Volunteer Firefighters and the Affordable Care Act

January 29, 2014 by Pat Mason
Category: Legislation

Are the hours of volunteer firefighters and other volunteer emergency responders counted for purposes of determining whether the employing local government is subject to the health care...

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Washington Supreme Court Narrows Public Records Act Investigative Records Exemption

January 22, 2014 by Joe Levan
Category: Public Records Act

As 2013 came to a close, the Washington Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in Sargent v. Seattle Police Dep’t, __ Wn.2d __ (2013), that, for some, upends their long-held understand of how to apply the "investigative" exemption...

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The Year the Public Servant Became the Bureaucrat

January 21, 2014 by Tracy Burrows
Category: Management

Cultural shifts are reflected in the language that we use. We can see this over the past 50 years of city planning as we have shifted from "urban renewal," which quickly took on the connotation of a flawed solution...

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State Attorney General Says Cities and Counties Can Ban Recreational Marijuana Uses

January 16, 2014 by Jim Doherty
Category: Marijuana

On January 16th, the state Attorney General's Office issued a formal opinion concluding that Initiative 502 does not preempt counties, cities, and towns from banning recreational marijuana businesses -  producers, processors,...

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Affordable Housing: Where Do We Go From Here?

January 15, 2014 by Carol Tobin
Category: Housing

In December 2013, the National League of Cities issued a report identifying ten critical imperatives facing U.S. cities. One of these critical imperatives is the need for affordable housing and another is the related issue of the shrinking middle class.

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What is the Nature of a Public Right-of-Way?

January 2, 2014 by Bob Meinig
Category: Streets and Sidewalks

I often come across misconceptions that local government officials have regarding the nature of a city or county right-of-way – the improved part termed a “street” if located in a city and a “road” if located in the unincorporated county. These misconceptions center on the issue of ownership.

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ICE: Is Your Organization Prepared for a Silent Raid?

January 1, 2014 by HR Advisor
Category: Legislation , HR Advisor

Immigration reform has been on the government's radar for some time, and 2014 promises to be no different. Over the past four years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has audited the I-9 employment records of over 10,000 employers and imposed more than $100 million in fines. In September 2013, ICE notified another 1,000 employers that it would be conducting I-9 compliance and...

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