Local legislators criticize Inslee's reopening plan

Legislators are criticizing Gov. Jay Inslee’s latest reopening plan, “Roadmap to Recovery,” which keeps certain rural and coastal communities closed.

District 13 legislators said Feb. 1 Inslee’s plan is “partisan politics.”

“When I saw the details of this latest reopening plan, I said to myself, are you kidding me?” exclaimed Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake. “Our communities have been patiently waiting, in many respects doing the right thing, but are unacceptably left out of this.”

Communities opening are more densely populated and have “concerning upticks in COVID-related metrics than rural parts of the state that will be stuck in Phase 1,” a release from Dent’s office stated. “Counties in Phase 2 will be allowed to resume limited indoor dining and other entertainment activities, such as theaters and gyms.”

“Having been shut out of this entire process for a year, it’s past time the Legislature weigh in on these decisions with science and facts,” Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said. “It doesn’t make any sense that these regions would be allowed to open when our communities in rural Washington have demonstrated they can manage this crisis. This decision doesn’t build the public’s trust.”

“If we are to take an honest look at the data and metrics, no one should be opening right now, but many regions of rural Washington are a lot closer than some of these urban areas who can suddenly reopen,” said Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy. “The plan unfortunately looks a bit like partisan politics.”

Dent, Warnick and Ybarra are pushing colleagues to implement “a more scientific and common sense-based approach to reopening,” the release stated.

Senate Bill 5114, which received public support during committee hearings, would move the whole state into Phase 2. Growing opposition form the Democratic party might give an incentive for the majority party action.