Sadly, federal officials have discovered that San Juan Islanders are simply incompetent to preserve their local, natural environment. President Obama will declare part of the San Juan Islands to be a national monument.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be travelling the state to give educational talks about the right of self-defense. My presentation will trace the history of this right, with a particular focus on how Americans incorporated it into both the U.S. Constitution and their state...Read more here

Rep. Chad Magendanz has a hearing this afternoon on HB 1475, his bill to allow local school districts the freedom to innovate and respond to local needs by creating a path out from under many state mandates. Up for executive session at the same hearing is HB 1304, which would allow private schools...Read more here

"Seattle Plastic Bag Ban Success Contagious" is the celebratory headline on a story about the city's bag prohibition law. Research out yesterday suggests this may be only too true. The academic paper reports that plastic bag bans make people physically ill. Whether the data will dissuade Washington...Read more here

It's a busy day in Olympia on this second day of the fourth week of session. Today and the next two days are full of hearings--both receiving public testimony and voting on whether to recommend for or against bills as they move toward possible votes on the House or Senate floor. Tomorrow you can...Read more here

Several key bills are up for executive session today--the next step after a bill receives a public hearing. Committee members can debate the merits of legislation before voting to recommend "do pass" or "do not pass." Committee chairmen can kill a bill by simply refusing to schedule it for...Read more here

It's the end of January and nearly the end of week three. The pesky issue of balancing the state budget has disappeared--for now--amidst hundreds of other bills. Legislators have requested Freedom Foundation expert testimony on several bills with public hearings today.

If turning many local properties, or parts of properties, into preserves or parkland is really worth billions of dollars … why doesn’t Thurston County just buy that land? The best rebuttal against Thurston County and Earth Economics is that they will never put their own money down, or...Read more here

Karl Tricamo never imagined that it would be especially controversial when he decided to plant a garden in his yard in order to secure cheap, nutritious, organic produce for his family.

At the Freedom Foundation, we are part of a nationwide network of state-based, pro-freedom organizations. Recently, we helped one of our allies--the Montana Policy Institute--tell the story of ranchers who may lose everything due to federal environmental policies.