PORT ANGELES — Three candidates for the 24th Legislative District House Position 2 spoke at the Port Angeles Business Association meeting on Tuesday.
Candidates Terry Roberts, Hickory Grant and incumbent Steve Tharinger met at Joshua’s Restaurant for breakfast and debate. They addressed housing and rent control, inflation, the WA Cares Fund, law enforcement funding and more.
Roberts, a Republican, has worked in social services and banking. He said several people approached him this year asking him to run. At first, his response was “absolutely not.”
But then, he said, “if we sit by and do nothing, we really have nobody to blame but ourselves.”
Grant, a Republican, owns a welding business and is on the Forks City Council. He said he’s seen a lot of recent economic downturn.
“I’m just frustrated and upset with the way things are going, and I couldn’t stand by anymore and do nothing,” Grant said.
Tharinger, the Democratic incumbent, said he’s been involved in local and state government for “most of the century.”
He chairs the House capital budget committee and sits on the healthcare and appropriations committees. He has worked on healthcare, childcare and housing policies.
All three candidates addressed high rates of inflation.
Roberts said he would work to repeal the gas tax and remove small business taxes.
Grant said he wants to keep Washington’s business and occupation (B&O) taxes as low as possible.
Tharinger said the state needs to fund the transportation budget through means other than high gas taxes. He said the state also needs to work on better housing policies.
Candidates were asked if they supported the WA Cares Fund. The payroll tax takes 58 cents from every $100 an employee makes to help cover future long-term care.
Grant said he would try to get rid of the tax, or at least implement an opt-out option, as he doesn’t believe the tax does much to help people.
Tharinger said he supported the WA Cares Fund, as 50 percent of people retiring have less than $25,000 in savings. He said the fund could address that problem.
Roberts said his response is to “repeal. Plain and simple.” He said the tax isn’t effective, and it would be better to incentivize people to invest so they can fund their own long-term care.
Candidates also were asked how the Legislature can push back when the state Supreme Court has overstepped, specifically in regard to the court’s ruling that lowers the workload for public defenders.
Tharinger said this issue should be addressed at the local level by criminal justice committees.
Roberts said the Legislature should address the problem by enforcing laws that are tough on crime, such as the Persistent Offenders Accountability Act, or “three strikes, you’re out” law.
Grant said that Legislature has the power of the purse, and the court cannot mandate the Legislature to do anything it doesn’t want to.
All of the candidates said they would support a 1/10th of 1 percent credit against the state sales tax for local law enforcement personnel and they were asked if they would support a rent control bill.
Grant and Roberts both said they were opposed to rent control.
Roberts said one of the problems with rental prices is that the state has “artificially put dampeners and controls on supply.”
He said that, until those controls are released, prices are going to continue to climb.
Grant said “every landlord is a small business,” and rent caps make it hard to operate rental properties.
Tharinger said he would support a rent stabilization measure, which would bar landlords from raising their prices above a certain percent of the original price.
The candidates were also questioned on what could be done to help rural hospitals and decrease the cost of higher education.
Grant said that, since money for schools and hospitals comes from logging, the Legislature should focus on removing the extra costs attached to the logging industry.
Tharinger referred to the work he’s already been doing in the Legislature, such as getting $600,000 into the operating budget to fund scholarships for medical training at Peninsula College.
Roberts said the Legislature should focus on opening up the economy to small businesses.
The final question asked if there should be restrictions on updates to building code requirements, which force landlords to constantly update their properties.
Tharinger said the building code council, which controls those codes, needs better oversight. He also said the process of securing permits needs to be shortened.
Roberts agreed that the time it takes to get permits needs to be shortened, and he said the Legislature needs to focus on giving builders the opportunity to build.
Grant said he doesn’t support the current building codes, which he said focus minimally on things related to safety.
In closing, Roberts said people in the 24th Legislative District are struggling.
“We can make things better and we can change things, but we’re not going to do it with the existing people in Olympia,” he said.
Grant said he will “always tell the truth. Whether people like it or not, that’s up to them.”
Tharinger said he thinks it would be valuable if he was reelected, as he has shown he’s a “proven leader.”
“There is some value to having someone who knows what doors to knock on to move policies forward that are helpful for us on the Peninsula,” Tharinger said.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
