$2M in cash, assets seized, nearly $500K in lost tax revenue from most recent cigarette seizure

TACOMA — Four people under prosecution by the Attorney General’s Criminal Litigation Unit for charges related to evading cigarette taxes entered guilty pleas mid-trial yesterday. The defendants imported hundreds of thousands of cigarettes from other states or tribal reservations, then sold them at their Puyallup smoke shop without paying required taxes.

Requires safety warnings, ingredients listing, doubles fine for selling to minors

OLYMPIA — The Washington State House of Representatives today approved a bill to reduce youth access to vapor products with a bipartisan vote of 74-20. The state Senate had previously passed the legislation — which combined multiple proposals, including agency request legislation from Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Governor Jay Inslee, as well as a bill introduced by Sen. Bruce Dammeier (R-Puyallup) — in a 37-6 vote.

New law to increase 45-year-old penalty from $100 to $500; enact $1,000 repeat-violator penalty

OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inlsee will today sign into law Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s agency-request bill to increase transparency in government by enhancing penalties for knowing violations of Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).

The OPMA requires meetings of multimember, public-agency governing bodies such as city councils, county commissions, school boards, and many state boards to be open and accessible to the public.

Requires safety warnings, ingredients listing, doubles fine for selling to minors

OLYMPIA — The Washington State Senate today approved a bill to reduce youth access to vapor products, in a 37-6 vote. The bill combines multiple proposals, including agency request legislation from Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Governor Jay Inslee.

The bill now heads to the House of Representatives.

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today offered the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court denying an attempt to invoke its original jurisdiction in Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado.

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Public Counsel Unit today challenged PacifiCorp’s proposed $20 million electricity rate increase over two years, and instead recommended the utility’s rates be reduced as much as $4.5 million. Public Counsel believes the increase for residential customers is unsupported by the evidence. 

Prior to this request, PacifiCorp, an electric utility with 128,000 customers in Washington, has received five rate increases since 2010, raising rates more than $20 per month for the average customer.

Washington consumers and businesses urged to file claim by June 17, 2016 to qualify (UPDATE:  Deadline extended to Sept. 30, 2016)

SEATTLE —Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced the claims process for consumers to recover their share of a $63 million recovery in a price-fixing enforcement action brought by the Attorney General’s Office.

SEATTLE — A Thurston County judge ordered a California company that scammed new Washington property owners into buying overpriced deeds to pay more than $3.6 million today, after granting summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

SEATTLE — Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced that his office has put a stop to the deceptive business practices of a Seattle-based man and his three companies who will pay back as much as $7,750,000 to approximately 165,000 consumers nationwide.

Benjamin Rogovy used systematic deception in the running of his for-profit company, Christian Prayer Center, including the creation of fake religious leaders and posting false testimonials to entice consumers to pay for prayers.

Additional milestones, reporting requirements to keep U.S. Dept. of Energy on track