Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (Position 8, Citywide) described the JumpStart Seattle progressive revenue proposal during last week’s Wednesday’s budget committee and invited any of her colleagues to sign-on as co-sponsors. Council President M. Lorena González and Councilmember Lisa Herbold announced during the meeting that they would co-sponsor. Councilmembers Dan Strauss and Andrew J. Lewis have also signed on as co-sponsors of Mosqueda’s progressive revenue proposal, as announced during today’s Council Briefing.
JumpStart Seattle addresses immediate community needs from the COVID-19 crisis, including investments in our City’s immigrant and refugee populations, small business, housing stability, and food security; and in later years it invests deeply in building affordable housing and critical supports for our community including continuity of essential city services, childcare, and equitable development initiatives.
“I thank my Council colleagues for their support of the JumpStart Seattle recovery and relief plan that centers workers, small businesses and our most vulnerable community members through a data-driven approach. They join hundreds of labor unions, community and housing advocates, and businesses that have expressed support for JumpStart Seattle, and have helped craft this proposal because they want to invest in a thriving and more equitable Seattle as we emerge from this public health and economic crisis. I look forward to working with all of my Council colleagues in the coming weeks to craft a budget and find progressive revenue that supports all Seattlites,” Mosqueda said.
“JumpStart Seattle is a transformative plan that addresses our current economic crisis and makes critical long-term investments in major issues including Seattle’s wealth gap, unequal access to opportunity, the lack of affordable housing and the homelessness crisis. This plan centers our most vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 crisis, such as our immigrant and refugee communities who have been left behind and don’t have the same access to federal and state resources. I want to thank Councilmember Mosqueda and JumpStart’s broad coalition of supporters for their work in bringing this proposal forward. This legislation would take a bold and important step towards reversing the regressive nature of our tax system and driving us towards a more equitable and prosperous future,” said Council President González (Position 9, Citywide).
“This proposal is a finely-tuned progressive tax, specifically requiring the largest employers to pay a tax only on the highest salaries that are driving our city’s affordability problems. I’m excited to co-sponsor JumpStart Seattle, which has a clear spending plan that will make significant impacts on affordable housing, homeless services, help for small businesses and investments in equitable development initiatives,” said Councilmember Herbold (District 1, West Seattle to South Park).
“Thank you to Councilmember Mosqueda and JumpStart Seattle’s broad coalition of stakeholders for creating a stimulus proposal that considers the needs of small business and everyday Seattleites, and includes them in the recovery of our city. Small businesses are the fabric that make our city vibrant and unique. It is important to me that small businesses with narrow margins benefit from this proposal and from future investments in our economic recovery. JumpStart Seattle also includes solutions that we’ve heard from Seattlites across our city – a focus on rental assistance and childcare – so that we plug holes in this economic crisis and ensure our middle class thrives in the years ahead,” said Councilmember Strauss (District 6, Northwest Seattle).
“This carefully constructed spending plan is a model for how cities can collaboratively invest in communities in the wake of this crisis,” said Councilmember Lewis (District 7, Pioneer Square to Magnolia). “I’m proud to join Councilmember Mosqueda in the effort to pass this pragmatic and progressive revenue proposal.”
The JumpStart Seattle proposal will immediately address the COVID -19 crisis by investing in housing security, such as rental assistance programs and resources for non-profit affordable housing providers; our homelessness crisis, including further de-intensifying our shelters; food security through the city’s grocery voucher program; and cash assistance to small businesses and those left out of federal and state relief. For more detailed information on JumpStart Seattle.
Spending in the following years focuses on building affordable housing and investing in the economic recovery of small businesses. A narrative document about the proposal is linked here.
Mosqueda’s JumpStart legislation will be considered as part of the city’s budget process. The legislation will be formally introduced today and will be heard in Wednesday’s budget committee.