WA lawmakers should rein in estate tax overreach and sheriffs | Editorial

The end of the legislative session in Olympia on March 12 is rapidly approaching, and lawmakers still have hundreds of bills under consideration.

Last week we highlighted three that will affect Tri-Cities residents if they become law. This week we want to draw Tri-Citians’ attention to three more.

Legislators should spike an ill-conceived plan to cap interest on medical debt and pass both a rollback of last year’s estate tax increase and more accountability for sheriffs.

A poor fix for medical debt

Senate Bill 5993 is part of Democrats’ efforts to address concerns about affordability. It would impose a 1% simple annual interest cap on medical debt.

Crippling medical debt has driven too many families into dire straits. An emergency procedure can cost tens of thousands of dollars or more. For most people, that sort of debt takes years to pay off, all while interest accumulates. In the worst cases, it can end in bankruptcy.

That is a serious problem, but SB 5993 is not the solution. An artificially low cap on interest rates would seriously impact health care providers’ finances. For rural hospitals that are already in a precarious financial situation, the cap could be the final mandate that pushes them into insolvency, leaving communities without accessible health care.

Capping interest so low would also remove an incentive for people to pay their debt promptly. Indeed, some people might even exploit the situation.

Wealthy Washingtonians who might otherwise pay up front could instead invest the money and make minimum payments over time. Thousands in the stock market or a relatively secure treasury fund could generate more than the interest cost.

Lawmakers deserve credit for trying to make Washington more affordable, but an unreasonably low interest cap on medical debt will have too many unintended consequences. A financially targeted effort that protects rural hospitals would be welcome.

For example, over the past year, Illinois has been buying up medical debt owed by low-income residents at a discount and then dismissing it. The state claims to have been able to do at a 100-to-1 savings. If that’s true, it’s an idea worth considering.

Undo last year’s estate tax overreach

Last year, Democratic lawmakers, desperate to find enough money to pay for all their spending priorities, increased estate taxes. The rate on the wealthiest estates went from 20% to 35%, making it the highest in the nation by far.

Critics warned that wealthy Washingtonians would move to other states so that their heirs and not state coffers inherited their wealth. Now that appears to be happening. Rich people and business owners are moving to states with friendlier tax laws like Nevada.

When the wealthy move their assets out of Washington, there are profound ripple effects. They are less inclined to make charitable donations or invest in Washington businesses. They stop paying all the other taxes, hurting state and local revenue.

Senate Bill 6347 would return to the old rates, returning the top rate to 20%. Whether that will lure people back or convince people not to leave is unknown. The pre-2025 rates were still among the highest in the country, and with an income tax on high earners under consideration, other states will remain attractive.

Create greater accountability for sheriffs

Most county sheriffs do a good job.

Voters elect them, they run the jail, and they and their deputies enforce the law in rural areas. Sometimes things go sideways, though. Voters elect an unqualified sheriff, or a bad apple abuses the office.

When that happens, Washingtonians can launch a recall campaign, but that is a protracted process that allows a problem to fester.

Senate Bill 5974 would address that by setting new qualifications to serve as sheriff and creating a new way to remove a bad one.

In terms of qualifications, a sheriff could not have a felony or gross misdemeanor on their record. They would have to receive certification from the state Criminal Justice Training Commission and would need to have five years of law enforcement experience.

Those and other requirements are the sort of baseline professionalism voters should look for anyway, but too often they do not dig that deeply when looking at a crowded ballot.

SB 5974 also says that if the Criminal Justice Training Commission decertifies a sheriff for misconduct or if a sheriff does not receive the certification in a timely manner after taking office, that sheriff is automatically removed from office.

The local county commission would appoint a replacement to serve until the next election. That is a sensible way to proceed under extraordinary circumstances.

Law enforcement officers up and down the ranks must have the public’s trust to do their jobs. SB 5974 will bolster that trust.