Coming up at King County Council, April 19-23

Next week is packed with action at council, including committee action on the next emergency COVID budget ($600M), a proposal to ban the use of facial recognition software countywide, and the Strategic Climate Action Plan, while full council will take up sending the renewal of the Best Starts for Kids levy to voters.

Here’s what’s coming up at King County Council:

The $600 million emergency supplemental COVID budget is the seventh supplemental since the pandemic began, and will spend money across a variety of services, including vaccination efforts, community supports, public health response, economic recovery and more. 

This represents the largest appropriation by far and is likely to warrant a robust discussion at the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. Once approved by committee, the measure will go to full council by May 11. The committee meets at 9:30am on Tuesday, April 20.

Full council is set to vote on legislation to renew the Best Starts for Kids levy for another six years. The new proposal would set a first-year levy rate of $0.19 per $1,000 of assessed property value with annual growth capped at 3%. If approved, the proposal will appear on the August 3 primary ballot. Council meets at 1pm on Tuesday, April 20.

A proposal that would ban county government use of facial recognition software will be the focus of the Committee of the Whole on Wednesday. The proposal, sponsored by Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, would include prohibiting use of such software by the King County Sheriff. The committee meets at 9:30pm on Wednesday, April 21.

Legislation to formally adopt the Strategic Climate Action Plan could move out of the Mobility and Environment Committee on Thursday (which is also Earth Day). It would implement a five-year strategic plan of strategies, targets and priority actions to address climate change. The committee meets at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 22.

All meetings continue to be held virtually to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Meetings can be livestreamed on KCTV unless otherwise stated. View meeting agendas and legislation here.