bipartisan,” and the few that were not, he said, involved issues such as “reproductive rights, gun safety, climate.” He said that unlike some other levels of government, the two parties work together at the Legislature in a “respectful and thoughtful” way. Overall, he said, this past session was focused on “getting back to normal” though, he said, there’s a unique challenge – while federal funding to cover some needs went away, the needs did not. “Our food banks are the busiest they’ve ever been,” for example. He listed overall legislative accomplishments as including the creation of more law-enforcement-officer training facilities in other parts of the state so that Burien isn’t the only one. He also said the Legislature had “done a lot around opioids,” including creating an apprenticeship program so that more providers would be coming into the field – he said that even if there was enough space for treatment, there’s currently a shortage of providers.

TO REACH YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS: Follow the links here. Remember that ours is technically a “part-time” Legislature; next session is scheduled to convene in mid-January.