Kaiser Permanent Overturns Harmful Transgender Healthcare Access Policy During the 2018 budget deliberations the Seattle LGBTQ Commission sent a letter to the City Council with requests that we support access to healthcare for transgender people including but not limited to: Gender affirmation surgery and treatment  Fertility and assisted reproduction needs  Procedures that insurance may have […]

Amending the Open Housing Ordinance for Tenants with Disabilities On Monday July 30, 2018 the Seattle City Council passed CB 119309 amending the Open Housing Ordinance in Chapter 14.08 of the Seattle Municipal Code to increase the types of entities with an obligation to provide reasonable accommodations to tenants with disabilities. This issue was brought […]

City Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle & South Park), and Chair of the Council’s Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development and Arts Committee, issued the following statement today following the unanimous passage of Council Bill (CB) 119316, a bill to broaden the responsibility for providing reasonable accommodations to tenants with disabilities: “Thank you to […]

Seattle University Public Safety Survey and Micro-Community Policing Plans Seattle University recently released their 2017 Seattle Public Safety Survey. The report includes analysis of community perceptions of public safety citywide, by police precinct, and by Micro-Community Policing Plan (MCPP) area. There are 14 micro-communities for the Southwest Precinct: Alaska Junction, Alki, Commercial Duwamish, Commercial Harbor […]

Prepaid Postage for Returned Ballots As you may have heard, last May the King County Council approved the King County Elections request for prepaid postage for every voter in the County so that they could return their ballot through the mail without a stamp. King County Elections conducted two prepaid postage pilots last year.  By […]

Seattle Small Business Survey In continuing its efforts to support Seattle small businesses the Office of Economic Development has designed a survey to ask small business owners across the city what the City can do to better support the success of Seattle small businesses.  This information will help OED to prioritize their programs and services, […]

Transportation Benefit District Changes Allow for Additional Service for Delridge Last week the City Council passed legislation amending the criteria for Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) spending; under state law, these funds can only be used for transportation purposes. One of the key changes is to amend the spending criteria to allow the STBD to […]

King County Hotel-Motel Tax Legislation The King County Executive last week announced a proposal “to bond against future hotel-motel tax revenues to generate an additional $100 million that could be made available to build housing units for people earning between 30 percent and 80 percent of Area Median Income, with a likely focus on 30-60 […]

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling today in the Janus v. State, County and Municipal Employees (16-1466), Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle, South Park) released the following statement echoing the frustrations and concerns of workers everywhere that this ruling will have long-term detrimental effects on public sector unions: “The Court’s stunning reversal of […]

Council adopts vehicle exhaust noise legislation On Monday, the City Council adopted legislation that I sponsored to simplify enforcement of existing law prohibiting excessive vehicle exhaust noise.  Enforcement currently requires use of a sound meter, which police officers usually don’t carry, and meters require calibration. SPD noted in the committee discussion last week that they […]