Articles

Supreme Court of Washington will hear important agriculture case

July 14, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Daniel Himebaugh The Supreme Court of Washington has granted review of Feil v. Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board to address a lower court decision that allows local government to convert agricultural land into public recreational facilities without demonstrating compliance with the state's Growth Management Act.  ...

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New ruling requires agencies to turn over hidden data

October 20, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Daniel Himebaugh In Washington State, electronic "metadata" now constitutes a "public record" under the state's Public Records Act.  This means that state and local authorities must disclose metadata to members of the public who request it. Metadata is "data about data"–hidden information about ...

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Government must play by the rules!

February 09, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Daniel Himebaugh PLF filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court of Washington this week in a case called Phoenix Development, Inc. v. City of Woodinville.  In that case, Woodinville argues that it can "legislatively" reject permit applications, even if an applicant satisfies all of the criteria for getting the permit.& ...

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Are the courts diminishing the role of science in land use planning with the "bibliography rule"?

May 16, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

On June 5, the Supreme Court of Washington will decide whether to take on PLF’s Olympic Stewardship Foundation case.  The Court’s decision could have major ramifications for the applicability of science in the land use planning process. The OSF case asks whether Jefferson County adopted illegal “channel migration zone” rule ...

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Update : Washington Supreme Court accepts certification in important takings case

August 02, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

A few days ago, I wrote about Lemire v. Washington Department of Ecology and the exciting possibility that the Supreme Court of Washington might accept the Court of Appeals’ invitation to hear the case.  Well, it didn’t take long for the Supreme Court to act.  The Court accepted certification today, meaning it will decide the … ...

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Birnbaum gets support from friends of the court

October 03, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

While we wait for the Supreme Court of Washington to decide whether it will review Birnbaum v. Pierce County, I thought it might be nice to give some attention to two amicus briefs that were filed in support of our petition for review.  As a refresher, here’s the issue in the case as I described … ...

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PLF Urges Washington State to Recognize the Viability of Temporary Takings Claims

May 16, 2014 | By BRIAN HODGES

Earlier this week, PLF attorneys filed an amicus brief urging the Washington Supreme Court to review the takings case, 10 North Washington Ave., LLC v. City of Richland. In 2008, 10 North Washington Ave., LLC (NWA) purchased vacant land from the city to operate as a rail yard. NWA invested over $5 million to develop … ...

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The erosion of traditional fair play

December 01, 2014 | By ETHAN BLEVINS

Charlie Brown always fell for Lucy’s trick of whipping the football away just as he approached for a kick. One Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown hesitated, but Lucy insisted that football was a Thanksgiving tradition. As Charlie Brown lay on his back after being duped again, Lucy smiled down and said, “Isn’t it peculiar, Charlie Bro ...

Articles

A farce, a tragedy, or both

January 13, 2015 | By ETHAN BLEVINS

James Madison once wrote, “a popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a Farce, or a Tragedy, or, perhaps, both.” Despite being bad at agreeing on about anything nowadays, most everyone likes the idea of transparent government. Except for the government. … ...