Supremes poised to rule on cap gains tax

Plus grassroots lobbying rules, grading green homes, housing bills on the move, and the quote of the week

The cap gains tax ruling is here … almost

The Supremes are expected to rule today on the constitutionality of the Washington capital gains tax. We’ll have a special edition on the decision. If you want to brush up on the issue, we’ve got you covered. Now, back to your regularly scheduled inside baseball.

PQ

Tighter “grassroots” lobbying rules

The campaign finance and lobbying watchdogs at the Public Disclosure Commission lack many friends and champions in the Legislature.

The commission and the campaign finance laws it enforces were created by the voters via ballot initiative, not lawmakers. And even though the PDC customarily acts more like a sheepdog¹ than a Doberman, every lawmaker is also a politician subject to its various disclosure requirements, from how much money they make to which lobbyists buy them dinner. Nosy, right? Plus there are forms to fill out. So many forms.

So we were happy to see the Senate State Government & Elections Committee take up House Bill 1317, which would actually make a real difference in how well the public — and your cranky scribes here at the Observer — can track who’s trying to influence what goes down in the House and Senate. Some putatively virtuous folks have been trying to knife this reform for more than a year. More on that later.