Got a little popcorn, I got a little soda, I
got a little cartoon, and I was in my footie
pajamas, and off I went. Great night. Slumberland.
Welcome to County Connection, the official podcast
of the Washington State Association of Counties,
where we dive into the legislative issues shaping
the future of our communities. From budgets to
public safety, infrastructure to elections, we'll
break down what's happening in Olympia and how
it impacts counties from across the Evergreen
State. Stay informed, stay engaged, and join
us as we amplify the voice of Washington's 39
counties. Welcome back, everybody, to the County
Connection podcast. I'm Paul Jewell, your host
and government relations director for the Washington
State Association of Counties. Today is April
2nd. It's one day after April Fool's Day. It
is indeed. Back here in the studio. It's actually
pretty early today. I think this is the earliest
I've ever recorded a podcast, and I'm glad to
be doing it with you, Brad. Well, look at us,
Paul Jewell, just, you know, waking up. Bushy
-tailed, bright -eyed, came in here and said,
let's do a podcast. Let's do a podcast. Let's
start the day out on a good note here. That sounds
good. What are we going to talk about today?
We're going to talk about public safety today.
We're going to talk cops. We're going to talk
public safety. Okay. Maybe we'll talk a little
jail. Yeah, that sounds good. A little jail action.
Today's another big day here at the legislature.
It's cutoff day. It is. And I would be remiss
if I didn't say happy cutoff day. Happy cutoff
indeed. I feel like we're kind of, I think you
and I are doing sort of these podcasts. We seem
to be following the cutoff calendar. We seem
to be doing that. Well, it's just a great time
to do a podcast. It is. Things are a little quieter.
Well, and when you're talking about, you know,
kind of landmarks to the legislative session,
right? Or good moments in the legislative session.
You're right. It's a good point to sort of reflect
on where things are sitting. Yeah, when you have
these points at, you know, these points at where
you're... making a big change or things die or
things move forward. It's just a great time to
update everybody as to what's going on. And now
this is the second half of the session, the first
cutoff of the second half. The next ones are
going to come really fast. Yeah, I was just going
to say, right? The calendar starts to get really
quick. Yeah. And your time to get things done
in between those cutoffs is... On some level,
you trade off that you don't have the deluge
of things that you're working on. But now you've
got the clock. Now you're fighting the clock.
And you're racing against that. And everything
is a lot more clear. So we know what is important
to work on, what's not important to work on.
One of the ones that we talked about with you
a while back was the proposal in the House, which
was House Bill 2015. you're talking you know
when we're talking about cops right that's kind
of the bill there's that one and was it 5766
in the senate was uh 5775 5775 yeah is uh are
both of those bills still alive no so just house
bill 2015 is is kind of the you know how they
do this when you have really similar similar
vehicles in each chamber right eventually one
of them gets weeded out and so yes that's what
happened to 5775 and and now 2015 is kind of
the primary vehicle in this kind of local tax
public safety, governor's request for law enforcement
funding, all of that kind of getting jammed into
this one. That's all wrapped into this one bill,
right? It's a pretty important bill. So let's
remind folks where we are. And just to be really
clear, 5775. is dead, but it's really officially
dead, I suppose, as of five o 'clock today. That's
correct. So assuming it doesn't move forward,
and every indication is that it won't, we'll
update folks if that changes. But let's remind
folks of where we were. So you mentioned kind
of, you know, the governor's priority around
law enforcement. You know, there's been really
this sentiment, I think, felt by members of the
legislature, especially the majority party has
mentioned several times that their constituents
really want more investment in. public safety
and law enforcement. And now we've got this bill.
So how are these things all wrapped up together?
Let's just maybe two minutes to remind people
of kind of what the situation is. Yeah, sure.
And I think just from a start, I think it's important
to remember that this is coming on a lot of previous
sessions where there was a lot of... really emotional
and hot button issues related to law enforcement,
right? Yeah. Like police chases. That's right.
Decriminalization. Exactly. Types of activity,
right? Yep. What were some of the other ones?
Well, there's been some, you know, there's been
issues like the George Floyd incident. Police
brutality issues. Police brutality has been there.
So yeah, it's been sort of a, you know, it's
sort of interesting to me. I think that we've,
we kind of went through some, and a lot of that
happened during the pandemic, right? Which is
interesting. So there was already kind of, so
some of this was happening in a virtual way,
which was, which was weird, right? Because we
were in that different space. But yeah, so we've
come through that into, you know, really a very
different tone within the legislature this year
in terms of where they're the issues that they're
focusing on in this space. And it really has
been around law enforcement. That's not to say
everybody's in agreement. Right. That this is
the right way to go or should be the top priority.
