Public Notices

We are a little over two weeks away from the end of our regular session in the legislature, and I wish to provide you a status report on where we are, and where we are going.
 
Our most important jobs are to fully fund basic education and balance our budget. How to accomplish these goals is not all the legislature considers, however. There are some 98 members of the House, each with his or her idea of what is important. As a result, some 783 bills were introduced this session. Bills to protect wolves, tied-up dogs and shooting ranges were debated along with legislation to stop or regulate drunk driving, driving while texting, and traffic cameras. Some 257 bills made it over to the Senate before this week’s cutoff.
 
Balancing the budget
 
Legislators cut nearly half a billion from the current budget in December, but there was still about $1.5 billion left to be trimmed to bring the budget back into balance. While we are not out of the woods yet, there are encouraging signs that our state is on the path to a slow recovery. The state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council released its February revenue forecast. Revenues are slightly up, and combined with lower demand for state services, the deficit in our state budget has shrunk. The House will release its budget proposal on Tuesday, February 21, and you can click here to read the details once it has been made public.
 
The Republicans released their budget proposal last week, and while I don’t agree with every one of their suggestions, they do promote some ideas that I support. For example, I was pleased to note that there is now bipartisan agreement around closing a tax loophole that only benefits large, out-of-state banks and doesn’t help Washington’s families and businesses.
 
Job creation
 
Too many of our neighbors are still out of work, and too many of our small businesses are barely making it because their customer base is down. That’s why I’ll be looking very closely at the job creation proposals before the Legislature. The House is currently working with the Senate, businesses and labor on a proposal similar to what former Governor Dan Evans did back in the 1970’s: putting people to work on “shovel-ready” projects around the state. The complete proposal will be released this week, and you can have a closer look at it and other job creation efforts here.
 
Education proposals
 
It was my interest in helping to improve our public education system that motivated me to run for state representative in the first place. As a former school board member, parent and father of an elementary school teacher in our district, I am well aware of the challenges our teachers and school districts face in fulfilling their mission to Washington’s children. The state Supreme Court’s recent McCleary decision underscores the need to put education first.
 
·         For 30 years, our state had over a dozen complicated, overlapping, and dysfunctional education funding formulas. Then, in 2009 and 2010, legislation (HB 2261and HB 2776) passed that tossed out the old, broken funding system and replaced it with a new student-focused, transparent, and easier to understand one. The McCleary decision validates the approach used in HB 2261 and 2276 and these reforms, when and if fully implemented, will ensure that our state is meeting its duty to fund basic education.
 
·         Each year, 70,000 Washington children start Kindergarten, and nearly a third of them are woefully underprepared. If a child starts school behind, he or she often fails to catch up. It makes more sense for the state to invest in early learning programs that start kids off on the right path, than to cut those programs and end up investing even more money in dropout prevention – or criminal justice programs – later on. We received good news the end of last year that we were awarded $60 million in a Race to the Top grant. The grant will ensure that we can continue to offer high-quality early learning programs to make sure every child begins Kindergarten ready to learn.
 
·         As a result of our successful Race to the Top grant, we passed legislation (HB 2586) that changes the implementation schedule for a preschool-to-Kindergarten transition process called WaKIDS. This isn’t a standardized test or assessment – it’s a way for teachers and parents to come together and fully understand what each student needs in order to learn successfully and to be able support that student on his or her educational path.
 
·         We also passed a measure (HB 2608) that puts into state law what our Department of Early Learning has already been working on – formal early learning guidelines that put our scientific knowledge of how the brain works directly into policy and practice. We have some of the most innovative, cutting-edge early learning research available to us right here at our state universities, such as the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. HB 2608 helps ensure that our policy makers are heeding what researchers are discovering.
 
·         Legislators and the governor’s office have come to an agreement on a proposal to implement  a statewide school teacher and principal evaluation system. One of the key issues during the negotiations was the idea of using student growth data as part of the evaluations. Measuring student growth data is a complex process because the data varies by district and it is difficult to ensure that a change in the data is the result of a particular teacher. A one-size-fits-all statewide approach would have been nearly impossible to implement. Under the proposed agreement, student growth data will still be used, but safeguards will be put in place to make sure the data is used objectively, fairly, and consistently across districts.
 
