Commissioner McKinney On Pushback Of Governor’s Covid Restrictions

The 2021 edition of the Yakima County Commission, consisting of Ron Anderson, Ladon Linde and Amanda McKinney, is taking a more aggressive approach to pushing back against Governor Inslee's Covid-19 restrictions.

A recently released proclamation makes it clear that management by local officials is more effective than the action taken so far by the Governor -  the Board of County Commissioners concludes that local official governmental management of preventing community transmission spread, not sweeping state proclamations creating arbitrary regional boundaries over which we have no authority, is and remains the primary means of ensuring healthcare facility readiness by positively interacting with citizens to reduce the risk of what is proven to be the leading source of infection spread – casual social gatherings where prevention measures are not adhered to

In fact, the Commissioners proclaim that the Governor has actually made matters worse for the residents of Yakima County -  "Governor Inslee has abused his emergency powers to circumvent the checks and balances provided by the voice of the people through our duly elected representatives. We find Governor Inslee’s actions to be grossly unjust and indefensible in nature as to the crisis in hearts and homes that he has created which far exceeds the negative impact of COVID-19.

The Commissioners have stated they won't be using Yakima County resources to investigate or enforce any punitive actions on businesses that operate within healthy protocols but outside the Governor's restrictions. They urge Governor Inslee to alter the mission of state agents from issuing fines and penalties to providing education: the Board of County Commissioners calls on Governor Jay Inslee, state regulatory agency directors, and state agents charged with workplace compliance enforcement within Yakima County to immediately cease issuance of fines and licensure sanctions, and instead adopt the model of local law enforcement agencies across the state by educating and encouraging businesses to follow all necessary COVID-19 prevention protocols where improvement opportunities may exist.

County Commissioner Amanda McKinney appeared o KIT's Morning News show to talk about the proclamation and to explain the reasoning behind rewriting some of rules of operation for the Yakima County Health District.