But a lot of that was ushered in by by our new
governor, Governor Ferguson. Right. He talked
a lot on the campaign about wanting to make public
safety and law enforcement. a big priority uh
you'll hear it quoted all over the hill whenever
any of these bills come up that we're like you
know 43rd or 45th or 49th or whatever we are
in the state in terms of you know how many officers
or deputies well i think it's 50th i was gonna
say actually i think it is 50th which i kind
of laugh every time i hear it because i'm like
when pretty soon we're probably going to be like
they're going to have territories that are ahead
of us right like guam is going to be ahead of
us or whatever so yeah so we're we're definitely
you know that that is a talking point um i'm
never i'm not 100 % convinced that that's a,
you know, you look at that, that doesn't necessarily
equate to, I think it's a reflection of what
communities want oftentimes, right? And so those
numbers can be a little bit of a grain of salt
maybe to some of that. But regardless, we are
definitely at the bottom of the list in terms
of law enforcement spending and personnel. So
this bill has been an attempt to try to... pull
together the desires of the new governor, who's
made this very clear. But also, as you noted,
Paul, a pretty notable portion of the caucuses
saying public safety needs to be a part of our
conversation. Well, and that's really remarkable,
I think, this year and seems to be a major shift
in the legislature. Definitely. Because there
are still members in the legislature. I mean,
it's kind of like the membership that we have
here at WASAC, right? Whenever there's a controversial
issue, there's a lot of people in the middle,
but there's also usually a pretty good segment
on one side. the other completely extreme i mean
yeah and the right this and this issue is polarizing
yeah and they're definitely are still members
of the legislature, some of which are really
pro -law enforcement, and others that are very
distrustful of law enforcement. And then there's
a whole bunch in the middle. And in the past
few years, it's kind of been those who are more
distrustful of law enforcement that have kind
of been running the agenda. Definitely been pushing
the policy. And that pendulum has really kind
of moved over now, right? It has. And I think,
interestingly... What do you think is driving
that? You know, I don't know. It's curious to
me. I mean, I do think, you know, the governor
sort of putting that on the table. I think definitely.
Sure. That was that was a big change from the
past because Governor Inslee was not interested
in that at all. Yeah, I think there's been I
think, honestly, it's probably a confluence of
a number of factors that have sort of either
organically or or just through sheer coincidence.
I don't know, but they've sort of come together
to form this. this pretty significant, as you
point out, shift in the what we're doing. I think
some of that has been what we've talked about
in this podcast in terms of juvenile rehabilitation,
right? So there's been a big focus on youth crime
and sort of what's happening in that space. Well,
statistically, there's been a huge increase in
youth crime. Huge, more than any other, really,
than any other demographic. Did a lot of that
happen during the pandemic or directly after?
It was kind of during and then directly after
is when we really saw that dramatic uptick. And
then you had the backlog. Because of the pandemic.
So a lot of those cases weren't being processed
until fairly recently. Right. And so I think
that there was this sort of ever present. I think
we've been dealing with something that's been
sort of bubbling under the surface in terms of
a policy standpoint for a while. Right. Where
it's like, OK, we've got this juvenile crime
problem that and it's not little stuff. Right.
These are kind of major crimes that we're dealing
with. And then you pair that with, I think, some
of the conversations we've had around police
reform, around the role. Then also the role of
law enforcement, frankly, and behavioral health.
And so the role that that and this is through
a variety of ways, whether we just see more and
more individuals calling in 911 needing behavioral
health services. We now have 988, which is there.
We've got this whole local growth of co -responder
type programs, field response teams. So, I mean,
I think there's just been a confluence of external
factors that have focused this conversation.
I think what's what's do you think the housing
crisis and yeah, that's a good point. I think
the housing crisis. Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure. I
don't know why it wouldn't. But again, I think
that's also linked to some of our behavioral
health conversation. Right. So it's like I feel
like all of this is sort of inextricably. Yeah,
they're all sort of. Yeah, they're linked to
each other. Right. Yeah. Because I think that,
you know, for the legislature to hear from their
constituency, it. To me, that's a sign that people
are not feeling as safe. That's right. In their
neighborhoods. Yeah. In their cities. Or they're
seeing things they didn't see before. Yeah. Right.