·         There have been several bills passed to assist our armed forces in their educational efforts. I prime sponsored a measure to assist members of our military who get called to active duty for 30 days or less while they are enrolled in a higher education program (HB 1221). The bill allows these students the opportunity to make up classes or exams they have missed without affecting their grades or academic standing. This protection is already provided to servicemen and women who are called to duty for more than 30 days. Although it passed the House unanimously last year, the legislative session ended before it could get through the Senate. This year, the House has once again unanimously sent this measure to the Senate, and I am hopeful it will go all the way to the governor’s desk this time. I wish this type of bill was not necessary. Fair treatment of those who protect us should be a matter of common sense. Unfortunately, too often it is not...hence the need for this bill.
 
Transportation update
 
The state is expected to receive decreasing revenue from gas taxes moving forward. This presents challenges to funding current and future highway and ferry needs, which largely depend on them.
 
·         For the remainder of the 2011-2013 Transportation budget, there should be enough funding to substantially complete the necessary environmental assessment for the Belfair Bypass project. I will continue to push to keep this project moving forward. I wish there was more money allocated in the budget for it, but in these difficult times it’s fortunate that we can at least keep things moving forward, though at a rate that is painfully slow.
 
·         Funding for the widening of State Route 3 continues to be included in our budget proposals, with some variance between the Governor’s proposal and the House version.
 
·         Ferry funding also is a hot topic. The governor’s proposal threatened service cuts if revenues weren’t found. I am optimistic that service runs can be maintained and dollars for a new 144- car ferry should be available.
 
Helping reduce homelessness
 
The recession has been hard on vulnerable families. Sometimes a job loss or medical crisis leads to homelessness. On any given day, 23,000 people are homeless in Washington, including some in our very own community. Promoting a healthy economy and job growth for all who can work is most important to reducing homelessness, but that is not all we must do.
 
·         That’s why I co-sponsored HB 2048, which expands a highly successful program that supports local services for the homeless. It raises an additional $25 million a year for local homeless programs via a $10 increase in the fee for recording property deeds, mortgages, and other real-estate documents with county auditors. To ensure accountability and effective performance, the measure requires a periodic performance assessment of major recipients of these funds.
 
Cracking down on drunk driving
 
Impaired driving destroys lives, and many of you have written to me asking why we can’t toughen penalties for those who drive drunk. I’m pleased to say that the House has advanced several measures to do just that. Key provisions include:
 
·         Adding cameras to ignition-interlock devices (HB 2443)
·         Increasing penalties on drunk drivers with a minor under 16 in the car (HB 2302)
·         Ensuring victims are paid when the accident causes harm or death (HB 2176)
·         A measure to allow judges to force a drunk driver to pay child support when a parent is killed (HB 2405)
·         In addition, the House unanimously passed a measure (HB 2216) making the penalty for vehicular homicide involving drunk driving equal to the penalty for manslaughter, which increases the sentencing range.
 
Critical Access Hospitals update
 
Cuts to reimbursement rates for Critical Access Hospitals such as Mason General and Mark Reed Hospital are an unfortunate, but real, possibility. These rate cuts could lead to service cuts, and that’s alarming for our rural communities that rely on these hospitals for fundamental health care services. No decisions have been finalized yet, and I favor an approach that would help control costs while avoiding major cuts to facilities that are more than 20 miles from another hospital. Such a solution could spare both Mason General and Mark Reed, in its new location, maintaining the crucial service they provide in both Mason and Grays Harbor counties.
 
Marriage equality
 
The governor signed legislation last week (SB 6239) making Washington the seventh state in the nation to approve marriage equality. I was pleased to join legislators from both sides of the aisle to advance this measure and give all families in our state the opportunity to have the security and recognition of civil marriage, without infringing on the rights of religious institutions. I also appreciated perhaps the most impassioned, yet thoughtful and respectful, debate that on the House floor that I have experienced while in the legislature.
 
Keep your emails coming
 
With just a little over weeks left in the 2012 regular session, and all that remains to be done, there will be some long days ahead. But I am remain optimistic that we can complete our work by the March 8 deadline, come to a bipartisan agreement on balancing our state budget, and take the necessary steps to help get our economy back on track and put people back to work.
 
I apologize for the length of this report but much is going on which requires inclusion.
 
I welcome your visits, emails and phone calls about the topics in this newsletter, or any other issues on which you may have questions or concerns. It is an honor to serve as your state representative, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so.
 
Sincerely,

State Representative
35^th Legislative District
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
February 21, 2012
 

North Thurston Public Schools Board Of Directors Meeting. Wednesday, February 22, 2012. 7:00 p.m. – Lakes Elementary School Gymnasium