Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee 4/10/2025

Well, good afternoon, everyone.

It is Thursday, April 10th, and the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee will come to order.

It is 2.03 p.m.

I am Sarah Nelson, chair of the committee.

Oh, and Council Member Solomon is excused for today's meeting.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Rivera?

Present.

Council Member Solomon?

Excuse.

Council Member Hollingsworth?

Here.

Council Member Kettle?

Chair Nelson.

Present.

Four present, one excused.

All right.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

I'll just include in my chair's report that we only have one item on the agenda, and I'm pleased to see that we've got...

Several people here for public comments.

So if there is no objection, we will now begin our hybrid public comment period.

And how many people are signed up to speak today?

Clerk.

Four in-person and one remote for public comment.

Chair, Nelson.

Thank you very much.

Let's give everybody two minutes and start with the in-person speaker.

Speakers.

All right, I'll call on speakers in the order they sign up to speak, starting with in-person commenter.

Speakers will have two minutes.

When you hear the chime, you'll have 10 seconds left.

If you exceed that time, your microphone may be cut off so that we can move on to the next speaker.

For those who are offering remote comment, please make sure to press star six to unmute yourself.

And the first in-person public commenter we'll have is Mauricio Aaron.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mauricio Ayun, and I'm with an organization called Washington Community Action Network.

And I'm here on behalf of our organization and our over 40,000 members that we have throughout the state.

Many of them actually live here in the city of Seattle.

And we are strongly in favor of the Democracy Voucher Renewal Plan because we were part of the original organization.

So on behalf of our organization, we truly thank you for your support on this levy and the renewal process.

So thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mauricio.

Next we'll have is Estevan.

Following Estevan, we'll have Aretha.

And then after Aretha, we'll have Alex.

Come on down.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for this hearing and for the space to be able to discuss this important program.

My name is Esteban Munoz Howard.

I'm a volunteer with the People Powered Elections Washington Coalition.

I'm also one of the original organizers behind the Honest Election Seattle campaign that created the Democracy Voucher Program back in 2015. Since that time, I went on to work with a national donor collaborative that supports community-led efforts to build a healthy democracy.

And in that space, the conversations we were having with communities across the country was really inspired by the success that we've had here.

A lot of people have been very excited to see the increases that we've seen here in small donor participation, the increased diversity of candidates running for office, the increased voting rates among voters here in the city.

And as a result of the success that we've had, which came a lot quicker than many of the original organizers anticipated, there are a number of jurisdictions across the country that are looking to replicate this program in other spaces, including even federal legislation that included language that was modeled after our success here in Seattle.

And I think this is really important to note how many people are watching Seattle and inspired by our success.

I think in a time when we see democracy being dismantled before our eyes, local democracy is that much more important for us to be able to demonstrate the power of local policy innovation.

And so on behalf of the coalition and the original organizers behind this campaign, we appreciate your support, we appreciate this conversation, and are grateful that, fingers crossed, voters this year will have an opportunity to determine the fate.

Thank you, and my apologies for any mispronunciation of names.

Go on.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Aretha Basu.

I'm the political director of Puget Sound Sage.

I'm here on a personal tip as well.

I got my start in electoral organizing at the age of 21. My joints were much more spry at that time.

When I worked on my first campaign in 2017, and every campaign that I've worked on since then, I have had numerous experiences with BIPOC voters where Once they get over being annoyed that I'm interrupting their dinner time and canvassing, which I'm sure we've all experienced, I watch them go to being empowered and excited that they can meaningfully contribute to our local elections and are really excited about being able to use their vouchers.

As our democracy is being threatened on the federal level and the impacts of big money in politics are more visible than ever, protecting our local civic engagement programs like the Democracy Voucher Program are essential.

Seattle has always led the way.

Let's continue to do that with the renewal.

So thank you so much.

All right, thank you.

And the last in-person public commenter is Alex.

Come on down, Alex.

Alex Zimmerman?

Yes.

Oh, it's me.

Yeah.

You know this.

Alex Zimmerman.

Come on down, Alex.

Come on.

Come on.

Let's go.

Now, you know, my name's a little bit complicated, so I'm confused.

Ha, ha, ha.

Come on.

Yeah.

Zechail.

You've been warned not to say that that is abusive language.

That constitutes disruptive behavior.

You can continue with your comments, but please don't do that again.

Okay, no problem, not today again.

You're absolutely right.

Yeah, I once speak about agenda, about something what is taxes.

So I'm totally confused about this.

I said, need more taxes.

Why?

Because 10 years ago, Seattle had over a $75,000, something like this.

Right now, over a $170,000.

So city right now full with millionaires, Amazonian, who make $170,000 of a rush.

Yeah, 700,000, idiot, make 170,000.

It taxes same like before.

It don't have sense.

This is not democracy.

This is a fascism that you have here because when democracy, you're supposed to be double taxes, triple taxes.

That's exactly what's happened.

This is very important for me.

My name Alex Zimmerman.

I have...

I support Trump, MAGA member.

I have 6,000 days of trespass.

You prosecute me five times.

So I thinking, when you're so special to me, why you don't special to this?

Amazonian or another very smart people who live in Seattle, you know, super smart, who make over $170,000.

I demand more taxes, more taxes.

Look, Don Constantine, he have only $450,000.

It's not enough for him.

$650,000 he deserve because he's best of best.

Or look, Mayor Harrell, for four years he no one Q&A.

Stand up, Seattle.

Viva Trump, viva American Revolution.

More taxes for this crook.

Thank you, Alex.

All right, thank you, Alex.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Now we'll go to the remote public comment.

David Haynes, please press star six to unmute yourself.

All right, thank you, David Haynes.

It would be great if before they started handing out the democracy vouchers, we could get some free press candidate forum so people can introduce themselves to the community without clown-ass fools controlling the questioning because the media censors and chooses who their favorite is based either on the democracy voucher, familiarity, or some other issue.

And some people have an advantage of signing up first, and other people haven't even signed up yet.

and they're raking in the vouchers.

And some people are like, oh, man, I wanted to give to this person instead of that person, but they didn't know this person was going to run.

What I'm getting at is maybe you should be able to cancel your democracy voucher after you signed it and before it's processed so that you can re-sign it to give to somebody else.

Anyway, separately, we still need public safety laws and to purge the laws that exacerbated public safety, the homeless crisis, and the housing crisis.

and get rid of all the racist, woke, anti-social injustice lens that people have to look through at the Office of Housing that is justifying having the Department of Justice shut down and purge the racists within the Seattle government employees who don't deserve a salary to continue to conduct their race war against innocent white citizens while running interference for BIPOC repeat offenders, squandering the homeless money, paying for evil self-destructives who get the majority of the resources available while subhuman is treating the innocent houseless racist and discriminated against, even though they're actually part of the most vulnerable or progressive policies that defunded the police are claiming that repeat offenders are the most vulnerable because they don't know any better.

And instead of properly punishing them, they get the more profitable wraparound services that are connected to the reelection apparatus that justifies a federal investigation of the Seattle city council oversight and implementation of racist policies that keep undermining innocent people while skimming off the implosion that people don't care about.

With six figures.

Thank you, David.

And now that concludes public comment, Council President.

Thank you very much.

We've completed our list of people signed up for public comments.

So the public comment period is now closed.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Wait, I have to first approve the agenda, excuse me.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be approved.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is approved.

All right, go ahead and please read the first item into the record.

Agenda item number one, Council Bill 120957, an ordinance relating to publicly financed election campaign providing the submission to the qualified electors of the city at an election to be held on August 5th, 2025 for a proposition authorizing the city to levy regular property taxes for up to 10 years in excess.

of the limitations on levies in chapter 84.55 RCW for the purpose of funding the cost and administration of the city's democracy voucher program and other city purposes outlining a process for contemplation of changes to the program applying RCW 84.36.381 senior citizens and disabled persons exemption to such levy and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts for briefing discussion and possible vote.

Thank you very much for reading that into the record.

I am pleased to bring this forward hopefully for a vote out of committee today.

And today will be a milestone in what has been, I'm sure I could get a more precise answer from the folks in the room, but a long process to work toward renewal of what has turned out to be an extremely popular and an increasingly used program to spur political participation, both from voters and also candidates.

So that is the plan.

Council's actions are only the beginning of this process.

This will go to the vote.

What we're doing now is considering the legislation that will enable this to be sent to the ballot.

And it's really exciting that we are, and by that I mean also the August ballot, and that is the timeline that is guiding our actions here at the dais.

Before continuing, I do want to open to offer my vice chair and co-sponsor of this legislation, Councilmember Kettle, to say a few words if you would like.

Thank you, Chair, and I apologize for not being there.

Confluence of issues, a little sickness, allergies, and all the above.

Because I really would like to be there today.

But now I want to say a few things in support.

First is I fairly support the Democracy Voucher Program.

We're at a time where democracy is in retreat here in America and around the world.

And we should be looking to encourage participation and civic engagement.

We should be looking to encourage outreach by those seeking election.

And we should be looking to encourage dialogue that can aid understanding of the challenges we face and the policies that can address those challenges.

And I recognize DEIA is a word not in fashion across many parts of America, but we should be looking at diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Diversity, you know, the Moxie voucher program encourages and gains a more diverse candidate slate, and more importantly, a more diverse electric set to include social economic diversity.

There's so many types of diversity, and that's really important.

I think of people who did not have the means to participate in elections before, but they did in 2023 when I ran, to show support by helping me in terms of my qualifying for the Democracy Voucher Program, but then with the vouchers, the ability to provide $175, $50, $25 to a candidate that reflects their interests, their values when they couldn't do it before.

And I think that's really important.

Equity.

Democracy can and should be for the whole of community and not just for those who can afford to do so.

You know, I recognize the system.

I participated in the system, but the democracy voucher program does allow for an increased equity.

And I think that's something that we should look to celebrate.

Inclusion.

We should be encouraging inclusion and overcoming barriers and hurdles to run for office.

It's not easy running for office.

It's not easy to make that decision.

I just met a friend who I consider a friend yesterday who just put his name in for a race for district two.

It takes a lot, but then once you put your name in, it takes so much more to run for office.

to raise the funds, to get your message out and everything else.

And the Democracy Voucher Program assists in the ability to increase inclusion and also accessibility.

At the end of the day, as mentioned, access should not be limited to a few, particularly to those few that can afford it.

Separately, what I wanted to say too is times like this, in terms of what we're facing in the other Washington requires leadership.

And I think the Democracy Voucher Program allows Seattle to show leadership when leadership is in upholding democracy is so wanting across America.

You know, we should be looking to keep the focus on democracy.

Because if we don't, yes, we may be working different issues, but at the end of the day, if we lose democracy, if we lose the rule of law, which is happening so often today, then what do we have?

Earlier today, we had the FEP levy talking about early education.

And I mentioned the impact of having my father ask, why did he come to America?

Education, education, education.

Well, if we don't have democracy, that American dream rings hollow.

And that's what I look at.

That's one of the things that kind of drives my interest in this.

And I think it's important, again, for us to show leadership And this provides this leadership also provides scholarship in the sense that I think it's really important for the academic world to study this and to learn the lessons of our program and really build on them and really provide an opportunity, again, to show leadership to other cities around the city, country, to show that how they can look to increase participation, increase, you know, the active participation in terms of running for it, but also participating in the various mechanics of our electoral process.

So with that, Chair, I want to, again, clearly state my strong support for the Democracy Voucher Program for all the reasons I stated and my recommendation that we voted out a committee today.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

Colleagues, I would like to now provide the table, the space for our central staff member to remind us and the public about the legislation.

And please introduce yourself and then take it away, please.

Okay, thank you, Chair.

Brian Goodnight with Council Central Staff.

As you know, at your previous meeting on March 27th, you received a presentation from both the mayor's office and the staff from the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission regarding the Council Bill 120957. As a brief recap, the current levy funding the democracy voucher program was approved by voters in 2015 and will expire at the end of this year.

That levy raises $3 million per year for the program, or a total of $30 million over its 10-year life.

The bill before you today proposes a new 10-year levy for $45 million, property tax to continue dedicated funding for the program.

The proposed levy is intended to reflect inflationary increases from the current levy, and as was shown during the prior committee meeting, the smaller levy amounts options were considered, but an annual levy of $4.5 million was determined to be necessary to meet the program's increasing costs for administration and to reflect increased participation in the program itself.

So in terms of the levy's cost, it's expected to cost the owner of a median value residential property in 2026 approximately $13.07, or $1.09 per month.

For some context, the owner of a median value property in the city in the current year, in 2025, will pay the city about $2,300 in property taxes, and will pay overall to all of the taxing jurisdictions about $8,000 in property taxes.

And then as is typical of city property tax levies, if it's approved by the voters, the city would exempt qualifying low-income seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities from the increased levy amount as is allowed by state law.

And then one more thing that the ordinance before you does, besides sending the levy to the voters, Council Bill 120957 would request that the executive, the council, and the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission to convene a work group in early 2026 to recommend improvements to the democracy voucher program, including addressing the impacts of political action committees on the city's elections.

The bill specifies that the work group should include input from candidates, campaign staff, professional elections consultants, good government advocates, and the executive director and members of the commission.

So as you indicated earlier, if the committee chooses to vote on the bill today and recommends passage, it could go to the full city council at the April 22nd meeting.

Assuming passage at city council and approval by the mayor, the city clerk will need to file the ordinance with the King County Director of Elections by May 2nd in order to meet the August 5th ballot deadlines.

That concludes my remarks.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

And as you can see behind me, the mayor's office and the commission staff are here as well, and we can bring them up to the table.

Thank you very much.

Do my colleagues have any questions or comments for Brian or anybody else?

Go ahead.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

I've been having trouble with this microphone today.

as I just spill it over.

Anyways, I don't have any questions for Brian.

I don't know if this is closing comments before you'll motion for us to vote on it, but just comments, just gratitude for the people that came today to speak.

Washington Community Action Council, People Power Elections, and Puget Soundstage, thank you all for coming, and then obviously all the groundwork that you did.

way back when to get this all started and so forth.

And I know that this, the reason why this is so important, and obviously I'll be supporting it, and like Council Member Kettle said, I was a participant as well, but the reason why I think it's incredibly important, I know this has been echoed probably at the, when they had the press conference, and this hasn't been echoed before, but really because it offers regular everyday people to be able to run for office and not just people that are seeking a political career, but actually at the hyper-local where it affects people the most, the day-to-day stuff that we vote literally at this council, how it affects people's lives.

It should be everyday people, especially at the council level where people, should be able, everyday folks should be able to run and decide how laws that come out of the city affect them.

And I think this gives them that opportunity.

I always talk about access.

This creates even more transparent access for people to be able to have an opportunity at the hyper-local level, and it creates a diversified political landscape.

For for folks and I couldn't be more proud of the city of Seattle when I'm looking at candidates compared to other cities at when they're running for city council or other stuff It is literally everyday folks that get to run for council and they get to speak even if they don't win and they get a platform to be able to talk about issues that are important to their communities and that are important for us to think about.

And it helps shape that person who won to think about all the other folks and the ideas and the stuff that they brought up for us to not only just listen to the loudest ones in the room or the people who pay people the most, but the power of actual community.

And so I'm just really grateful for this program and the people that laid the foundation and the groundwork for this and just fully, super wholeheartedly support this.

And thank you to the executive.

I know I always say the executive and I look up as if but it's because they're on the seventh floor.

It's not like the executive, like it's just, like this executive.

But sorry, it's because they're literally on the seventh floor, right?

But sorry.

So the executive team and obviously council president for bringing this in the committee and our central staff for all your work and Mr. Goodnight for your analyzation and fully supporting this legislation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jazz hands, please.

So I will go ahead and move, and then if people have additional questions or comments, we can mention it then.

Are there additional questions, though, I should ask?

I'm not seeing any.

OK.

I move that the committee recommend passage of CB120957.

Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

So continuing with the discussion, I support this program and I'm glad to see, it seems like, gosh, I'm definitely getting old because it doesn't seem like it's 10 years old.

I'll say that, all right?

But I do think that 10 years is a good amount of time to look back and see how it can be improved, especially as you're talking to good governance folks across the country.

And so I support that there is the formation of a work group to recommend changes or improvements, but what sorts of things, are there boundaries to what things that this work group can suggest changes on?

Is it basically administrative because everything else is set in law?

Can you just please give a rundown on what what is the nature of the improvements that you're talking about?

Sure, I'd be happy to bring up staff if they have additional information.

I think right now it's just a concept about the work group.

I think certain elements, I think all the options would be on the table for them, but certain things, as you said, are codified in law and have been approved by the voters.

So those, if they have been approved by the voters, they wouldn't be able to be changed without going back to the voters.

If there are things that are codified, it might result in recommendations that would come back to the city council.

So there is a good amount of administration that happens on the back end that the executive director and the commission have been tasked with.

So those things would be within their purview.

Got it.

I in part ask that because since this has been in the air in council, I've had people come out and say something like, can you make electronic payments using some payment app or whatever instead of signing over the voucher.

I'm not saying that I approve these, but there are a lot of questions out there for just the simple administration of it too.

And so obviously we can't change the assessment and the amount that this will be funded is set, Yeah.

Just, okay.

Right.

I agree with that.

But I think there's a lot in the administration that they would have the ability to make recommendations and make those changes.

Got it.

And it's great that there will be people from a number of different perspectives, including, I think you said candidates or former candidates or whatever, and good governance folks, people that were involved in the initiative from the very beginning.

Also, people that are used to dealing with campaigns all the time and see ways that it can be streamlined or whatever.

I am...

I'm just saying that we've got a healthy process going forward and I fully support this program in case, just wanting to make sure that I understand what are we talking about with that.

Are there any other?

Okay.

Can I say one more thing?

Yeah, yeah, please do.

I'm sorry, Council President.

The other thing too is, and I don't know if people know this at home, whoever's watching the Seattle channel right now, but for the record, that there are things that candidates, when you participate in the democracy voucher program that a candidate has to do besides like the signatures, you have to participate in so many public forums.

Like there's a requirement to participating in this program, which I think is great.

because it requires candidates to have that community piece to it.

So it's not just, hey, we're going to give candidates funding, and you're going to go off and run your own thing.

Literally, you have to participate in so many activities and community-based pieces, and then also collect the signatures, which is huge.

And then the other piece is, most of the time, a candidate is spent educating people on the democracy vouchers and what they are, which is great because a lot of people, they're engaged in this process who have never been engaged in politics before.

And now they feel like when they are giving you something or exchanging, giving you some type of participating, monetary value, they feel connected to you and people that have never been able to participate before or they can't afford it or, you know, stuff is hard.

So it's like it literally has a really great benefit where it's like the whole community feels like they're a part of the process.

So I just wanted to say that because it's not it's not just a one way street.

It feels it's definitely a participant back and forth and there is a community benefit to it as well.

You're absolutely right.

I'm glad that you mentioned that because would-be candidates or candidates do have to show skin in the game.

There is a lot of effort on the front end to qualify and receive the vouchers in the long run.

So I'm glad that you mentioned that because it requires a show of commitment on behalf of the candidate.

Did you want to say anything?

I do, Council President.

And thank you, council member Hollingsworth.

I agree.

I mean, particularly for communities.

I mean, my community, when I was growing up, my parents would not have been able to give money to anyone.

They were engaged, like they knew what was going on and they voted, always voted and still that in me.

But there wasn't that ability to donate and get engaged that way in a way people want to do.

I think that in terms of the pieces of review now that it's 10 years out and part of this task force, there is, I always want to make sure that the intended purpose is being served.

So I want to make sure that those folks that are not otherwise able to participate are the ones who are participating.

Because really that's the point is to make sure we are broadening participation.

And we really don't know that without review.

So I'm interested in doing that because I know people in my community, you know, in the Latino community, many are, you know, they don't have the ability to engage this way.

And I know it's not just my community and black community and low income community.

So we want to make sure that that that is happening as well, that that participation is happening.

And without information, we don't know.

And that's not to say that we don't need broad participation.

We just want to make sure that also communities that have been disenfranchised also get the opportunity.

Yep.

So thank you.

And I think that they've been collecting data on participations from the get-go and breaking it down by community, I believe.

And one of the things that I heard one of the speakers say last time was that beyond the contribution to a campaign, what this program provides is a vehicle for candidates to knock on some, or it's a platform to engage people in ways that they might not ordinarily.

It's more difficult to just come up to somebody at a farmer's market, for example, and just start talking instead of saying, a volunteer saying, are you, you know, have you, do you still have democracy vouchers?

Or have you received your democracy vouchers?

And if not, then you might consider, et cetera, et cetera.

It's a conversation starter for, and that sounds, I'm not meaning to belittle it, but it is a way to, it broadens the reason for engagement on behalf of volunteers and candidates as well.

Yeah, but it also just gives the opportunity where if you want to support a candidate, and we know we're living in this atmosphere where campaigns are a thing, money and campaigns are a thing, it gives the ability for folks that want to support their candidate to support their candidate, and that's important.

Yeah, you're investing in the city's democracy, and it's currency of your voice.

All right, I am checking to see if there are any further comments or questions.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Chair.

I just wanted to also add my voice to the point about good governance.

I think it's really important to have that good governance.

I kind of spoke to a bit with the scholarship, the academic studies and the like, because that gives great input, you know, because there are broad and practical considerations.

And the practical considerations can be from former candidates speaking to the various aspects of the democracy voucher program.

And I just wanted to add that as I sit here and like with my earlier remarks sitting here in my home office, the contrast is great between Washington and Seattle where we are and the other Washington.

And I'm reminded that because of my service there behind my shoulders, artwork from after my time working in the White House on one hand and then working at Capitol Hill as well.

So I've seen you know, the center of our democracy as a nation, but again, it's faltering there in that, you know, one of the birthplaces of our democracy.

And I think it's about an opportunity for Seattle to show leadership and lead by example.

So thank you for the opportunity.

Indeed.

All right.

Again, thank you to everyone who has been involved in this, especially since the inception.

It's much appreciated.

It's an expression of Seattle values.

All right, with that, if there's nothing further, will the clerk please call the roll on the passage of CB 120957?

Council member Rivera?

Aye.

Council member Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Council member Kettle?

Aye.

Mayor Nelson?

Aye.

Four in favor.

Thank you very much.

All right, this concludes the April, so the measure passes and will be recommended for approval at the April 21st.

Okay, yeah, all right.

Applause warranted, right?

I have to be fair and consistent.

Anyway, this concludes the agenda of the April 10th meeting of the Governance Accountability and Economic Development Committee.

Our next committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 24th, and if there is no further business, this meeting will adjourn.

Hearing none, it is 2.38 and we are adjourned.

And thank you very much, everyone.

Congratulations.

Yes.

April 21st?

Yes.

OK.

I was correct.

We're adjourned.

Thank you.