WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rep. Brian Blake’s Legislative Update for February 5, 2013

Dear Neighbor,

We’re already in Week Four of the 2013 session, and it has been packed with activity.  One way for you to keep up with what’s going on in the House is to check the House Hot Sheet, which is updated weekly.  It lists the time and location of public hearings in the House on bills of interest.

We get thousands of visitors on the campus each week.  If you’re planning a trip to the Capitol, here is some information about visiting the legislature; and be sure to let me know, maybe we could meet for a couple of minutes!

Education Reform

Over the last several years, House Democrats have championed legislation to reform our public schools.

Take HB 2776 and HB 2261, for instance. These measures redefined “basic education” and provided a road map for fully funding basic education by the year 2018. And to make sure a great teacher is in every classroom, last year we passed a new Teacher/Principal Evaluation Program. We also adopted Common Core Standards to ensure our students are learning what they need to know so they can be successful in life after high school.

childrenreadingBut despite adopting these sweeping reforms, some are calling for new measures that take our schools in another direction. A recent article in the Washington Post, while not referencing our state specifically, shines some light on a national school reform effort with an agenda that appears to be mirrored in legislation being introduced here. 

So here’s my take, I don’t believe we need more reforms, what we do need is to fund the great reforms we already passed because those are all about funding education right, which will ensure that we comply with the Supreme Court’s McCleary mandate.

 

Should your mail-in ballot come with prepaid postage?

This week, the House Government Operations & Elections committee held a public hearing on a proposal that would require ballots for most elections to include return envelopes with prepaid postage.

mailinballotsWashington is an all vote-by-mail state, but if you don’t have a stamp, you can drop your ballot in boxes established and maintained by county elections offices, so long as you know where they are and can get to them. But if your ballot came with prepaid postage it would make your end of the process much easier, especially if you live in areas where ballot drop boxes are not readily available, but mailboxes are.

The bill would not increase costs for counties, because the state would reimburse them for the postage costs.  What do you think about this bill? Do you currently use ballot drop boxes in your area, or do you mail in your ballot?

Have your say!

This week the Legislature implemented a pilot project for commenting on bills online.  Granicus Constituent Communications, also known as E-Comments is a feature we are testing during the 2013 Session. Clicking the “Comment on this bill” button at the top of the bill history page allows you to send comments on that bill to your legislators.

E-Comments makes it now easier than ever for you to provide input to your legislators on the bills under consideration this session.   The program gives you the opportunity to make comments 24/7 from the comfort of your home on a computer, tablet or smartphone. 

How it works:

The first time you make a comment, you’ll be asked to set up an account with a valid e-mail address and a password. You’ll have to provide your street address (the same information you  are currently required to provide to the Hotline), which allows the system to identify comments by district. None of the comments submitted will be visible to anyone other than your legislators and authorized staff. And don’t worry, your personal information will not be sold or given to third-party vendors for commercial purposes. The electronic comments are not meant to replace or supplement public testimony on bills during committee hearings and are not considered part of the official record.

Read our blog post on the new E-Comments program here.

Give it a try sometime; my office will get your comment.  But always keep in mind that if you want to contact me directly, you are welcome to do so via mail, phone, or email.

ecomments

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

My committee has heard from many Washington State citizens so far this session.  Last week we held public hearings on 13 bills ranging in topic from derelict and abandoned vessels (HB 1245) to Department of Fish and Wildlife license suspensions (HB 1218), to ensuring a balanced representation of interest in the Fish and Wildlife Commission (HB 1189), to annual gross sales limits for cottage food operations (HB 1135).

We also executed these bills, meaning we passed them out of committee:

HB 1075 – number of Puget Sound Dungeness crab fishery licenses that one vessel may carry

HB 1192 – regarding license fees under Title 77 RCW for veterans with disabilities

HB 1414 – concerning Yakima river basin water resource management

To access the documents and presentations from all the legislative committee work sessions online, I invite you to take a look at the Electronic Bill Book.

As always, I welcome your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas, so stay in touch!

Until next time,

Blakesig