Building on its successful free COVID-19 testing program, today Mayor Durkan and Seattle fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins announced that the state has officially approved SFD’s EMS team to be a COVID-19 vaccine distributor, and with that certification the team will launch two “mobile vaccination teams.”
Continue readingTag: COVID-19
Landlords file legal challenge to eviction moratorium
Yesterday a group of landlords filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to challenge the temporary bans on evictions enacted by Governor Inslee and Mayor Durkan, the extension of Durkan’s ban passed by the City Council, and the Council’s ordinance requiring landlords to allow tenants to repay back rent in installments.
Continue readingCouncil overrides veto of COVID-19 relief bill, then immediately adjusts it to new fiscal reality (updated)
This afternoon in a special meeting, the City Council overrode Mayor Durkan’s veto of a bill that authorizes the spending of $86 million from the city’s two reserve fund to pay for COVID-19 relief programs. Then it immediately passed a new bill that reduced the amount to $57 million, reflecting the most recent news about the city’s increasing revenue shortfall this year.
Continue readingBill requiring premium pay for gig workers seems poised to move ahead, with changes
After several weeks of delay while negotiations occurred in the background, a bill that would require some companies employing “gig workers” to provide premium pay seems poised for approval tomorrow — after some significant rewriting.
Continue readingWelcome to the next phase of COVID. The rules just changed, so pay attention.
While we were all (rightly) focused on Geroge Floyd, police violence, and structural racism, something important quietly happened on the COVID front in Washington: we moved out of Phase 1, the shutdown. In our new reality some of the rules are the same, but many of them have changed. For the most part, the government seems ready to do its part; but the rest of us aren’t yet. It’s time to get our act together.
Continue readingCity partnering with UW for free COVID-19 drive-up testing
Late this afternoon, Mayor Jenny Durkan and UW President Ana Mari Cauce signed a partnership agreement to provide free COVID-19 testing at two drive-through locations in Seattle.
Continue readingGovernor lifts restrictions on Council deliberations
Last Friday, Governor Inslee extended and revised his emergency proclamation that suspended provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act and the Public Records Act, lifting the restrictions on the Council and other public agencies from taking certain actions.
Continue readingMosqueda introduces bill to require paid sick & safe time to some gig workers
This week Council member Mosqueda introduced a bill that would require certain companies that rely on “gig economy” workers to provide paid sick and safe time to those workers for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.
Continue reading“Amazon Tax” bill is off the table — for now.
According to a memo issued today, Council President Lorena Gonzalez has decided that the payroll tax bill put forward by Council members Sawant and Morales does not meet the criteria for allowed Council actions under Governor Inslee’s proclamation modifying the terms of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and Public Records Act (PRA). As such, the Council may not continue deliberations on it while the Governor’s proclamation remains in effect, and next Wednesday’s Budget Committee meeting to discuss the bill has been cancelled.
Continue readingMayor proposes how to spend federal and state COVID-19 relief funding
On Friday, Mayor Jenny Durkan sent a bill to the City Council with a proposed spending plan for about $14 million in federal and state COVID-19 relief funding.
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