Speaker 1: All right. The bill passes and the chair will sign it. Thank you. Okay. And they're back. So we're now that we have an amended agenda. We are going to go to our first item, which is the resolution that council members so want put forward. I'm sorry to amend the agenda. So we have an amended agenda. Please read the new item number one.
Speaker 9: Resolution 319 34 supporting the taxation of big business in Seattle to fund housing and essential services. Urging the Washington State Legislature to oppose any preemption and other ban on Seattle's ability to raise revenue through big businesses, taxes, or other progressive revenue sources, and requesting the Office of Intergovernmental Relations to communicate this resolution to Washington state lawmakers.
Speaker 1: Thank you, councilmember. So what you want to move?
Speaker 0: But it could be.
Speaker 7: I feel like I've made a real motivation for why it is important in terms of timing, just given the pace at which there's potentially a ban or option could appear in the bill. And so I would really urge my colleagues to vote yes on the resolution. And just one other thing I will mention is that, as I said earlier, most of us on the council have already signed a letter that was initiated by a council member mosquito in which we are taking a clear position against preemption. But as many of us have also said, we need all tools in the toolbox. And I dread to think of what message it will send the corporate Democrats if we if this resolution does not get voted through and get a majority. Yes. Vote today, I don't know what message it will send. The message it will send will be basically that the Seattle City Council is not actually standing against preemption or ban. So I think it is historically crucial that we take the correct position and vote yes on the resolution and be consistent with the letter that most of us have already signed. And I would like to hear my colleagues on this.
Speaker 1: So now please help me out here. I thought that council members haven't had to move to adopt Resolution 31934. And did you do that?
Speaker 7: I do have to.
Speaker 1: When you do adopt it, you have to make a.
Speaker 7: Move to adopt resolution 31934.
Speaker 1: Is there a second, second, second. Okay. So now we can go. It's been moved and seconded to adopt a resolution and we'll move to discussion. Are there any comments on the actual merits of the proposed resolution from any of my colleagues? Councilmember.
Speaker 0: LEWIS Oh.
Speaker 4: Yes, thanks.
Speaker 1: Peterson No. Lewis I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. No, no, no. I actually have it written down here. Thank you. CARLSON Remember, it's.
Speaker 4: Only February, so.
Speaker 0: Yeah, go.
Speaker 4: Ahead. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Or Madam President, pro tem. So I just wanted to make a couple of comments before we formally vote on this resolution. I want to thank Councilmember Swan for bringing it forward and totally respect the spirit in which it was introduced in which we will discuss it here today. I did just want to reiterate that on February 10th, I was one of the council members who signed the letter that we did send down to Olympia, to Representative Macri, as well as the sponsor in the Senate, Senator Kizer, expressing four key concerns. First concern, the increasing of the total revenue, because we know that while the current proposal is a good start, it does not go far enough to fully and comprehensively respond to the scale of our crisis. Second, excluding the preemption. Third, making sure we're allocating those funds to essential services and housing in a in an equitable way. Fourth, clarifying how much revenue is going to go to the Regional Homelessness Authority versus the city and the county. We sent this letter. And since that time, we've been at the table as a stakeholder regionally and as in Olympia and in Olympia and discussions in this bill. From my conversations with my delegation in the 36th, from my conversations with Representative Macri, the concerns of this Council are being heard in the halls of Olympia, and we are active participants, not passive observers. And while I adamantly believe in the good intentions behind this resolution, I also believe that the framework of our engagement based in that letter of February 10th and our follow up conversations, both as individuals and an institution through our table discussions with the Office of Intergovernmental Relations on a weekly basis has been the better approach for working out this policy with our friends than this resolution would. And I want to be clear that I have complete confidence and trust in Representative Nicole Macri, and that's part of the reason why I'll be voting no on this resolution today. The sponsor of HB 29 or seven, Representative Macri, who has managed this difficult process with grace and fortitude so far, which has not been easy. Nicole Macri is a progressive hero as the deputy director for the Downtown Emergency Service Center. She takes a backseat to nobody in her dedication and commitment to helping our neighbors experiencing homelessness, and no local politician can match her direct experience as a service provider. I just want to say that her progressive credentials are beyond reproach, and my knowing her as a friend and knowing her as a colleague, as a local leader. Her work has advanced the rights of renters, students, commuters, people experiencing homelessness. And her work at DSC has unambiguously saved lives and provided respite to people who have suffered on our streets experiencing homelessness. She is the person in the room on this. I trust her. I have her back. I'll continue to actively engage in making tonight's 97 the strongest bill possible. I don't think this resolution will help that cause at this time.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Lewis. So with that, is there any other comments before I turn it over to council members who want to make a closing statement? Okay. With that, customers who want. Closures.
