Bill to establish statewide oversight of jails in Washington dies in Legislature
Washington is one of 12 states without enforceable state standards or oversight — that won’t change in 2026
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This month, reporter Allegra Abramo introduces a project she’s been working on this summer:
Worker advocates applauded last month when the Seattle City Council voted to phase in a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour. But some worry the law won’t be vigorously enforced. They’ve seen too many workers struggle for justice after being cheated out of their wages.
It’s a topic Diego Rondón Ichikawa knows well. He is a staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project and founder of the Wage Justice Project.
“What Seattle did was historic,” he told me in an interview last month, “but it’s also important to make sure these workers are getting what they deserve under the law..."
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