WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rep. Orwall’s E-Newsletter for April 4, 2014

The Oso tragedy

We have all been heartbroken by the images coming from the deadly mudslide near Oso on the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. Every day, the news seems more anguishing as we watch fellow Washingtonians deal with unimaginable losses.

I’m grateful to the brave men and women–including civilians, emergency workers and members of the National Guard, for their search and rescue efforts in this tragic and dangerous situation.

Many of us are searching for ways to assist families who have lost their homes, their property, and especially their loved ones.  Snohomish County has put together a “How To Help” webpage with links to all the places accepting donations and providing services to the Oso victims.

A local bank in Snohomish County announced this week they will be forgiving debts on property destroyed by the Oso mudslide. This is welcome news to a grieving community struggling to recover.

Not all lenders, however, will be forgiving debts. Even if they wanted to, contractual and legal restrictions may prevent some lenders from forgiving loans.

Many of us don’t know this, but most homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover damage from landslides, earthquakes, and floods. If you want this coverage, you need to purchase it separately. (See this King 5 story, Mudslide homeowners still on hook for mortgages)

In Washington, only about 15% of homeowners have earthquake insurance according to the Northwest Insurance Council. If an earthquake destroys your home and you don’t have the right insurance, you’ll likely be on the hook to continue making monthly payments for a destroyed home.

Many people think they have “full coverage” but in reality, full coverage doesn’t exist. Every family’s situation is unique and it’s unlikely that someone has insurance protection for every asset and every possible scenario. Therefore, it’s important to know what your policies cover and what they don’t cover.

For more information on what your policy may and may not cover, call your insurance company or agent, and visit the Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s website.

For information about landslides in Washington state, visit the Department of Natural Resources page and the Department of Ecology’s section on landslides.


Update on my bills

I’m happy to report that all of my bills that passed the legislature have been signed into law by Governor Inslee!

ESHB 2315 expands the list of professionals who must complete suicide prevention training to include chiropractors, naturopaths, osteopathic physicians and assistants, physical therapists and assistants, physicians and nurses.

ESHB 2164 would require most juveniles adjudicated of unlawful possession of a firearm to participate in certain evidence-based or research-based programs – the intervention they need to keep from becoming career criminals.

 

 Steven M. Herppich

SHB 2171 strengthens Washington’s Service Members’ Civil Relief Act to ensure our troops can carry out their jobs without having to worry about their cars being repossessed, their homes foreclosed on or their families evicted while they are making great personal sacrifices for our nation.

SHB 1292 helps victims of the sex trade to rebuild their lives by vacating their criminal records.


Opportunity Scholarship Program gets a boost in the budget

In 2010, the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board found that seventeen percent of Washington businesses had difficulty filling vacancies. Eleven thousand employers reported there simply were not enough qualified job applicants for positions that require degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering & math) fields.

To address the problem, the legislature passed House Bill 2088 in 2011, creating the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship Program. This is a public-private partnership to help low- and middle-income Washington residents earn bachelor’s degrees and pursue careers in the high-demand fields that drive our state economy.

Upon its creation, the state put in $5 million to get the ball rolling and two of Washington’s major employers, Boeing and Microsoft, pitched in $25 million each.  So far, about 2,500 students are receiving opportunity scholarships, all of them pursuing a degree in a STEM or health care field. About 700 new scholarships will be awarded later this year.

Acknowledging the importance of ensuring Washington produces the necessary workforce to fill all the high-demand vacancies in the state, the legislature added $25 million to the Opportunity Scholarship fund this session, which, according to this Seattle Times story, may encourage more private businesses to join in.

The goal  is to raise $500 million in private funds, matched by state support, for a total of $1 billion by 2020.

To learn more about the program, you can check out its December 2013 Legislative Report.

 


Sunshine in forecast for government operations

A successful measure in this year’s session, Senate Bill 5964, emphasizes openness in government. I believe elected officials and public-records officers must never deny citizens a right to see their government operate out in the open. In a word: “sunshine.” But sometimes officials just don’t know how to comply with a request.

Training on the Public Records Act and our Open Public Meetings Act will now be mandatory for state and local officials in order to assure citizens get the access they request. Open-government training for elected officials and government staff will go a long way toward increasing government-transparency. Such instruction will also help reduce anti-secrecy lawsuits that are brought against state and local governments. Historically, governments have faced costly liability from repeated findings that they aren’t properly training elected officials and staff in responding to a public-records request.

Openness and citizen-participation make an effective yardstick for measuring this experiment in democracy we call “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Citizens should be able both to review public records and to see the decision-making process as it’s conducted by elected officials.


Washington is leading the way in health!

A new report out from Gallup and Healthways entitled the “State of American Well-Being” ranks the health and well-being of American cities, states and congressional districts over the last six years.  The study used six domains of well-being to measure:  life evaluation (current and anticipated), emotional health (daily experiences), work environment (feelings and perceptions), physical health (BMI, disease burden, sick days, physical pain), healthy behaviors (lifestyle habits), and basic access (food, shelter, healthcare, safety).

Washington fares very well in the report, ranking 9th overall, up from our ranking of 15th last year.  Our cities are also doing well too. The Seattle metro area ranked 9th in the top large communities nationwide while Bellingham ranked 1st and Yakima 9th in the top small communities nationwide.

The “State of American Well-Being” discusses the importance of leadership in making significant changes.  Recent efforts from state leaders to improve Washingtonian’s well-being include bills to: reduce gun violence, increase access to prenatal nutrition information, encourage more children to eat breakfast, give more medical providers access to electronic records, protect victims of domestic violence, develop plans to fight Alzheimer’s, increase access to medical care in rural areas, and reforming the adult behavioral health system, just to name a few.

We do, however, have room for improvement. If you break down our state’s ranking by each measure we are in the first or second quintile for all measures except physical health in which we rank 28th nationwide.

But, if Washington continues on our current path we will all be better off!

 


I hope you are enjoying the signs of Spring all around us!

Sincerely,

Tinasigsmall