washington policy center

A July op-ed by the Washington Policy Center’s Pam Lewison is very critical of the Governor Jay Inslee’s Office and the Washington state Department of Ecology for failing to protect wheat farmers and other grain growers during this summer’s record heat. In her piece ti ...

During the 2021 legislative session, Washington lawmakers passed a new capital gains tax; a tax that will be challenged in court. Pam Lewison with the Washington Policy Center said with no exemptions for farm lands, the tax will have severe impacts on producers statewide. ...

The future of the farm worker in Washington remains unclear after last week’s passage of legislation in the state Senate brining the 40-hour work week of the Ag industry. In addition, Senate Bill 5172 looks to prevent some, but not all, back pay lawsuits against the Ag industry. Tho ...

During October’s Washington Policy Center Virtual Farm Hall, members of the Ag community gathered to discuss some of the key issues facing the farming community now and into the future. And one of those topics was wildfires. Wildfires have caused a great amount of damage to the Washington Ag community in recent years, whether it was record acreage burned in North Central Washington in 2014 and 20

Last week’s announced by the Department of the Interior that the gray wolf will be removed from the Endangered Species List is, according to Todd Myers, Director of the Environmental Center at the Washington Policy Center, a victory of the Endangered Species Act. He ...

Like many other events in 2020, the Washington Policy Center’s Farm Hall is moving on-line during the pandemic. The WPC’s Pam Lewison said typically they hold three farm halls, sprinkled across Washington. But, because of COVID-19, everything will move into the virtual world. Whi ...

Like any other sector of the American economy, agriculture has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with contracts and customer bases disappearing because of stay at home orders around the globe. However, the farming community has also faced criticism for “wasting food” whether that’s dairy producers dumping milk, or vegetable growers turning over fields. Pam Lewis ...

Those who support removing the four lower Snake River dams say those dams are hindering salmon, which in turn hurts Puget Sound orcas that feed on the salmon.  However, Todd Myers, Director of the Center for the Environment with the Washington Policy Center said there is no scientific evidence that removing those dams will help salmon, or any other wildlife that call the Snake home.  My... Read Mo

Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s Snake River Dams stakeholder consultant team will hold its third of three public information workshops in the Tri-Cities Monday.  The event will allow those from the Columbia Basin and surrounding area to get a first glimpse of the report, focused on the economic impact to region if the four lower Snake River dams were removed.   B...

Washington state Senator John McCoy raised the ire of many in the farm industry last year when he claimed that farmers don’t pay taxes, but is that true?   A Recent Study conducted by the Washington Policy Center found that statement to be false, noting that farmers and ranchers pay a variety of taxes, including B&O tax, self-employment taxes, and state and federal payroll taxes.  WPC noted Wa