WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Rep. Orwall’s E-Newsletter for February 22, 2013

Dear Neighbors,

It has been another busy week in the legislature, but also a week with moments of reflection and remembrance.  On February 13, members of the House and Senate joined together for a Joint Legislative Session in the Senate chambers to honor former legislators who have passed away in the last two years. A poignant moment for me was memorializing my friend and former colleague, Sen. Scott White, who passed away in 2011.  It was a time to contemplate the history of our institution and the men and women who have served here throughout our state’s history.

tinapresiding2-15And on Friday, February 15, I was pleased to preside as the House held its annual Day of Remembrance to honor the Japanese-Americans held in internment camps on American soil during the Second World War. House Democrats also welcomed a visit from a group of Nisei veterans – American-born Japanese who served in the U.S. military during WWII, even while the country they defended discriminated against them and their families. The service of these veterans is legendary. Their unit, the 442nd RCT/100th Battalion, is the most decorated unit of its size in military history, and was involved in liberating prisoners at Dachau and saving the famous “lost battalion” from Texas.  Click on the image to watch the proceedings.


Update on my bills

HB 1213 makes a few revisions to the existing social work licensure statute. Overall, the changes are designed to bring more clarity to the licensure requirements and to help newly graduated social work students to find supervision they need to be licensed. HB 1213 passed the House by a 96-0 vote and will now be considered in the Senate.

SHB 1291 and SHB 1292 build on my work from last year to combat the commercial sex industry.  In SHB 1291, fees collected through impound vehicles used for sex-trafficking and prostitution offenses will be utilized to promote local efforts to reduce the sale of sex including increased enforcement, prevention, and rehab services for victims. Both bills have passed out of committee.  SHB 1292 allows a person convicted of Prostitution who committed the offense as the result of being a victim of commercial sex trafficking-related crimes to apply to vacate their criminal records.  Both bills have passed out of committee and are progressing.

I am pleased that HB 1525 passed out of committee!  This bill allows an adult adoptee access to their original birth certificate, unless the birth parent has filed a valid affidavit of nondisclosure. A similar bill sponsored by Sen. Carrell, SSB 5118, is now on the Senate floor calendar.

votebuttonI was pleased to sponsor SHB 1290, which requires county auditors to place postage-free ballot drop boxes at each campus of a public institution of higher education. It is important that people participate in our elections. People lead busy lives and we need to make it easy for citizens, especially our young adults, to participate and engage in our democracy.

 


Highline Community College named finalist for national award

Kudos to Highline Community College, which was selected by the Community College Futures Assembly as a 2013 finalist for the 19th annual Bellwether Awards. Established in 1995, the prestigious Bellwether honor is given to colleges that implement exceptional and innovative programs in their institutions.  Highline Community College was selected as one of 10 finalists for this Bellwether award for the college’s innovative initiative around alumni relations. For more information on the Bellwether award and Community College Futures Assembly, visit futures.education.ufl.edu.


Giving kids the best start in life

Our state is a recognized early learning leader.  We understand the critical importance of a child’s earliest years in terms of brain development and later academic success.  Research has shown that 85 percent of brain development occurs by age three, and 92 percent by age five.  When a child enters Kindergarten, the vast majority of brain development has already taken place.

This means the earlier we focus our early learning efforts, the better.  In fact, why not start at birth?

One bill under consideration would do just that.  The goal is to help parents and caregivers give children the best possible start in life, and ensure each child is ready to learn by the time he or she enters Kindergarten.   Called the “Early Start” proposal, the bill would:

  • Build a high quality birth-to-five continuum of services over time.  We’ve been directing our state’s early learning efforts mainly at pre-K programs for three- and four-year-olds.  Early Start would encompass everything from home visiting services to preschool, culminating with the WaKIDS Kindergarten assessment.
  • Carefully target resources on strategies that yield high results and give us the best bang for our buck.
  • Blend our already-existing programs – including parent education, the Early Child Education Program and the Working Connections Child Care program – to provide high-quality, all-day early learning opportunities for low-income children, and improve the quality of care for all children.
  • Include an expansion of home visiting services for parents facing serious challenges, to help them get their children off to the best possible start.  Home visiting programs have been shown to cut incidences of child abuse and neglect in half.

A related, complementary bill  would expand the Working Connections Child Care program, which helps low-income parents who are working or actively seeking employment afford child care. It would also help improve access to early learning programs offered by many childcare providers, so children would have opportunities for learning versus simply “child care.” 


Higher Education bills advance in House

House Democrats have five clear goals for the 2013 legislative session. One of our priorities is to ensure we provide our students with opportunities and skills they need for the real world. Our kids deserve the same chances to succeed that previous generations received.

This week, the House Higher Education committee passed several bills that will make college more affordable and accessible:

  • HB 1043 would end differential tuition authority for universities, but more importantly, would save the Guaranteed Education Tuition program. GET is a valuable tool to help middle class families save for college.
  • HB 1453 will provide more opportunities for working students to apply for State Need Grant assistance.
  • HB 1011 will make college more accessible and affordable for our military service members and veterans.

Our country was founded on hard work and opportunity. These are just a few of the many bills we’re working on to build a strong middle class.


Have your say!

Want to share your thoughts and suggestions on pending legislation?  There’s a new online comment tool for bills under consideration in the House and Senate, it’s called Granicus. Read about it and how it works by clicking on the image below.

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Sincerely,

Tinasigsmall