North Notes
Spokane North Rotary Club Bulletin
January 24, 2022
 
Calendar:
 
            Jan. 31: Rotary lunch, Noon, at the Bark. Classification talks: John Mailliard and Bill Simer.
 
Happy Buck$:
 
            John Mailliard was happy about his trip to the Oregon Coast, but wondered why some businesses had strict masking rules while others ignored masking.
 
            Colin Prestesater, celebrated the opening of his office opening in the American Legion Building.
 
            Guest Rotarian, Mary Joanis, added $1 to celebrate distribution of her energy drink and another $1 as she heads to the Cabo San Luis area in Mexico.  She said she will join us back here in July.
 
Valentines and potluck
 
            A wine tasting and potluck supper is planned Monday, Feb. 14 at the home of Michelle and Terry Fossum.  
 
            Members and spouses are invited and the dinner is in place of the usual Monday lunch.  The club’s holiday dinner Dec. 6 was postponed by several inches of snow and next month’s Valentine gathering provided a timely alternative.
 
            Michelle, our club’s board secretary, will add details soon.
 
WPC studies the state’s bills
           
            If proposed state legislative measures were snowflakes, Chris Cargill would be knee deep in drifts.
 
            Cargill, longtime director in Eastern Washington for the Washington Policy Center, talked about the blizzard of proposed legislative items at the club’s Jan. 24 luncheon.
 
            Cargill has been with the WPC since 2009 and has visited our club a few times in past years. The policy center, he says, is a non-partisan free market think tank, often described by others as a conservative watchdog on discussing alternatives usually promoted by Democratic legislative leaders.
 
            This “short,” 60-day legislative session has some 2,000 bills in play, while the longer sessions usually deal with 3,000 or more bills, Cargill said.
 
            One topic often mentioned is the proposal to allow a capital gains income tax measure, which was introduced last year and is scheduled for a summary judgment court date Feb. 4 in Douglas County.
 
            One fiscal “hot button” government reform in any discussion is introducing an income tax.  Washington is one of six states without an income tax, but there have been many attempts to change that.
 
            Cargill said Washington residents have rejected 10 different measures over the years that would install an income tax.
 
            Any excise tax in the state must by law be a flat tax, not graduated by income levels, he said.
 
            Discussing Covid issues, Cargill said the WPC would like to see emergency measures by the governor limited to 30, 60 or 90-day limits.
 
            “An emergency measure shouldn’t last two years without having the Legislature getting involved sooner,” he said.
 
            The WPC organizes ideas in eight areas: agriculture, education, the environment, government reform, health care, small business, transportation and workers’ rights.
 
            Affable and able, Cargill has an encyclopedic amount of dollar sizes and policy directions…and he could probably name almost all of the 2,000 bills in play.     
 
Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink