The state’s job market would gain strength for the future under four bills by Rep. Drew Hansen that cleared the state House this past week.
“There are signs we’re rebounding from the depths of the Great Recession, but we’ve got a long way to go,” Hansen said. “I want to protect the jobs we have and prepare our young people for opportunities in the 21st –century economy. It’s very encouraging to me to get the strong, bipartisan support of my fellow legislators in that work.”
The bills are:
House Bill 1247, which makes it easier for small businesses to get money from a key state job-training program designed to help employees upgrade their skills. The bill also ensures that money from this program supports training that leads to degrees and credentials rather than dead-end jobs. The House voted unanimously for it Saturday, 98-0.
House Bill 1472, which helps students train for high-paying jobs in the computer industry by enhancing computer-science education in high schools and creating a statewide task force to address the computer programmer shortage. It was approved Friday 95-3.
House Bill 1245, which protects jobs in the shellfish and recreation industries by getting abandoned vessels out of our waters before they sink and cause pollution. It passed the House Thursday on a 96-1 vote.
House Bill 1660, which will lessen the paperwork burden on hospitals and colleges as they train new doctors and nurses. It won unanimous approval Tuesday, 96-0.
In urging approval of HB 1247, Hansen, D-Bainbridge Island, told the House that the measure would assist smaller businesses that want to train their workers and keep their skills up to date – and Republican Rep. Judy Warnick of Moses Lake agreed.
“This is a good small-business bill,” Warnick told the House.
Rep. Cyrus Habib,D-Kirkland, a lawyer who helps high-tech startups with their legal problems, spoke up for HB 1472.
“Investing in computer science education is not just good education policy,” Habib told the House. “It’s good economic development policy.”
Like the other measures, HB 1245 drew overwhelming bipartisan support. “This bill will protect jobs by getting abandoned boats out of our waters before they sink and cause millions of dollars of damage to our state shellfish and recreation industries,” Hansen said.
Republican Rep. Norma Smith of Clinton joined Hansen in calling for passage of the proposal, telling the House, “This bill is a great step in the right direction to be proactive in addressing the issue of derelict vessels.”
House approval of Hansen’s bills sends them to the Senate for action there.