What does Microsoft want from the Legislature? Here are 3 things

Microsoft President Brad Smith on Thursday answered questions from state government reporters in Olympia about the corporation’s legislative priorities. Here are three things Smith is asking lawmakers to address during the 60-day session that ends March 12.

1. Address the state’s housing affordability crisis

Smith said more incentives are needed for developers to build housing for people with lower and middle incomes.

HB 2620 and its companion measure, SB 6411, would expand the property tax exemption for new and rehabilitated multiple-unit dwellings in urban growth areas. Gov. Jay Inslee requested the bill. Supporters of the program have said it has helped preserve “affordable homes in mixed-income communities.”

HB 2343 would provide incentives for local governments to adopt land use policies that encourage higher housing density, especially near public transit services.

“I think that we’ve gone way too far requiring that people spend too much of their time commuting to and from work every day,” said Smith. “The only way to rectify that is to focus on some areas where there is denser housing and especially close to transit areas is where it may make the most sense.”

2. Move forward with transportation investments

Microsoft was part of the coalition that opposed Initiative 976, which 53 percent of state voters approved last November. The margin for the “yes” vote in Pierce County was 66-34 percent, while Thurston and Whatcom counties were among five counties that opposed I-976.

In addition to capping car tabs at $30 — actually it would be $43.25, counting fees — I-976 would reduce or remove the authority of state and local governments to charge several motor vehicle taxes and fees that pay for transportation projects. Because of legal challenges from opponents including the city of Seattle and King County, I-976 has not taken effect.

Smith called on the Legislature to continue investing in transportation projects, but he didn’t offer details on how to fund them without those taxes and fees. He said the expansion of the Sound Transit light-rail project needs to be completed.

“We’ve paid for a wide variety of highway and road and bridge improvements not just in western Washington, but across the entire state – and we can’t stop now,” he said.

For the long term, Smith said Washington needs to continue pooling funds with Oregon, British Columbia, and Microsoft to study building ultra-high-speed rail connecting Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, B.C.

Smith said the project would be an engine for economic growth. As one example, he noted that Vancouver, B.C., Seattle and Portland all have prestigious institutions working in the life sciences and cancer research.

“But these are three smaller cities when you compare us to the big cities around the world. So we have to compete at scale and competing at scale means making it easier for people to get together and move around faster,” he said.

3. Take action on bills governing data privacy and facial recognition technology

Smith said there’s a broader coalition this year than in 2019 to pass a data privacy bill in Washington.

“We need a strong privacy law in this state and by that I mean a law that has strong protections for consumers. And you might ask, `Well, why does a tech company care about that?’… It’s because we believe that a healthy market has to be grounded in consumer confidence.

“And we should never expect consumers to just take the word of the providers in a part of the economy. They always want to know that technology is going to be governed by the law and that their privacy rights are going to be protected by law,” he said.

Microsoft is voluntarily extending the “core rights” that California residents received through its new data privacy law to the corporation’s customers nationwide. The California law requires businesses to tell consumers what data they have gathered about them, and to stop selling that data at the request of consumers.

Washington lawmakers are weighing a similar data privacy bill, SB 6281. An accompanying bill, SB 6280, would regulate the use of facial recognition technology by state and local governments.

“This is an area where we think there is a real benefit in having legislators in Olympia and Sacramento talk to each other – and they are,” Smith said. “I think the more we can encourage strong and consistent protection at the state level, the more we will build the foundation for a strong national law.”