They're seeing, like you mentioned, the opioid
epidemic. I mean, that's a classic one, too,
that we didn't talk about. Right. There's been
so much drug use, frankly. I think that's been
so front and center, particularly in urban areas,
but not just in urban areas. It's very much of
an issue in rural areas, too. And so I think
people are just seeing it in their surroundings
in a way that they hadn't in a long time. Right.
You know, speaking earlier. It's like when you
grew up, it was the DARE program and it was these
kind of things. And I remember cocaine was such
a huge epidemic back in the day, back in the
80s. Yeah, cocaine and then crack and then meth.
Right, exactly. Now we've gotten up into the
fentanyl and opioids. And again, it's just so
present. And I think for a lot of these factors,
whether it's behavioral health, whether it's
homelessness. whatever it might be. And so I
think there's just a heightened awareness at
the moment. I do think the other thing that's
interesting right now is, and this has come up
a lot in the policy conversations, is historically,
regardless of the sort of issues that have been
going on, the state has not played a significant
role in funding or directing. local law enforcement
type work yeah that's a big shift yeah we talked
about that the last time when we were chatting
about this yeah the state um actually having
a proposal to fund local law enforcement is something
that really fairly unprecedented yeah it's unheard
of yeah it wasn't something that we've ever really
seen no yeah and and they're still they're still
going down that road at this they are and i do
think that has not been I mean, to your point
about the contentious nature of this, I don't
think that's been lost on members, right? There
are certainly some that are like, we've never
done this, and we don't want to start doing this,
right? I think there are others that are kind
of, like you said, that bulk in the middle that
are sort of like, yeah, but we've got all these
issues we need to deal with, and this seems like
one that we need to start paying attention to
and figuring out what our role is as a state
in local law enforcement. Yeah, so that's such
a great setup, and I think you really captured
kind of the moment right that we're dealing with
so what's going on with this bill then yeah so
house bill 2015 uh it's it's gone through the
you know like every bill that goes through the
process but uh and in fact it just came was exact
out of uh the law and senate law and justice
committee yesterday okay uh and it so that one's
headed to ways and means now oh ways it's gonna
go to ways and means because it has a pretty
significant budget components right i think the
biggest piece um as it came out of the house
there were some late amendments that from our
view kind of toyed with some of the sequence
in the way things work in the bill. And maybe
I should mention that there are kind of three
key things the bill does. It contains a grant
program, which is the sort of effort to respond
to Governor Ferguson's desire for law enforcement.
So it's a way that local jurisdictions, counties,
cities can access funding to support new law
enforcement. Now that we've seen the budget proposals,
have they decided how much they want to put in
that grant program? You know, so it's kind of
gone back and forth, but I think from what I
saw, it's about 12 million a year is what they're
looking at or somewhere in the range of the 25
million. That's a far cry from the 100 million
that Governor Ferguson wanted. And so I think
that's definitely going to be part of the end
game negotiations right on this. And again, I
think some of that has been. As this bill has
moved, there's been more and more resistance
to how much they should. I think initially there
was like, OK, we can figure this out. We'll find
where we can get the money. Obviously, we're
in a difficult budget year, but that momentum
has waned a bit. And I think there's been a desire
to sort of push back more. And that 12 million
is for all counties and cities. It is. So you've
got, what, 260 some cities. Yeah, that's become
some pretty thin peanut butter. You start spurting
it around. Yeah. If everybody got even. an equitable
amount based on, say, a population allocation
or something like that. Well, and there's continuing
concerns about sort of the ongoing nature of
that, right? And if you're going to use a grant
to hire someone, you may have those funds for
the grant period, but then what do you do once
those run out? So that's been an ongoing, certainly
something that counties and cities have been
highly engaged in that conversation. And we talked
about that the last time, too, right? Sustainability
is a challenge. Right, right. And you get a grant,
and that grant runs out in two years. That's
right. You're not going to have the money in
two years after that. No. Oh, and it's interesting,
right? Because in other parts of the bill, right,
there's a smaller part of the bill that provides
some additional funding into the criminal justice
training account, which is good. And also some...
sort of training requirements and other pieces.
