Inslee OKs bill curbing debt-based license suspensions
GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press
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SEATTLE (AP) Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday approved a measure aimed at preventing tens of thousands of people a year from having their driver’s licenses suspended for failure to pay fines.
An estimated 46,000 people have their licenses suspended annually because they fail to pay court-imposed fines for noncriminal moving violations as minor as neglecting to use a turn signal. And, once their license is suspended, they can be subject to criminal prosecution if they re caught driving again.
Activists say that punishes people for being poor, disproportionately affects minority and young drivers, and makes it harder for them to get to work, to take care of sick family members or to get children to school.
Inslee approves bill curbing debt-based license suspensions
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Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signs 33 new bills into law
By the time Washington lawmakers concluded their 105-day session Sunday night, they had approved nearly a dozen measures on police reform, passed two key climate measures cap-and-trade and a low-carbon fuel standard that had long been priorities of Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, and passed a new capital gains tax on high-profit stocks and bonds that had languished in previous legislative sessions.
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday approved a measure aimed at preventing tens of thousands of people a year from having their driver’s licenses suspended for failure to pay fines.
King County jails struggling with high vaccine rejection among inmates
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The King County Correctional Facility on Oct. 23, 2020, in downtown Seattle. (Jovelle Tamayo for Crosscut)
After a year of watching the COVID-19 pandemic unfurl from inside his jail cell, Karim Mitchell-Akram became infected himself last month. He was one of scores to come down with the virus during a recent outbreak inside the King County jail in downtown Seattle.
Mitchell-Akram’s headaches and fatigue confirmed what he already knew: This was a disease that deserved to be taken seriously. He had come to that conclusion months earlier as his hours outside of his cell were cut in half, as Interstate 5 below his window went quiet during rush hour, as family on the outside struggled financially and as a grandfather figure caught the virus and died.