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King bill to spare beekeepers from tax receives committee hearing

Sen. Curtis King this morning told the Senate Agriculture and Rural Economic Development Committee that Washington would benefit if the state’s beleaguered beekeepers could take the money they pay in state taxes and invest it in the health of their hives instead.

King, R-Yakima, is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 6468, which received a public hearing before the agriculture committee. The bipartisan measure would exempt pollination services, sales of bees and use of bees from the applicable state taxes – which amount to about a dollar per hive – and lift state restrictions on farm diesel used by beekeepers. Continue reading →

King votes to reinstate I-747 taxpayer protection on first day as senator

In his first voting session as a lawmaker, Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, joined a majority of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to approve a bill reinstating the state’s 1 percent property tax levy limit.

King and other legislators met in special session today at the Capitol to reenact the tax increase cap created by Initiative 747, which had been overturned by the state Supreme Court on a technicality earlier this month. Continue reading →