Submitted by Morgan Alexander.
It’s a difficult time to be focused on local government considering all the chaos in the other Washington right now. However, we can’t lose attention of what is going on in our own back yard with our city council. In theory, local government is where the rubber hits the street. In practice, it varies quite a bit. In this annual wrap-up of laws passed, we take a look at what the city council has been up to. In short, it can be answered that they haven’t been up to a lot – if you’re measuring by laws passed which is one of their primary purposes.
Out of 84 laws passed last year, only two were sponsored by council members. The rest came from city staff. Here’s a summary of the laws passed by the council:
ORDINANCE 28963, passed 4/30/2024: An ordinance amending Chapter 8.12 of the Municipal Code, relating to Disorderly Conduct, by amending Section 8.12.150, entitled “Littering prohibited – Penalties”, to align more closely with state law; and providing for enforcement, and establishing civil and criminal penalties for violations. [Deputy Mayor Hines]
ORDINANCE 29014, passed 12/4/2024: An ordinance amending Title 1 of the Municipal Code, relating to Administration and Personnel, by adding a new chapter entitled “Climate and Sustainability Commission”, to establish a Climate and Sustainability Commission and appoint current members of the Sustainable Tacoma Commission to the new Commission. [Council Member Walker]
Granted, nearly all of the laws passed by city staff were routine monotonous updates that probably could only come from staff. However, with a plethora of issues our city is facing, it makes one wonder why there isn’t more activity from the city council.
BY THE NUMBERS
2024 – Total laws passed: 84. Total laws sponsored by city council members: 2
2023 – Total laws passed: 66. Total laws sponsored by city council members: 5
2022 – Total laws passed: 66. Total laws sponsored by city council members: 5
link: https://tacomasun.org/2025/03/23/tacoma-city-council-2024-report-card/
This is a common “aliment” of city, county, state and national governments: elected representative deference to bureaucratic employees.
Elected officials are essentially temporary, election to election, while bureaucrats are forever. Bureaucrats become the “institutional knowledge” and are typically specialized in their fields, the “experts”. That’s why they are hired while elected officials are elected to represent the voters. To often they forget that.
When elected officials lean too much on “experts” they start representing them instead of the people who elected them. Bureaucrats know how to “stir the pot”. 84 laws past in 2024? 216 passed since 2022? Sounds like a job opportunity program for bureaucrats. How would we survive without all those laws? Easily.
Are we a society that needs that much government intervention in our lives dictated by un-elected employees? Personally I’d rather admit to only 12 laws passed by elected representatives over 3 years as more appropriate if in fact they are truly representing the voters.
If you want to know what DOGE is going after for waste, fraud and abuse….this is it!
Laws? Subjective at best, Tacoma is lawless! Local politicians pick and choose which laws to enforce, standards are so low it is almost unbelievable! They choose to ignore federal law, classic kakistocracy! Tacoma is pathetic, corrupt politicians, poor parenting, substandard teachers, no police, in respect to teachers and the police I believe they are beaten down and abused by the woke agenda!