1) LEGISLATURE APPROVES BIG BOEING TAX BREAK, MACHINISTS REJECT CONTRACT OFFER: Called back unexpectedly by Gov. Jay Inslee, lawmakers in November OK’d $9 billion in tax benefits through 2040 for the aerospace giant. Inslee said the deal was needed so Boeing would build the 777X in the Puget Sound area, employing thousands. But shortly after, local machinists rejected a contract offer from Boeing, saying the profitable company was unfairly asking them to give up their pension.
2) STATE DEVELOPING RULES FOR LEGAL POT INDUSTRY: It’s not the usual fare of state bureaucrats, but Washington officials spent 2013 coming up with rules for the legal sale of marijuana. In 2012, state voters approved recreational pot use for adults. By the middle of 2014, people 21 and over should be able to go into state-sanctioned stores and buy the drug. The state will allow 334 pot shops.
3) INTERSTATE 5 BRIDGE COLLAPSES NEAR MOUNT VERNON: In May, an oversized truck struck an Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River, causing the span to collapse into the water. Remarkably, nobody was killed or seriously hurt, but the accident caused detours for weeks after the mishap. That section of freeway, connecting Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., normally sees about 70,000 vehicles a day.
4) SEATAC VOTERS APPROVE $15 MINIMUM WAGE: People in the airport city of SeaTac narrowly approved a $15 an hour minimum wage for many workers. The result placed Washington at the forefront of the national debate over wages. Washington already has the nation’s highest state minimum wage at $9.19 an hour. The federal minimum is $7.25 an hour.