But I think the biggest piece of it really at
this point is the local one -tenth option, local
one -tenth sales tax option. So that's still
in the bill? It is still in the bill. And I think
it's probably the part that we are most heavily
engaged on in terms of a revenue tool that local
jurisdictions, particularly counties, could use
to fund public safety. I will say what's interesting
about it is the public safety definition in that
bill is quite broad. And it includes a lot of
the things that I think we just talked about
earlier. in terms of how we're viewing our public
safety system, right? We're talking about, obviously,
sheriff's deputies and city cops. I mean, all
of that's part of it. But there's a huge component
on sort of, you know, that community policing
concept, right? In terms, you know, behavioral
health response, sensitivity to cultural and
racial issues, right? A lot of desire to look
at diversion, right? You know, so it's not just
a... quote unquote, cops bill. Right. I mean,
and I think that's something that from a county
perspective, because we work on all of those
types of issues, that's important to us. Right.
That broad definition is important. Yeah. So
that's interesting. So so there's currently.
There's currently two other one -tenth options
for local governments, right, for law enforcement.
One is focused on adult and juvenile facilities,
meaning corrections, right? The second is really
focused exclusively on law enforcement, I believe.
And then there's up to three -tenths, and that
one's broader, right? It is much broader. That
one talks about more of the system, but it doesn't
go into all the things that you're talking about,
right? It doesn't list out all these details.
Yeah, and so this one now is another new one
-tenth, right? You're saying it goes even broader.
So it's certainly not facilities. It's certainly
not just law enforcement. And it's kind of like
the three tenths, but even goes further into
alternatives. That's right. You know, other parts
of community policing. Right. Other parts of
the system that intersect directly with law enforcement.
Right. Keeping people, you know, law enforcement
as a tool. You know, I think this is this is
how far we've come. Right. That law enforcement
is now an active tool in keeping people. out
of the justice system. Right. Which I think,
you know, a decade ago would have been a very
different conversation. That wasn't their role.
Right. And so they are now playing this sort
of active diversion role, this active response
to people experiencing behavioral health crisis.
So it's being a cop is a much different thing
than it used to be. Yeah. Right. For sure. For
sure, because they encounter a lot of other situations
that they haven't encountered in the past because
we've changed the way society works. I was just
going to say society is more complex. I mean,
maybe that's up for debate. I don't know. But
it feels to me that it's more complex. Well,
I think it is. And the lens with which we view
it is different. Yeah. When you think about how
we used to institutionalize a lot of people who
had different types of disabilities or mental
health issues. A lot of that was out of sight,
out of mind. Right. Get these individuals out
of sight. They weren't at home. Right. They weren't
out on the street. They didn't. have a crisis
you know in public oftentimes that a law enforcement
would react to and not necessarily understand
what that person was going through right just
think that they you know were on some sort of
substance or whatever when that's not the case.
Exactly. Right. And not understand that that
person may not understand the commands that they're
being given. Right. And so the law enforcement
would react differently. Of course. And we want
them to react differently in those situations.
Yeah. It's been an evolution. Right. And I think
in a lot of ways, a very positive evolution.
Yeah, I agree. But it definitely is just different.
Right. And I think so. I think this bill is a
good reflection, I think, of where we are and
sort of and I think all the debate around. it,
right, is a good encapsulation of sort of where
we are as a state and what are we grappling with,
right? Not only in terms of our, in the public
safety space, but in the broader, you know, how
do we want to live space, right? And this is
really, I think, at the heart of that for a lot
of people. Yeah. So this bill has come out of
policy committee. It is. It's going to head over
to Ways and Means. It's going to head to Ways
and Means. You expect it to get out of Ways and
Means? I do. I think this is, you know, at this
point, this is kind of the primary. I think the
most robust, and I've said this in testimony
a number of times, right? This bill kind of holds,
like you mentioned, there's other vehicles out
there. But I think in terms of public safety,
this one is a more complete package. for lack
of a better term, in light of the different components
of the bill, right, that it tries to address
multiple things. And so I do think this will
continue to be a big part of the conversation
through the rest of the session. Okay. Has it
changed much when it came over from the House
to the Senate? It sort of did. I mean, it changed
a bit, and then it kind of has now reverted back.
The Senate sort of reverted back to some of the
earlier versions that were part. It came out
as there were some confusing, and I don't know
how much of it was intentional versus just, you
know, how this place is. It can be fast. People
think. they're making a change for this reason.
