2022 in Review

2022 is in the books, and it’s been quite a saga.

2022 began with a deadly surge of COVID-19 activity and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and dashed decades of hard-fought progress for reproductive rights. Congress, at long last, took action on gun violence and climate change, and sought accountability for those who tried to overthrow the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020.

2022 was a year that showed how interconnected we are - the actions of one person, country, or nation can affect the lives and livelihoods of millions. During Gov. Jay Inslee’s State of the State address delivered in early January, Inslee committed to “Action… this Day.” Here’s a look at how Washington state leaders and communities took action to face the challenges and seize the opportunities of 2022.

Action for the planet

The Legislature approved an array of bills to modernize and promote clean transit and transportation options and clean buildings. Other bills were signed to protect salmon, advance clean manufacturing, and site clean energy infrastructure.

Gov. Jay Inslee joined local leaders to celebrate Spokane’s progress adding all-electric buses to its fleet.

President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in August. The legislation represented the federal government’s most significant action on climate change to date, with important federal investments in clean energy and transportation to put the U.S. on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 40 percent by 2030.

“These long-sought measures, part of the single largest investment to address climate change in American history, should rightfully encourage both our state and the federal governments to take further necessary steps,” said Inslee.

Inslee joined world leaders in Egypt for the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP27), an annual international gathering to advance climate action. At this year’s summit, Inslee touted the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act as crucial for supercharging state efforts to act on climate.

In September, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deemed that the four lower Snake River dams must be breached to save native salmon and steelhead. Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray launched a joint federal-state process to determine that state and federal governments should implement a plan to replace the dams’ energy generation, irrigation, and transportation benefits to enable breaching to move forward.

The Ice Harbor Dam near Tri-Cities is one of four dams on the lower Snake River that NOAA deemed must be breached to save native salmon and steelhead. Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray have stated that the dams’ numerous benefits must be replaced to enable dams to be breached. Photo by Jay Anderson, courtesy of Bonneville Power Administration.

Action for choice

The United States Supreme Court handed down a fateful decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to strip patients of their rights of choice and reproductive freedom.

Inslee, lawmakers, and reproductive health experts and advocates reacted swiftly to assure abortion rights and access remain secure in Washington. In June, Inslee and the governors of California and Oregon issued a Multi-State Commitment to defend access to abortion care and contraception. Inslee also approved $1 million to help reproductive care clinics handle increased number of patients coming to Washington state and directed the Washington State Patrol to refuse cooperation with any investigatory requests related to abortion from anti-choice states.

In October, Inslee and legislators proposed legislation to further advance abortion rights and access, including a constitutional amendment that expressly establishes a fundamental right to abortion and to choose or refuse contraceptives.

Gov. Jay Inslee is surrounded by legislators and reproductive health experts and advocates during a press conference responding to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June.

Action for housing

Gov. Jay Inslee, Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell, and Sound Foundations director Barb Oliver construct a tiny home at the Hope Factory, a tiny home manufacturing facility run on volunteer spirit. The facility has produced thousands of tiny homes for people experiencing homelessness, shipping them throughout the region.

In the past two years, legislators significantly scaled up investments in housing and support services to help alleviate the growing numbers of people experiencing homelessness. This included funding for a new Rapid Capital Acquisition program that is being used to create over 4,400 supportive housing units by converting underutilized motels or apartment buildings to shelters.

This program allowed the state to launch a new Rights of Way Safety Initiative in the summer, focused on helping people living in dangerous roadside encampments transition to safer supportive housing. In King County, state and local agencies collaborated to bring 75 people inside from one site alone. In Spokane County, the program is being used to close Camp Hope, the state’s largest encampment. Partnerships are also underway in Thurston, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.

“It’s not just the roof,” said Inslee during a visit to a Vancouver tiny home project. “It’s the mental health support, it’s the chemical addiction issues, it’s the medical-assisted treatment.”

Gov. Jay Inslee spoke with several tenants of the Civic Hotel shelter in Seattle in September. The former hotel now houses more than 70 people, including the four pictured, transitioned from roadside encampments through the Right of Way Safety Initiative.

Federal pandemic relief funding that helped launch these ambitious programs is expiring. To sustain them and further address the main driver of homelessness — lack of housing — Inslee is proposing “urgent and audacious” action in the upcoming legislative session to speed up housing construction. An estimated 1 million housing units must be built in the next twenty years to keep up with population growth. Inslee is proposing a $4 billion referendum that would accelerate construction of affordable and supportive housing all across the state in the next six years.

A Sound Transit light rail passes the Willow Crossing affordable housing development in South Seattle, which opened this year and was funded in part by state investments.

