Tri-City legislators look at splitting Washington, Oregon along Cascades

Seattleites and Portlanders have a sometimes contentious rivalry, but if two Tri-City legislators get their way, they could soon be residing in the same state.

Four of the Eastern Washington Republicans who recently sponsored a bill seeking to create a task force to look at dividing Washington along the Cascade Mountains have filed another that takes the idea a step further.

This one calls for a committee to not only consider Eastern Washington leaving Washington, but joining up with Eastern Oregon to become a state. Western Washington and Western Oregon would also join together.

House Bill 1832 is sponsored by Reps. Brad Klippert of Kennewick and Larry Haler of Richland, as well as Matt Shea and Bob McCaslin, of Spokane Valley. They were four of the five sponsors of House Bill 1818, which called for dividing the state along the Cascades.

The two bills read similarly, with the main difference being Oregon’s involvement in House Bill 1832. Both call for task forces made up of 10 members to make their decision by September, with Oregon legislators taking part in the committee for the bi-state bill.

Even if the bill passes both Washington houses and is signed by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, Oregon’s state government presumably would still have to approve creating the task force.

Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon are larger geographically and politically more conservative than their west sides, but there is at least one major difference.

Eastern Washington might be more rural than the Seattle area, but it is densely populated compared with most of Eastern Oregon.

Eastern Washington has six counties with more than 70,000 residents, with the largest, Spokane County, close to 500,000 residents. The largest county in Eastern Oregon, Deschutes County, where Bend is located, has about 160,000 residents.

Umatilla County is the only other Eastern Oregon county with more than 70,000 residents.

Klippert was a secondary sponsor of the initial bill to look at seceding from Western Washington, but is listed as primary sponsor of the the bill to consider joining with Eastern Oregon. Haler is a secondary sponsor of both bills. He has put his name on more than 130 bills during the session.

Neither Klippert nor Haler could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Haler wanted to use the initial secession bill to start a conversation with state agencies, which he feels are spending too much money, to take the eastern part of the state more seriously, he said in an earlier interview.

Haler did not expect the original bill to pass. No hearings have been scheduled on either bill so far, according to the Legislature’s website.

The bills filed this session are the latest to look at breaking Washington apart. McCaslin’s father, the late Sen. Bob McCaslin, filed similar bills in 2001 and 2005.

Another 2005 bill looked at combining the eastern and western parts of Washington and Oregon into states divided by the Cascades.

This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 8:01 PM.