And it turns out like, oh, well, actually, that
makes things more complicated. So there were
some technical issues that kind of got caught
up in. But I think from a philosophical standpoint,
the bill remains largely the same in terms of
what I think the goal is. Definitely, though,
as we discussed, we've seen a reduction in the
amount of money that the state wants to attach
to it, right? So that, you know, we're not talking
$100 million anymore, right? Right. For example.
However, when you think about How much that one
-tenth could raise at the local level, right?
It could far exceed $100 billion depending on
how many jurisdictions actually take advantage
of it. Completely. I mean, it could dwarf it,
right? And so I think the conversation between
the governor's office and the legislature has
to be, you know, sorry to use this phrase, but
it's like there's more than one way to skin a
cat, right? I mean, and so on some level. Sorry,
cat lovers. I know. Sorry. I'm a cat lover. I'm
a cat lover. I think we may have touched on that
in some previous. You know, every Swifty who's
listening to this is now no longer a brat. Giving
me a thumbs down. There's more than one way to
solve a complex problem. There you go. And this
one. More than one way to eat a watermelon. There
you go. That's the way to do it. Yeah. So I think
from our, you're right. And so I think it's going
to be a policy debate, right? In terms of how
do we want to say we're making the investments,
right? Is it purely just, are we going to put
everything on a grant, right? That there has
to be a hundred million or we can't call that
a win or is it a mix of things? And I think from
the association's perspective, I think that a
mix of things better reflects the mix of. need
that's there, right? That at least in counties,
our commissioners are seeing, our council members
are seeing in terms of we've got a lot of things
in the public safety space that we need to address.
All the time. Law enforcement personnel is a
big part of that. You bet it is. But it's not
the only part of that. No, corrections personnel
is another big part of that. Exactly. You know,
some of these alternative options for diversions.
That's right. And response teams, et cetera.
So it's just a big part of that. It's just become
such a more complex space that. I think this,
like I said, I just think this bill is probably
a good reflection of that. So we'll see how the
policy debate goes. I mean, obviously, I think
we're getting to the point where it is going
to start to be negotiation time between the governor
and the legislature in terms of what they want
to do funding wise. You know, we have some regular
meetings with the governor's policy staff every
couple of weeks. In fact, I asked you to cover
one one time and I think it got canceled. I lucked
out. Yeah. But there are always interesting conversations.
And we've talked about this a couple of times.
And the indication that I've gotten so far is,
you know, while they're watching, the progress
of the bill, they're pretty supportive. They
are. In fact, they have testified in support
of it. Okay. I was wondering if you heard. No,
yeah. So this is definitely the, that's an important
point. I'm sorry I didn't mention that. So the
governor's office has sort of also put their
flag on this one to say, hey, we like this approach.
We think it gets there, at least in terms of,
it's. coming together in the right way um whatever
the final product will be i don't know but they
they did testify in support of this bill okay
in law and justice well that's a good sign then
agreed agreed so this bill will uh have to get
through ways and means and then we'll watch the
floor action on the bill uh is it is a bipartisan
bill yeah it is i mean i i mean it is and it
isn't i think what's complex about it right is
it's both got a public safety component which
i think obviously is polarizing in in one way
right and then you've got a tax component of
it which Which is obviously polarizing in another
way. Right. So I think, you know, for a lot of
members, they're being torn between, well, I
want to I want to do something for public safety,
but I am hesitant to want to do something on
new taxes. Right. Or we need this tax to fund
these services. But I'm uncomfortable with it
going to cop. Right. And so I imagine there are
some parts of the more liberal, progressive women
that would like it to only go to the more progressive
diversion type 100 percent programs. Right. Yeah.
And there's certainly a lot of folks on the conservative
side of it who are going, I don't like new taxes.
Right. If the state wants to do this, they should
come up with the money to do it. Let's bump up
the grant program. Right. So it's an interesting,
like I said, it's an interesting debate right
now. And I think it has definitely put legislators
in a weird place in terms of how they're going
to support it or not. That's sometimes the best
type of legislation. You know what? I think you're
exactly right. I think it really forces a lot
of thought and a lot of compromise, which isn't
a bad thing. Yeah. I mean, when you got two distinctly
different parties with different ideologies and
they both want something similar. They're both
trying to solve a problem. Yeah. You know, you
got to be pragmatic. about things and say, okay,
how are we going to get this done in a way that...
both sides can live with. That's right. Yeah.
So it'll be an interesting one to see how it
moves. Well, that's kind of the marquee, right?
