Spokane Senator Introduces "Seattle Quarantine" Bill to Stop "Radical Leftist" City Councils From Raising Wages

State Douche Senator Michael Baumgartner. Wa.gov

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This is perhaps one of the surest signs that the progressive left in Washington state is on a fucking roll, at least at the municipal level. Senator Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) introduced a self-described "Seattle quarantine" bill today to, in his words, "prevent the spread of excessive minimum wage increases by cities across Washington." Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma have all raised wages in recent years.

The proposal provoked a sharp rebuke from the president of the Spokane City Council, which overrode a mayoral veto yesterday and passed a paid sick leave policy. Baumgartner's bill would block cities, towns, and port districts from regulating workplace conditions, including wages, hours, and leave policies, mirroring a law that's been on the books since 1981, passed at the behest of the real estate lobby, that prohibits cities from regulating rents.

"In Spokane, we have a council trying to play ‘Mini-Me’ to Seattle progressives," Baumgartner said, "but what flies in Seattle is often completely unrealistic for communities outside the progressive Seattle bubble." Even if that were it true, it's unclear how it would justify preventing Seattle and other major cities across the state from enacting key regulations of their own economies.

"Wanna-be Kashama Sawants can't be allowed to wreck our state's economy city by city," he added on Twitter, misspelling City Council Member Kshama Sawant's name.

In response, the union-backed worker advocacy group Working Washington noted that "Seattle's minimum wage is on the way to $15, and the local economy is booming: the city is growing, unemployment is near record lows, restaurants are opening at a torrid pace... the sky remains aloft.

Last year, he helped killed a bill that would have raised the statewide minimum wage to $12 an hour, even though he says wages should only be changed by the state, not cities. Baumgartner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

His new quarantine proposal is likely to pass out of a committee and come up for a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate, according to the Spokesman-Review. But it may have some unintended side effects:

Really love this new WA GOP strategy of getting Seattle activists to finally focus on winning #waleg races https://t.co/soNJDQYpde — Robert Cruickshank (@cruickshank) January 26, 2016