Apr 25: Dinner Speaker County Commissioner Ed Wolfe

Our Dinner Speaker for April is Commissioner Ed Wolfe. Homelessness and affordable housing are current issues affecting the Puget Sound region. Come out and hear Commissioner Wolfe’s thoughts. The dinner will be at our new location of Dennys 5004 Kitsap Way, Bremerton at 5PM on Thurs April 25.

Apr 30: Washington Landlord Association Meeting

Washington Landlord Association
Bremerton Speaker Meeting
Monday, April 30th | 5:30 pm

Speakers & Topic: WLA President & Attorney, Rob Trickler, speaking on Senate Bill 5600. An ACT Relating to residential tenant protections. Passed both House and Senate. 

Digest:

Modifies the residential landlord-tenant act regarding termination of a tenancy–armed forces exemption; sixty days’ notice for rent increase; relief from forfeiture; forcible entry or detainer; removal or exclusion of tenant from premises; prohibited rental agreement provisions–recovery of damages by tenant; and substantiating damage charges.

LOCATION: 
Cloverleaf Sports Bar & Grill | Address: 1240 Hollis Street, Bremerton, WA 98310

DATE AND TIME:
04/30/19 5:30pm – 04/30/19 8:00pm
Meeting is $5/person. Attendees can order dinner at the Cloverleaf.

Meetings are open to members and non-members!

You can register by contacting the Everett Office.

Everett Contact Info: everett@walandlord.org | 425-353-6929

www.walandlord.org

Idaho court refuses to look the other way as agencies try to avoid democratic accountability

Unelected bureaucrats hold tremendous power over us, thanks to decades of Congress delegating evermore authority subject to the vaguest of constraints. However, Congress has imposed some checks on federal bureaucrats to ensure a modicum of democratic accountability over the administrative state. One of those checks is the Congressional Review Act, which requires agencies to submit every rule they wish to impose on us to our elected representatives in Congress for review.

The CRA experienced a renaissance in 2017, with Congress disapproving sixteen burdensome and controversial rules. However, as PLF has long pointed out, many more rules must still undergo this scrutiny, thanks to decades of agencies simply ignoring the CRA’s requirements. There are literally thousands of rules being enforced today that have never received even this minimal democratic scrutiny.

Thanks to a decision last night from the District Court for the District of Idaho, those rules may finally receive the scrutiny they deserve. Representing ranchers unlawfully subject to controversial rules regarding the greater sage grouse, PLF sued the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, demanding that they finally send these rules to Congress as required. Indicative of how adamantly opposed agencies are to democratic oversight, the government sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that agency violations of the CRA—no matter how clear cut—cannot be reviewed by any court.

In this case, the Court recognized that argument for what it is—a claim that agencies are free to behave lawlessly—and squarely rejected it. “[W]ithout review,” the Court explained, “an agency would frankly have no reason to comply with the CRA.” The Court continued: “[I]f the agency never submits its plans—as required—the Court is troubled with Defendants’ position that essentially any rule or law can go into effect without oversight or approval and there is no legal remedy available[.]”

Feb 28: Feb Dinner Speaker Chris Morrissey

The February  Speaker is Chris Morrissey, a contractor-owner of Morrissey Construction. He is the builder for the non-profit Coffee Oasis, has stories to tell about Code Enforcement, waste, and fraud. The dinner will be at our new location of Dennys 5004 Kitsap Way, Bremerton at 5PM on Thurs Feb 28.

Proposed Revision to Title 2 Code Compliance

The Kitsap County Department of Community Development is working on a proposed revision to County Code Title 2 Code Compliance (Entry Policy 020719 DDL ) specifically to the requirements needed to enter private property to investigate possible code compliance issues. They are proposing to hold a public hearing on March 11 at the 5:30 PM Board of County Commissioners Evening meeting, Commissioner Chambers, County Admin Building, 610 division St, Port Orchard.

State Law and the State constitution are very specific about what a County inspector can do without the owner’s permission.  RCW 59.18 Residential Landlord –Tenant Act

Jan 31: KAPO Dinner at new location

We have a new location for our monthly Dinners; the Bremerton Dennys 5004 Kitsap Way Bremerton WA.

Our January  speaker is Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler. “As Mayor of Bremerton I was elected to make positive changes for Bremerton. One of the issues I heard from the community during the campaign was that citizens were concerned about the increasing costs of housing for all income levels in our community. The laws of supply and demand dictate that when housing demand outpaces supply prices go up and for many, regardless of income, housing becomes less and less affordable. As a local government, Bremerton can affect the supply by supporting initiatives that create more housing. In addition, as local leaders we can make sure that there are programs and funding strategies in place to support our most vulnerable population and ensure that there are measures taken to support the creation and maintenance of low income housing, which is often referred to as “deeply affordable housing.”

“I have made it one of my goals this year to address affordable housing and have given direction to my administration to implement policies and funding strategies that lead to the creation of more housing for all income levels in the City. I also will be proposing funding in my 2019 budget for programs that support deeply affordable housing. I believe that the initiatives I have outlined here  will increase economic development and produce a variety of housing types for our community.”

Please join us for dinner on Thursday January 31 2019, 5:00PM at Bremerton Dennys 5004 Kitsap Way Bremerton WA.

 

Supreme Court Deals Unanimous, Welcome Blow to Administrative State in Frog Case

Unanimity is elusive in today’s America but the Supreme Court achieved it last week. Although the dusky gopher frog is endangered, so are property rights and accountable governance. Both would have been further jeopardized if the frog’s partisans in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had gotten away with designating 1,544 privately owned Louisiana acres as a “critical habitat” for the three-inch amphibian, which currently lives only in Mississippi and could not live in the Louisiana acres as they are now. The eight justices (the case was argued before Brett Kavanaugh joined the court) rejected both the government’s justification for its designation, and the government’s argument that its action should have received judicial deference, not judicial review.