Speaker 7: Well, if any other guns. I appreciate Councilmember Lewis stating what his opinion is, although I don't agree with his position. But if other council members are planning to vote no on this, I would prefer to hear your opinions. And I think you owe the public an explanation of why you will be voting no on the resolution.
Speaker 1: I think we're just going to take a vote.
Speaker 0: So I'd like you to.
Speaker 1: Have a few any closing comments, and then I'd like to go to the vote.
Speaker 7: So I, I don't agree with the council members who are planning to vote no on this resolution, because I don't think that any politician, including myself, any politician, has some sort of lifelong hold over any kind of progressive label. You get to be called progressive only if you're absolutely fighting for a progressive agenda. And I don't I would say the person who spoke I'm sorry, I don't remember your name, but when you said that only somebody who I mean, I'm adding some words here, but only somebody who is either being completely politically naive or politically disingenuous would say that we don't actually need to use all tools in our toolbox. And to say that a representative who has who is the prime sponsor of the bill and who has refused to say that she opposes preemption, which is which is something she needs to say, that that person is a progressive hero. I don't I want to clarify. This is not about individuals and certainly not about politicians. I have the greatest respect for every elected representative.
Speaker 0: Who at.
Speaker 7: Any time in any given day is fighting for progressive causes. And I will work with anybody who is willing to do so. But in our conversation with Representative McCrery in Olympia, when 50 of us were there, she said, she said to me, you know, you know, as a fellow progressive, our lives are hard. And the people who spoke there basically summed it up, which is that I don't think progressive politicians can complain that their lives are hard because the lives of ordinary people are a thousand times harder. And it is our duty. It is our duty to absolutely be fighting. And I've said this before, and I will say this again, if as a progressive, if somebody who claims as a progressive and your life is not hard as an elected official, then you are doing something wrong and you're feeling ordinary people. Your life better be hard because that's what it's like when you're actually fighting for ordinary people. And I don't think that anybody who vote no on this resolution can claim that they are doing everything in their power to prevent what will be if the ban passes. A historic betrayal of Seattle's and the state's working people.
Speaker 1: The ball. Thank you, Councilmember Sawant, for bringing this forward. Thank you, colleagues, for giving. Council members want the opportunity to amend the agenda and put this resolution in front of us. Thank you, Councilmember Lewis, for your comments regarding our representatives down in Olympia. And with that, I am going to take the vote those in favor of adopting the resolution. Please vote I and raise your hand.
Speaker 7: I. I.
Speaker 1: Those opposed. Vote no and raise your hand. No, no, no. Shame. The resolution fails. 225225225. And that's two thirds. That's less than okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. We will move on with the calendar.
Speaker 5: No, thank you. Yeah, no.
Speaker 0: Reaction. Joe's big band from Seattle to Spokane?
Speaker 6: No. Brandon. Dr. David Frost. Yeah. Spokane.
A RESOLUTION supporting the taxation of big businesses in Seattle to fund housing and essential services, urging the Washington State Legislature to oppose any “preemption” or other ban on Seattle’s ability to raise revenue through big business taxes or other progressive revenue sources, and requesting the Office of Intergovernmental Relations communicate this resolution to Washington State Lawmakers.