NPI's Cascadia Advocate

Offering commentary and analysis from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's uplifting perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Category Archives: Civil Liberties

Issues facing LGBTQ+ community take center stage at 2023 YDWA Convention in Spokane

Excerpt: Though Washington has historically been one of the safer states to be queer, the LGBTQ+ experience east of the Cascades is a very different one due to the Republican-leaning local governments. After all, it wasn't that long ago that it wasn't very safe to be out in Spokane, the biggest city in the region.
Written by:Caya Berndt
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Washington State Legislature swiftly agrees on a Blake fix after going into special session

Excerpt: "This bill recognizes the harm that public use causes our communities by creating the crime of public use," said Representative Jamila Taylor. "More importantly, it focuses on the most up-to-date science on recovery, working to connect people to treatment, housing, services, and employment opportunities."
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics
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Several Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy in January 6th insurrection

Excerpt: These convictions are more than just a victory for the Department of Justice - they are an encouraging sign for the future of American democracy. For our republic to endure, attempts to overturn a free and fair election by force must be thwarted and their perpetrators held accountable.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Policy Topics
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Oregon Republicans flee the Capitol to block gun safety and reproductive justice bills

Excerpt: Republicans in Oregon are once again holding up the business of the Oregon State Legislature by refusing to show up for work, which is preventing the Senate from taking up critical gun safety and reproductive justice bills.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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Disney sues Ron DeSantis, seeking to have retaliatory laws declared unconstitutional

Excerpt: Of DeSantis’ actions, the Disney brief declares: “This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business and patently unconstitutional. But the Governor and his allies have made clear they do not care and will not stop.”
Written by:Joel Connelly
Other Categories:Policy Topics, World Commmunity
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DONE! Governor Inslee signs assault weapons ban and two more gun safety bills into law

Excerpt: On April 25th, Governor Jay Inslee signed into law three pivotal new gun safety laws: a ban on assault weapons, a permit-to-purchase requirement, and a duty to impose reasonable controls law that gun manufacturers, distributors, and sellers must abide by. 
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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“Blake fix” bill fails in State House, prompting calls for special session on drug policy

Excerpt: Several Democrats joined the chamber's forty Republicans in casting nay votes, creating a potent obstacle to the bill's passage that leadership determined could not be surmounted before the clock ran out on the 2023 legislative session.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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VICTORY! Assault weapons ban clears Legislature, heads to Governor Inslee’s desk

Excerpt: On April 19th, the state House of Representatives and Senate came to an agreement on mutually acceptable final language for House Bill 1240, which prohibits the manufacture, importation, distribution, selling, and offering for sale of assault weapons.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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VICTORY! My Health, My Data Act heads to Governor Inslee after House concurrence vote

Excerpt: By a vote of 57-40, the House voted to concur in the Senate amendments to House Bill 1155, prime sponsored by Representative Vandana Slatter (D‑48th District: Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Medina, the Points communities).
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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VICTORY! Firearm Industry Responsibility & Gun Violence Victims’ Access to Justice Act heads to Governor Inslee’s desk

Excerpt: SB 5078 received a concurrence vote on April 14th, 2023. That means the Senate agreed with the changes that the House made to the bill, completing its journey through the bicameral legislative process.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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Washington State House of Representatives amends and approves police pursuit bill

Excerpt: A bipartisan majority of the Washington State House has endorsed updates to the law governing police pursuits, lowering the standard for police officers to instigate a chase from probable cause to reasonable suspicion while attaching a number of new conditions to police departments’ use of that pursuit authority.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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Nearly three-fifths of Washington voters support the Firearm Industry Responsibility & Gun Violence Victims’ Access to Justice Act

Excerpt: 59% of voters surveyed last month for NPI by Public Policy Polling said they supported enacting a new law to protect public safety by establishing duties of firearm industry members. 36% said they were opposed and 4% were not sure.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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Firearm fanatics remind us that they believe guns should have more rights than people

Excerpt: For firearm fanatics, those "unalienable Rights" of people are a secondary concern. More important to them than lives, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness is the manufacture, sale, import, and availability of guns. It's as if the guns are alive. The concern these firearm fanatics have for guns is really something. 
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
Other Categories:Policy Topics
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VICTORY! Washington State House votes to remove death penalty and Eyman’s two-thirds nonsense from our state’s body of laws

Excerpt: Legislation that would formally scrub a long list of statutes no longer in effect from the Revised Code of Washington is now going to Governor Inslee after receiving a vote in both chambers.
Written by:Andrew Villeneuve
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