Dear friends and neighbors,
Next week we’ll send out a full wrap-up of the 2014 legislative session. But just yesterday, my HB 2580 passed unanimously off the Senate Floor! Our state’s maritime and manufacturing industries support hundreds of thousands of family-wage jobs throughout our district, region and state. This bill calls for a state-wide action plan to sustain and grow these jobs that make our trade-dependent economy work and ensure our state’s critical infrastructure is built to support this industrial base.
With only 8 days left in this legislative session, we find ourselves deep in budget negotiations. There are parts of the budget that show we’re putting kids, teachers, and communities first. And there are some disappointing gaps, such as stable funding for affordable housing and unequal access to highly capable programs in our K-12 schools. As the House and Senate budget teams resolve conflicting proposals, we will keep fighting to fund the following priorities:
Funding Schools for Kids
The capital budget passed with an overwhelming bipartisan vote to spend $700 million to build and renovate schools all over the state. The Seattle Public Schools need about 345 new classrooms to meet the reduced class size for K-3 grades, so we’ll have new schools coming to several of our neighborhoods between now and 2017!
Teachers Finally Getting Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs)
I came to Olympia this session determined to make it a top priority to fund teacher COLAs. For too many years, we have delayed fulfilling the mandate that Washington’s voters gave us through a ballot initiative. And this year is indeed different. We propose funding the COLAs as of the 2014-15 academic year by closing four tax breaks. There was some excellent testimony in the Appropriations Committee that put it just right: these tax breaks were granted to serve a certain purpose years ago, but these revenues are needed now to serve a higher purpose for our state. I agree whole-heartedly.
Restoring Critical Social Services
The freshman legislators stood together to fight for increased funding to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs as well as support for community mental health organizations and state hospitals. While we still have a long way to go to fully restore funding to pre-recession levels, this budget will make a difference for these people and communities who have lost so much during the economic downturn.
Giving Neighbors Notice of Land-Use Actions
Rep. Gerry Pollet (D-46) took the lead in sponsoring HB 2311, for which I am proud to have been his sole co-sponsor. The bill would require cities with a population of at least 500,000 to provide 21 days of advance notice to neighbors within 300 feet when construction is proposed for a backyard or side yard house. Many thanks for your supportive calls and emails. The bill did not get a vote in committee, but subsequently the Seattle City Department of Planning and Development has been asked to develop new notification requirements. If adopted, these would give our neighbors more advance warning that there could be development with a land-use variance in their backyards. This is just a more fair way to give neighborhoods a chance to deal with dense development.
As always, thank you so much for staying in touch and letting me know how things are going back home.
Your voice in Olympia,
Gael