WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rep. Blake’s Legislative Update for February 25, 2014

Ask Me!

 In Ask Me Part 3, I respond to constituent emails on early learning education, and on the privacy issues that drones may pose.


A large focus of this legislative session – and most every session – is education. The Washington State Constitution is clear that providing a basic education is the paramount duty of the state. As you’ve probably heard many times, the McCleary decision has made that even clearer than ever.

Just what is ‘McCleary’ anyway?

It’s a term used in just about every budget conversation at the state Legislature. But what do people mean when they refer to McCleary and the McCleary decision?

“McCleary” refers to a Supreme Court decision that found the state is not adequately funding basic education. In their ruling, the Court ordered the Legislature to fully fund K-12 education by 2018.  But in that same ruling, the Court also agreed that the plan we put in place in 2009 – House Bill 2261 – was the right plan to get us back on track.

So when you hear people say we need to meet our “McCleary goals” or “McCleary obligations,” what they’re really saying is that we need to fully fund basic education.

To do this, we need to invest an additional $4.5 billion into our K-12 funding system.  We made progress on that goal last year by adding just under $1 billion to basic education funding. The initial 2013 House Democrats budget proposal would have allocated $1.4 billion – enough to be considered “on pace” with meeting our goal.

That plan required closing a handful of outdated, expensive, and unnecessary corporate tax exemptions to increase funding for basic education and get closer to our goals. However, the Senate refused to close any of those exemptions, which resulted in fewer dollars going into our basic education system.

Fully funding basic education is our top priority – and our Constitutional duty – so we will continue conversations about our options. But one thing is for certain: we cannot reach our McCleary goals through general spending cuts. If we’re going to fulfill our obligations as a state to ensure all children receive an opportunity for a basic education, we need to also ensure everyone is paying their fair share.

Here is a presentation by non-partisan legislative staff with much more McCleary information.


Improving education from start to finish

McCleary isn’t our only educational focus, though. Success in school relies on more than success in the classroom, and we are making sure Washington kids have healthy environments to live, learn, and grow up in. This week we passed several measures with that goal in mind.

Washington has nearly 7,500 child care facilities that serve about 174,000 children. Research shows that high quality childcare does wonders but poor quality actually damages a child. House Bill 2377 will help assure high-quality childcare that provides us with the desired outcomes: greater academic achievement, increased graduation rates, lower incarceration rates, less poverty, and less reliance on government assistance.

Hungry kids can’t learn – it’s that simple. Evidence has shown that a lack of nutrition can be detrimental to academic development. House Bill 2536 will create a “Breakfast After the Bell” program to help our students begin their days with adequate nutrition. Nearly half of our state’s one-million public school students are already eligible for free and reduced meals at school, but this program has left out the most important meal of the day. As we work to meet our responsibilities of improving education, it’s important to provide healthy and quality learning environments for our children.

Our students’ education needs are as diverse as the students themselves. The best opportunities to succeed are those tailored to each unique segment of Washington children. House Bill 2166 will direct the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to collect data associated with students from military families.  Military families move around a lot, providing challenges to school-age children who frequently move from one school to another—often across states. We want to better serve the students, however long they are in our state.

Many high-achieving, low-income students don’t receive information about available resources that could help them get into college. Modeled after a program that produced a dramatic increase in successful applications to top schools, House Bill 2694 will ensure Washington colleges reach out directly to these successful students.


Washington groups flock to their Capitol

One of the most important and interesting parts of the legislative process is community engagement.  We want to know what is important to you! Throughout the session many groups make the trek to Olympia to visit us and talk about their priorities. It’s great to see so many engaged Washingtonians at the Capitol!   This is just a small sample of all the groups that have come to visit in the first half of session:

  • Teachers and school support staff
  • Small business owners
  • Nurses
  • Auto Dealers
  • Massage therapists
  • Midwives
  • Motorcycle Community
  • AARP
  • 4-H Youth
  • Nutritionists
  • Restaurant owners
  • Home care workers
  • Dentists

We look forward to seeing many more of you here in the next couple of weeks. Our doors and our ears are open; come see us!

But you don’t have to be part of a group to make a change!

Think you need a fancy suit or law degree to make a difference in Olympia? Nope and nope. Citizen-activists make a difference here every day.

Take Jeff Schwartz — just a regular guy with a full-time job, two kids, and a big time problem on his hands. Jeff’s youngest son, Jacob, had a rare gastrointestinal disorder that caused his body to reject food.

In order for Jacob to get nutrition, he required a certain type of formula that didn’t come cheap. One day, Jeff’s insurance company stopped providing coverage for the life-saving formula. Jeff and his family suddenly had to pay hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket every month to cover the costs.

That’s when Jeff got in-touch with a few of my colleagues in Olympia, wanting to ensure that no family has to suffer the same hardships as his own. Jeff worked with lawmakers to draft a bill requiring that insurance companies cover the formula that children like Jacob need to survive. If the bill passes, no Washington family will go through what the Schwartz family went through.

The long story short: Never underestimate a dad with a plan.


What’s going on in the House Agriculture & Natural Resources committee?

Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee Steven M. Herppich
Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee

The cutoff deadline has officially passed, so bills that didn’t make it out of its house of origin last week are likely dead, unless they are necessary to implement the budget.  The House will now turn its attention to legislation our Senate colleagues have passed to us. The next couple of weeks will be busy with public hearings in committee.  Over in the Senate, they’ll be doing the same thing, holding hearings on bills we have passed to them.  Remember, you can sign up for email updates from committees so you can keep up with what is happening in your state legislature.  You can also track specific legislation.

Today:

Public Hearing:

1.     SB 6180 – Consolidating designated forest lands and open space timber lands for ease of administration.

2.     ESB 6549 – Creating demonstration projects for preserving agricultural land and public infrastructure in flood plains.

3.     SSB 6388 – Concerning pass-through food distributors.

4.     ESSB 6041 – Regarding fish and wildlife law enforcement.

5.     ESSB 6286 – Concerning current use valuation for land primarily used for commercial horticultural purposes.

 

Executive Session:

1.     SSB 6446 – Concerning payments in lieu of taxes on county game lands.

2.     SSB 6199 – Addressing wildfires caused by incendiary devices.

3.     SB 6079 – Extending the dairy inspection program assessment expiration date.

 

Wednesday:

Executive Session:

1.     SB 6180 – Consolidating designated forest lands and open space timber lands for ease of administration.

2.     ESSB 6286 – Concerning current use valuation for land primarily used for commercial horticultural purposes.

3.     ESB 6549 – Creating demonstration projects for preserving agricultural land and public infrastructure in flood plains.

4.     ESSB 6041 – Regarding fish and wildlife law enforcement.

5.     SSB 6388 – Concerning pass-through food distributors.

If you want to know what bills passed through committee or are interested in following what’s going on in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee you can sign up here to receive E-mail notifications. You can also check out our committee agenda to see what’s coming up next week.


Check My Video Update!

 Nieto, Lilia


As always, I appreciate your taking the time to read my legislative updates.

Sincerely,

Blakesig