I mean, if you had a theater like we were kind
of riffing about before we started, right, and
you were going to put now showing tonight, it'd
definitely be 2015. It would be in my view. But
what else is going on? You know, so there's a
variety of other conversations out there. We
talked about the juvenile rehabilitation space.
There's still some bills kind of trickling out
there. Some of them we like, some of them we
don't like in terms of what they're trying to
do. It looked like the budget's kind of held
up. Yeah, I think for the most part. Yeah, I
think our, you know, our review of the budget
so far, both capital and now and operating seem
to be providing at a pretty similar level kind
of what the age what DCYF Department of Children,
Youth and Families has sort of indicated they
think they need for their various facilities,
whether that's Echo Glen or Green Hill or Maple
Lane or whatever it is. Yeah, we were glad to
see that. Yeah, likewise. Yeah. So, yeah, it
was great to see those investments there. So
I think I think there's. a coalescing, at least
in terms of recognizing the need there. There's
still obviously a lot of conversation happening
around public defense and kind of the role of
that in this space. And I know WASAC is heavily
engaged in that. And then we have some ongoing
work going on with our local jails, right? And
I think maybe we've touched on this before. And
I think when I came on contract with you guys
this year, one of the first things that you and
I went to together, I think, was a jail modernization
task force. Yeah, their first meeting. Yeah,
their first meeting, which is very much linked
to a lot of what we just talked about, right?
Jail is wanting to be 21st century, which means
it's not just keeping people behind bars. There's
a lot that goes into that. There's a ton. You've
got to have different space for providing different
services, whether it's behavioral health services
or substance use, SUD services. Even just normal
physical health services. Right. We're trying
to make our facilities more culturally sensitive
to different types of cultures that might be.
present in the facility for longer periods of
time. So there's a lot to think about that we
didn't think about when we built those facilities.
The newer ones are from the 80s, right? Even
the newest ones are old. So even from a physical
standpoint, structural standpoint, there's problems.
And they're not pleasant places to be. Now, at
the same time, we don't necessarily want them
to be pleasant places to be. But they're definitely
not... I don't think that they don't reflect
where I think we'd like to be as a system. Yeah.
I mean, if you're if you're going to reduce recidivism,
you're going to have to make some investments
in rehabilitation. That's right. Because you
don't want people coming out of those facilities
in worse shape mentally, you know, and cognitively.
Right. Then they were before they. before they
got that's right we want them to be able to you
know return back as productive members of society
exactly right and that means stuff has to go
on inside yeah yeah when the when the yeah so
as you know as i know a lot of people you know
don't feel like they should be you know needing
to make those investments because you know that
is uh i think in many minds it's you know jail
is still punishment that's right um you know
and i get that point of view but really if we
want to make sure that we're getting productive
people out of those facilities. We just have
to make those investments. Agreed. I mean, and
again, I think just to kind of maybe tie a bow
on where we came with this conversation, right?
We've just evolved as a society in terms of what
our expectations are for not only what we expect
policing to look like, but what we expect the
criminal justice judicial side of that and correction
side of that to look like. And all of those things
are changing pretty dramatically and pretty rapidly.
It's a lot... a lot for communities to deal with
yeah it'll be interesting to see what this task
force actually comes up with agreed considering
all those things and what's happening now right
uh in the recommendations that they make for
what investments need to be made in local facilities
to modernize them for the type of you know inmates
that's right you know and i think it'll be prime
for next session conversation right i mean i
think they're scheduled to wrap up in july with
their final report due in december uh -huh and
so yeah it'll be interesting to see if if they
choose to make a supplemental year, a jail modernization
year. Yeah. I don't know. It will be interesting,
and there's never an end to these conversations,
that's for sure. It's job security, Paul. But
no, truly, yeah, it's... Yeah. It's not ending
anywhere in sight. Well, Brad, thanks for the
update. No, likewise. Thanks for coming by. Appreciate
it. It's good to see you, especially so early
in the morning. I know. I feel like energy. Yeah.
Look at that. We just normally we're just staring
at each other looking half dead. I know. I'm
sure. I'm sure that the level of energy we have
in this room right now is translating into very
much. So, yeah, the listeners, the listeners
are getting excited. I hope so. Yeah. Just listen.
Because in a couple hours, we're just going to
be a different Brad and Paul. All right, Brad.
Well, maybe after the. next cutoff yeah we'll
have you back and we'll kind of check in on where
things are and see where we're see where we're
headed that's great all right take care thanks
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