Here’s Who Is Part of Inslee’s Washington Recovery Group–Sort Of

We requested a list of who made up Gov. Inslee's new Washington Recovery Group that he announced earlier this week.

Inslee said the group will begin meeting in early November, they're apparently charged with offering input, leadership, and advice when it comes to administering economic aid for Washington businesses recovering from COVID.  According to the Governor's website:

"State agency experts will work with local stakeholders and tribal partners to implement recovery solutions and pathways. Those ideas and policy solutions will be presented to cabinet agencies and the Office of Financial Management."

Their criteria for 'help' will be 'guided' in these areas with the following criteria (again from Governor's website):

• Community and social services
• Education and childcare
• Employment and jobs
• Equity and social justice
• Health and healthcare
• Housing
• Infrastructure and energy
• Support for small business

The Office of Financial Management (OFM) provided a list of the agencies-groups who will be involved in this effort:

"Initial WRG Membership---Cabinet Agencies

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Children, Youth and Families
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Ecology
• Department of Enterprise Services
• Department of Health
• Department of Labor and Industries
• Department of Social and Health Services
• Employment Security Department
• Health Care Authority
• Washington Emergency Management Department
• Office of Financial Management
• Equity/Diversity Representation

 Independently Elected, Boards, and Commissions

• Superintendent of Public Instruction
• State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
• Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board"

We were not sure what "equity/diversity Representation" refers to, so we reached out again to the OFM for more explicit details. That was Thursday Oct. 15, as of this publication we have not received a reply yet.

Shortly after the group was announced, media and legislative groups began to weigh in on the idea. ShiftWA called it "another Inslee initiative that will fall into obscurity," not unlike his Safe Start Advisory teams which were announced back in May.

ShiftWA and other watchdog media sources indicate there hasn't been any updates, information, progress reports or indications of any specific successful policy created by these Safe Start Teams, they've just faded away.  Earlier this spring, we reported that, as did other outlets, that 19 of the 27 economic advisors were Inslee campaign donors.

We will update this story if the OFM provides us with a specific list of who will be the persons/groups in the "equity/diversity Representation" portion of his Group.