News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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At nearly midnight on March 10, the Legislature adjourned its hybrid session in Olympia on schedule. The 60-day Legislative session consisted primarily of Zoom meetings with some work completed in-person. It was a busy time for me as I continued as the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee’s ranking member. This session was particularly busy for education committee leaders due to continued school issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and school funding issues. I also sponsored a few individual bills and budget requests. In t...
As you may have heard, the Washington State Redistricting Commission approved maps to rebalance our 49 statewide legislative districts and 10 federal congressional districts in November. This is a process conducted every 10 years in our state based on the federal Census data for population. The process was challenging in 2021, in part because the commission received data later than usual and because of the significant population growth shown in western Washington. Despite approving the plans late, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that...
If you have contacted my office in recent years, you know that I pride myself in delivering personal responses to you. My office staff and I work very hard to make sure you receive prompt and detailed information related to your questions and concerns. Despite the high volume of communications my office receives, I still try to respond personally to each. Unfortunately, I was unable to respond personally to thousands of inquiries last month following Governor Inslee’s statewide mask and COVID vaccine mandates. In an effort to provide you w...
As Washington state and the rest of the world continues to process through the COVID pandemic, governors throughout our nation — Republicans and Democrats — have utilized their offices and authorities in a variety of ways. In Washington state, the Emergency Powers Act (RCW 43.06.220) authorizes the governor to declare emergencies and issue orders in response to those declared emergencies. The original version of this law was enacted in 1969, at a time when likely no one would have anticipated any emergency lasting multiple years. On Feb...
The 12th District and Washington’s 48 other legislative districts have had specific boundaries since 2012. The borders for these districts, as well as Washington’s 10 federal congressional districts, will change in 2022 after the state’s redistricting process is completed near the end of this year. Since redistricting only occurs every decade, I thought it would be helpful to review the process. How Washington’s redistricting works Each state has its own process for redistricting. In Washington, an independent and bipartisan Redistr...
As your state senator, I am not opposed to taxes outright, but I do care greatly about the tax burden placed upon you. Taxes are applied to us at all levels of government (local, state, and federal), and government should always demonstrate a prudent use of tax dollars. As a state legislator, I am involved in “state” level taxes, not local or federal taxes. The primary taxes for Washington state budgeting include sales taxes and business taxes. Understanding the property tax system Of all the taxes that exist, the one I receive the most que...
Catastrophic wildfires have had a devastating impact on our region. Wildfires can ravage vast sections of our state, displacing families, putting firefighters at risk, and leaving long-term economic recovery challenges. One of the key elements to minimizing our risk of wildfire is to engage in responsible forest management practices and to greatly reduce the small diameter trees, organic waste, and logging slash throughout our timberlands. Throughout my years in the Washington State Legislature, I have been an active supporter of efforts to...
The Senate on March 6 voted 25-24 to pass Senate Bill 5096, a proposal that seeks to create a state income tax on capital gains. The Senate’s passage of a state income tax is beyond disappointing, although not entirely unexpected. This proposal has been a concern of mine for the past few years, and it finally advanced. In the past, the Senate has been a helpful backstop against new tax proposals. In recent years, either Republican senators or a few conservative Democrats helped block the income tax. I’m afraid that the 25 to 24 vote shows that...
Back in 2019, I partnered with Douglas County PUD to sponsor and pass a bill authorizing Public Utility Districts to produce and sell renewable hydrogen. Hydrogen is a gas that can be created from a process that uses electricity to separate hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water. I worked closely that year with Douglas County PUD because of their interest in using surplus hydropower to produce hydrogen. The bill’s passage allows for the production and sale of “renewable hydrogen,” which is defined as hydrogen created from an emissions-free elec...
The final days of the 2020 legislative session last March presented some real challenges. The Legislature worked diligently to wrap up its session as some of the first cases of COVID-19 in the United States were confirmed in our state. Lawmakers approved all three state budgets (operating, transportation, and capital) along with a $200 million COVID-19 response bill. In those final session days and in the days that would soon follow, the governor began issuing his statewide executive orders. One of the earliest included a statewide closure of...