Dear friends,

It’s been a very busy first two weeks of session and there’s a lot to report.

First I want to thank you for taking the time to respond to the survey I sent you in my previous newsletter. If you didn’t get a chance to do so, you can still give me your input by clicking here.

Campaign contributions bill heard

Many of you agreed that we need to limit campaign contributions and I’m happy to report that HB 2647 was heard in the House Committee on State Government, Elections & Information Technology this morning (watch testimony on my bill here), and I believe they will vote it out of committee tomorrow.

$1 billion for schools in Capital Budget

We passed the Capital Budget on Thursday evening and the governor signed it the very next day. As you know, last year, for the first time in the history of our state, we did not pass a construction budget, which resulted in the stalling of numerous projects and thousands of jobs lost. But budget writers worked hard over the interim to find common ground and finally reached an agreement last week.

This budget makes important investments in education, mental health, housing and other areas. Please check out the Capital Budget Highlights for more details and read this press release for the lists of projects in the 49th district. Your calls and emails on this issue prompted this week’s Ask Sharon, in which I discuss some of the projects in our area.

Equal Pay bill in the Senate

Last week we passed the Equal Pay Opportunity Act on a 69-28 vote. It updates the Washington State Equal Pay Act for the first time since its passage in 1943.

On average, a woman makes around 80 cents to a man’s dollar for the same work. This wage gap is real (read our Debunking the Claims sheet) and it affects entire communities because women are either the sole or primary breadwinners in over 40 percent of families with kids. So women are taking home smaller paychecks and many of them don’t even know it because they don’t have the freedom to discuss their own pay.  That’s right, many businesses don’t allow their employees to talk about wages with coworkers, effectively keeping them in the dark. This bill will empower women and reaffirm Washington’s longstanding pursuit of equality in the workplace by: Banning pay secrecy policies, Allowing discussion of wages; and Prohibiting retaliation against workers for discussing their pay, or for asking for equal pay and opportunities.

‘Right to Repair’ gives consumers more affordable choices

You can take your car to an automotive repair shop, but you have to take your cell phone or other digital device to the manufacturer to get it fixed. This doesn’t make sense and ends up costing you more for repairs since there’s no competition for your business. We recently saw this happen when Apple slowed down information transfer to older phones to “preserve battery life.” At that point, your only options were to have Apple replace your battery for $80, or buy a new phone costing you hundreds of dollars.

To help give consumers more choices and more affordable options, I am supporting a bill requiring these manufacturers to make certain information, parts, and tools available so that third parties can fix these devices. The shared information isn’t required to include trade secrets.

Guaranteed breaks for nurses, safety for patients

When you or a loved one is in the hospital, the last thing you should have to worry about is whether your nurse has adequate breaks to help prevent burnout and fatigue.

Unfortunately, too many health care workers in our state are on the job too many hours straight without breaks, putting patient safety at risk. Workers and patients will benefit from a bill we passed recently to guarantee uninterrupted meal and rest breaks, and prohibit the use of prescheduled on-call time to fill staff shortages that are known in advance. There’s a reason nursing is considered one of the most trusted professions, and this bill is meant to keep it that way. It is now under consideration in the Senate.

The Washington Voting Rights Act

The Washington Voting Rights Act would allow communities that are systemically disenfranchised in local government elections to work collaboratively with their local governing bodies and adjust their elections without going through costly and time-consuming federal litigation.

I hope we pass the bill out of the House soon and the Senate approves it swiftly. This legislation will result in an improved process for addressing systems that perpetually disenfranchise significant segments of local voting populations.

I’m supporting this measure to give underrepresented voters a stronger, more meaningful voice in the government closest to them, and empower them to elect leaders that best reflect their community’s values and vision.

Thanks for reading my newsletter. If you need additional information on any of these topics, other issues under discussion in Olympia, or you simply want to give me some feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,