Tri-City legislators want Eastern Washington to secede from the state

Two Tri-City legislators are among those behind a bill that looks at setting Eastern and Western Washington on a course to becoming two states.

House Bill 1818, co-sponsored by five Eastern Washington Republicans, including Larry Haler of Richland and Brad Klippert of Kennewick, would, if passed, create a task force to look at the impact of redrawing Washington’s boundary lines with one state east of the Cascade Mountains and one to the west.

Haler admits the bill isn’t likely to go anywhere. But he agreed to sign on to it to get the issue on the record, he said.

“I’ve heard people from our side of the state say, ‘Why can’t we do it?’ ” Haler told the Herald. “I’m just responding to my constituents’ interests.”

Haler has grown frustrated with overspending and lack of reform by state agencies such as the Department of Transportation and Department of Social and Health Services, he said. He hopes that the bill will make the state look more seriously at issues important to Eastern Washington.

“We are trying to say let’s have a dialogue about it,” Haler said. “This is one way to get their attention and say, ‘We want to talk.’ ”

Among the bill’s other sponsors is Rep. Bob McCaslin of Spokane Valley, whose late father proposed secession before. Sen. Bob McCaslin’s 2001 bill asked Congress to make Eastern Washington the 51st state.

Another bill filed by a state senator that year tried to combine large cities in Western Washington with Portland and other parts of Western Oregon into one state, while combining the less-populated areas of Eastern Washington and Oregon into another state.

A bill the elder McCaslin sponsored in 2005 also sought to make Eastern Washington a separate state. Like that bill, the one introduced Wednesday cites lifestyle, cultural and economic differences as reasons to split up.

The political divide has only increased in recent years. The western part of the state, particularly the Seattle area, has supported initiatives legalizing marijuana and same-sex marriage and expanding gun background checks, proposals opposed by the majority of Eastern Washington voters.

“Urbanization and rapid growth in the western portion of Washington state have progressively heightened this divergence of cultural and economic values from that of the eastern portion of the state,” the bill says.

The new bill is also sponsored by Reps. Matt Shea of Spokane Valley and David Taylor of Moxee.

The task force the bill seeks to create would look at the legal and political processes for making a boundary change, according to the bill’s text. The task force would determine whether the states would be divided along existing county lines or newly drawn lines. It would also have to consider issues like dividing up the tax bases, prison beds and transportation systems.

The 10-member task force would include members from the House and Senate, with an equal number from Eastern and Western Washington. The governor would also appoint a representative. Its recommendations would be due by September of this year.

The bill comes on the heels of a proposal from an Arlington man looking to create a state of Madison, named for the country’s fourth president, James Madison. According to media reports, Jacob Kukuk would like Madison to largely consist of what is now Eastern Washington, but with access to a port in the western part of the state.

Kukuk has started a website promoting the creation of a “State Establishment Board” to work toward putting an initiative on the ballot to create a new state.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Jay Inslee declined to comment on the House bill.

Klippert could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Support of the bill shouldn’t have a negative impact on other bills Haler is sponsoring, such as one that looks to create more family medicine residencies in underserved parts of the state, he said.

Haler does not see the bill as divisive — particularly in a week where the state is united behind the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

“I don’t want to hurt that at all,” he said.

This story was originally published January 28, 2015 at 6:39 PM with the headline "Tri-City legislators want Eastern Washington to secede from the state."