Blaine City Council OKs legislative priorities

While 42nd Legislative District state representatives won’t be decided until November, Blaine City Council is already making its request to lawmakers – whoever they may be – for next year’s legislative session.

During the October 28 city council meeting, council approved a list of 10 funding and policy priorities the city wants lawmakers to consider when they return to Olympia on January 13, including restoring Blaine Harbor, addressing train delays and focusing on affordable housing.

In its 2025 legislative agenda, the city is partnering with the Port of Bellingham to request funding to upgrade Blaine Harbor. This request comes as the port and city are working together to improve the wharf, deepen navigation channels and improve stormwater management systems, according to the legislative agenda.

The city is prioritizing funding for the Bell Road Grade Separation Project in addition to what the state has already provided. Money from the state and federal governments as well as BNSF only covers 30 percent of the design. The project, which the city has been requesting funding on for years, would build an overpass above the Bell Road and Peace Portal Drive intersection to avoid vehicles from being delayed from trains moving slowly through U.S. Homeland Security’s Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System.

The city is also asking the state to alleviate the city’s legal expenses incurred in the Nooksack River water adjudication.

As for policy priorities, first on the city’s legislative agenda is a request to focus on affordable housing. The city envisions this happening through removing regulations that raise construction costs and increasing funding to the Connection Housing and Infrastructure Program, which was created in 2021 to pay for utility improvements for affordable housing. 

The city requests the state aligns the administration of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act with the state Paid Family Medical Leave to run concurrently as required by state law. Additionally, the city is asking the state to provide additional resources and support for local governments implementing clean energy standards required by the Clean Energy Transformation Act in 2019.

Public records are a priority for the city, with a request sent in for the legislature to reduce legal and staff costs with public records requests in a way that would maintain transparency. The city is also requesting funding for Blaine school district, state-shared revenues and the criminal justice system to implement the state’s controlled substance possession policy.

The city also endorses the Association of Washington Cities’ priorities of fiscal responsibility, public safety, behavioral health treatment capacity, housing supply and infrastructure investment.