Whatcom County | Future 42

Introducing the “Real Solutions to Homelessness” Pledge

The progressive approaches of “housing first” and “harm reduction” are failing our communities. While taxes increase and hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on these ineffective programs, homelessness, overdose deaths, and drug-associated crime have been on the rise. To counter these harmful progressive approaches, 50+ local elected officials throughout Washington State have signed on...

How Whatcom County legislators voted in 2024

How did our state legislators vote this year? Learn more in our Whatcom County 2024 Legislative Session Recap. The 60-day 2024 legislative session adjourned on March 7. Legislators debated several important bills during this year’s “short session” that lacked the biennial state budget present in odd-numbered years. Some of the critical policies considered included a plan...

Sefzik: Why aren’t we hearing more about record number of statewide initiatives?

This article originally appeared in Cascadia Daily News. In 1912, Washington state pioneered “direct democracy” as one of the first to formalize an initiative and referendum process, allowing citizens to organize and directly create and reform laws. This gave a voice to people beyond the halls of a distant capitol building. The Secretary of State’s...

Whatcom County Election Recap

Just over half of Whatcom County voters participated (51% voter turnout) in this year’s election that featured key races for County Executive, Mayor of Bellingham, a sales tax increase to address public safety/build a new correction facility, and two, voter-approved initiatives that will impact small businesses in Bellingham. Whatcom Business Alliance engaged on these issues...

How your Whatcom lawmakers voted in 2023

It is not always easy to find time to track and then engage on legislative issues that impact you, your family, your business, etc. That is where, working with the Whatcom Business Alliance and their Business Pulse magazine, Future 42 and our new Whatcom County Project can be a helpful resource. Hopefully you were able to track...

Whatcom Alert: Your right to vote for sheriff

This evening, Tuesday, Aug. 8, Councilmember Todd Donovan intends to propose resolution AB2023-518, a “Resolution proposing an amendment to the Whatcom County Charter to define the Sheriff as an appointed rather than elected position.” Following up on our email from last week, this is a significant suggested change, and we need your input. The Whatcom County Council chambers are located...

Let the County Council know you support electing our Sheriff.

At the last Whatcom County Council meeting, Councilmember Donovan announced his intentions to submit a resolution that favors appointing – not electing – Whatcom County’s Sheriff. He will likely present this resolution at the August 8th meeting. This unnecessary and damaging policy has been tried in King County, but now Councilmember Donovan wants to bring...

Washington (and Whatcom County) leads nation in gas prices — here’s why and take our survey

While enjoying the beauty of Whatcom County, you have likely noticed a sharp increase in fuel prices. We want to share our recent op-ed written by Future 42 Whatcom County Project’s leader Simon Sefzik in the Cascadia Daily News that explains the main cause of this increase: Washington State’s new cap-and-trade program. This functions as a tax...

Action Alert: Sign the Petition for a Safer Bellingham

The Downtown Bellingham Partnership and Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce recently launched a community campaign for Public Safety Solutions asking the Mayor and City Council of Bellingham to take action to increase public safety in the City. The petition requests Bellingham’s public officials to increase security personnel in Downtown, work with Whatcom County to ease...