Action for equity

In April, tribal representatives came together for a momentous signing of a first-in-the-nation alert system for missing Indigenous people. Indigenous women have long been disproportionately victimized by abduction, trafficking, sexual assault, and homicide. From July through November, the Missing Indigenous Persons Alert system was activated 17 times and contributed to the recovery of 13 missing persons.

Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill in April to create a first-in-the-nation alert system for missing Indigenous people.

Inslee also rescinded an outdated and overly restrictive affirmative action directive and committed anew to dissolve barriers in the way of equitable public contracting, education, employment, and services. He also issued an Executive Order in March to require that every state agency adopt a Pro-Equity Anti-Racism plan to achieve outcomes that benefit every Washingtonian and eliminate barriers to services based on race, ethnicity, gender, and other characteristics.

Gov. Jay Inslee greeted new citizens at an Independence Day Naturalization Ceremony at Seattle Center this year. Hundreds of immigrants from around the world completed their journey to citizenship during the annual public event, held in-person again for the first time since the pandemic.

Action against gun violence

Gun violence takes many forms including death by suicide, mass shootings, domestic violence and community violence. Washington voters and legislators have a strong history of supporting commonsense measures to reduce gun violence, but more work remains.

A statewide high-capacity magazine ban took effect in July, and the legislature also passed additional bills this year to ban untraceable firearms sometimes known as “ghost guns,” and to prohibit firearms in certain locations such as school board meetings or polling places.

In December, Inslee joined fellow legislators and advocates and victims to propose a new package of legislation to require a permit to purchase a firearm, ban assault weapons, and hold gun manufacturers accountable for irresponsible practices.

2022 also saw the United States Congress take long-overdue action with the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act one month after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The law requires background checks of gun buyers under 21 years of age.

Gov. Jay Inslee signs firearms bills HB 1630 (restricting possession of weapons in certain public locations), HB 1705 (prohibiting “ghost guns”) and SB 5078 (restricting high-capacity magazines) on March 23, 2022.

Action for mental health

Starting with the 2022 school year, students in Washington state may take excused absences to take care of their mental health. Legislators made historic investments to help schools hire more nurses, counselors and social workers, while also funding important new resources for youth and children with complex behavioral health needs.

Gov. Jay Inslee poses with MultiCare and Tacoma Public School staff outside the new school-based health center at Mount Tahoma High School. The health center is staffed once a week by a professional psychiatrist, putting mental health support within easy reach for students.

Washington state also launched its 9–8–8 crisis lifeline in 2022. Support is now just three digits away for people experiencing a behavioral health or substance use disorder crisis. While 9–8–8 is now a national network, Washington state’s system is a cut above. Dedicated hotlines offer special resources to at-risk groups, including the Veterans Line, the Trevor Line for LGBTQ+ callers, and a first-in-the-nation Native and Strong Lifeline for native callers. Once fully implemented, the system will include new capabilities to deploy mobile crisis teams and connect people directly to providers and services.

Gov. Jay Inslee visited the Volunteers of America Western Washington call center in Everett in July. The call center is one of the hubs for the statewide 9–8–8 crisis lifeline network. The call center’s operators receive crisis intervention training and help Washingtonians work through crises and find local supports.

Action against COVID-19

For more than two long years, wave after deadly wave of COVID-19 beset America and the world, and disrupted daily life and commerce. 2022 began with astonishing viral activity in Washington state, overwhelming hospitals and requiring the governor to activate the National Guard in support.

As the year continued and the lifesaving effectiveness of broadly available vaccines and therapeutics was demonstrated, many states ended their emergency orders including Washington state.

On Oct. 31, 2022, Washington’s state of emergency lapsed and Inslee rescinded all remaining emergency orders.

The first lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 and first confirmed COVID-19 death was in Washington state in 2020. The state’s decisive and strong public health response resulted in Washington having one of the lowest COVID-19 death rates in the country.

The nation’s first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Washington state, beginning a years-long pandemic that claimed thousands of lives. On Oct. 31, 2022, the last of the governor’s emergency orders were rescinded and the state of emergency ended.

Best wishes for 2023

It’s always fun to end with an animal photo, so that’s how we’ll choose to wrap up 2022. Last month, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife celebrated the retirement of a beloved colleague — Colter, the Karelian bear dog who helped scare hundreds of bears and mountain lions away from populated areas. To conclude his distinguished 14-year career, the governor rewarded him with a ceremonial retirement, and some treats.

May your 2023 be as warm and peaceful as Colter’s is sure to be.

Colter, a Karelian Bear Dog employed for 14 years by the Department of Fish and Wildlife to ward bears and mountain lions away from populated areas, was recognized and retired in November.

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