MRSC Insight Blog

Posts for Steve Hawley

Checking the Trash: Catching Public Records Requests Sent to Junk Email Folders

June 2, 2025 by Sarah Doar , Steve Gross , Steve Hawley , Leah LaCivita , Maria Tobin
Category: Court Decisions and AGO Opinions , Public Records Act

If a records request gets lost in the junk email folder, an agency might not respond timely to the request, potentially leading to a PRA lawsuit. These are real fears for an agency, but steps can be taken to make sure emailed requests are not lost or misdirected.

For Local Fireworks Regulations, Timing is Everything

April 28, 2025 by MRSC Insight , Alicia Bones , Cheryl Grant , Steve Gross , Steve Hawley
Category: Licensing and Regulation

While state law governs the regulation of fireworks, it also leaves some room for local jurisdictions to enact more restrictive local regulations regarding fireworks use or sales, although more restrictive local laws may not take effect for at least one year after adoption.

How Did Local Ballot Measures Fare in the November 2024 General Election?

December 9, 2024 by Steve Hawley
Category: Parks, Recreation, and Culture , Transportation , Emergency Medical Services , Elections , Fire Protection , Revenues , Minimum Wage , Water Resources , Law Enforcement , Special Districts

Tax-related initiatives struggled to gain voter approval in the 2024 November general election, and it was a mixed bag for other local ballot measures across the state.

Sunset with Port of Everett in background

Recapping the August 2024 Local Ballot Measure Results

September 4, 2024 by Steve Hawley
Category: Parks, Recreation, and Culture , Transportation , Port Districts , Emergency Medical Services , Elections , Fire Protection , Law Enforcement

Local governments placed 90 ballot measures in the August primary election, including many levy lid lift proposals, various public safety taxes, fire benefit charges, a citywide cannabis sales ban, and proposed service expansions.

three construction workers looking at a blueprint

Introducing MRSC’s New Small Works Roster Manual!

July 10, 2024 by Steve Hawley
Category: MRSC News and Updates , Purchasing and Contracting

Starting July 1, there are new laws for small works roster (construction) contracts under $350,000, including an option to “direct contract” under $150,000. We’ve published new guidance to explain the requirements, and public agencies will need to adopt new procedures.

A website updating on a laptop and cell phone

Website Changes Make It Easier to Explore MRSC Topics

February 26, 2024 by Steve Hawley
Category: MRSC News and Updates

Have you ever found it hard to find the right information on our website even though you know it has to be there? We've now made it easier to explore all the content, including the ability to browse new topic areas or view all topic webpages in alphabetical order.

Recapping the November 2023 Local Ballot Measure Results

December 13, 2023 by Steve Hawley
Category: Courts and Criminal Justice System , Parks and Recreation Finance , Housing , Emergency Medical Services , Elections , Fire Protection , Homelessness , Law Enforcement

There were a 113 ballot measures before voters this past November, in an off-year election that drew record-low voter turnouts. How did that impact levy lid lifts requests, newly proposed districts, or citizen's initiatives?

Empty outdoor public swimming pool waiting for swimmers

Ballot Measure Highlights from the August 2023 Primary Election

August 21, 2023 by Steve Hawley
Category: Annexation , Facilities , Elections , Special Districts , Property Taxes

Primary elections generally see some ballot measures succeed and some fail across the state. This past August, libraries, rec centers, and fire districts fared well, but public hospital districts saw mixed success. And, as always, levy lid lift measures achieved mixed results.

New guidance icon on blackboard with close up of hands tapping on a laptop

New Public Works Guidance from MRSC

July 11, 2023 by Steve Hawley
Category: MRSC News and Updates , Purchasing and Contracting

Thanks to state funding and new partnerships, MRSC continues to build its procurement and contracting resources for local governments, including resources on making contracting more inclusive (as well as general best practices) and an updated Small Works Rosters manual.

A voter putting their ballot into a mailbox

Recapping the February and April 2023 Ballot Measure Results

May 15, 2023 by Steve Hawley
Category: Elections , Fire Protection , Health and Human Services

Regional fire authorities, fire district mergers, hospital funding, and a regional crisis care center network were some of the local ballot measures that appeared before voters in the February and April special elections.

The ladder of a toy firetruck leans against a tall stack of coins

Multi-Year Levy Lid Lifts: A Tool for Coping with Inflation?

April 5, 2023 by Steve Hawley
Category: Property Taxes

Inflation is at a 40-year high, but property tax revenues are limited to a 1% increase each year. Multi-year levy lid lifts can help local governments cope with these inflationary pressures — but will voters approve them? Let’s look at the data.

Recapping the November 2022 Ballot Measure Results

December 7, 2022 by Steve Hawley
Category: Elections , Revenues , Transportation Finance

As with many past elections, this past November brought voters over 100 local ballot measures across the state, from libraries to bond measures to levy lid lifts. New this year, however, were several measures involving ranked-choice voting and home rule charter propositions.

How Local Ballot Measures Fared in the 2021 General Election

November 10, 2021 by Steve Hawley
Category: Courts and Criminal Justice System , Elections , Transportation Finance , Forms of Government-City , Forms of Government-County , Inclusive Communities

From changes in governance to funding for criminal justice, libraries, and transportation, this blog covers many local ballot measures across the state and how these issues fared in the recent general election.

Ballot Measure Results from the 2020 General Election

November 12, 2020 by Steve Hawley
Category: Parks and Recreation Finance , Elections , Fire Protection , Transportation Finance , Forms of Government-County , Law Enforcement

This blog post recaps some of the local ballot measure results from the November 2020 general election and discusses why the record-breaking turnout may make ballot measure validation tougher next year.

Ballot Measure Results from the 2019 General Election

November 12, 2019 by Steve Hawley
Category: Public Transit , Housing , Elections , Forms of Government-City

This blog post provides a brief summary of I-976 as well as many of the city, county, and special purpose district ballot measure results across the state.

Ballot Measure Results from the 2019 Primary Election

August 13, 2019 by Steve Hawley
Category: Emergency Medical Services , Elections , Fire Protection , Sales and Use Taxes

Senior Communications Coordinator Steve Hawley reviews some ballot measure results from the recent primary election in this blog post.

2018 General Election Part 1: Local Sales Tax Edition

November 13, 2018 by Steve Hawley
Category: Elections , Sales and Use Taxes

There were a number of interesting sales taxes on the ballot this year for public safety, transit, and TBDs, as well as Tacoma’s first-of-its-kind cultural access program. We’ll also briefly discuss I-1634, which prohibits local soda taxes.

2018 General Election Part 2: Property Tax and Bonds Edition

November 13, 2018 by Steve Hawley
Category: Elections , Property Taxes

This article looks primarily at local property tax measures from the recent general election — including levy lid lifts, EMS levies, bond measures, and funding for parks, libraries, and affordable housing.

2018 General Election Part 3: Non-Revenue Edition

November 13, 2018 by Steve Hawley
Category: Annexation , Cannabis Regulation , Elections , Forms of Government-City , Forms of Government-County

In this blog post, we examine non-revenue local ballot measures, including city and county charter changes, a city adopting the council-manager form of government, fire district annexations and mergers, and advisory votes on marijuana and downtown plazas and stadiums.

2018 Primary Election Ballot Measure Results

August 9, 2018 by Steve Hawley
Category: Elections

This blog post looks at the issues that stood out in the 2018 primary elections.

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