Today, the Legislature will reach the house-of-origin cutoff, which means that all non-budget bills have to be sent to the Senate or declared dead for the year. We have been working many late nights over the last week, and I’m looking forward to meeting many of you face-to-face at a town hall meeting this Saturday at Garfield Elementary School.
22nd LD Town Hall 2011
Saturday March 12th
12:00pm – 2:00pm
Garfield Elementary
325 Plymouth Street Northwest
Olympia, WA 98502-4986
Three major bills protect Washington’s ‘Evergreen Legacy’
Protecting Washington’s natural resources now and into the future is the aim behind a trio of bills that cleared the House this week. From Puget Sound to Lake Whatcom to the Spokane River, these bills help reduce pollution in our waterways and place our state ahead of the curve in our oil spill response planning.
HB 1186 incorporates lessons learned from last year’s BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico so that a similar disaster doesn’t occur here. It puts new responsibilities on oil companies for the safe travel of their oil tankers through Washington’s waters, with updated contingency plans and proper equipment in place for a swift, effective response in the event of a spill.
HB 1489 limits the sale of lawn fertilizer containing phosphorous in order to help prevent toxic algae blooms in lakes and streams. Algae needs phosphorous to thrive, and other states that have restricted its use in fertilizer have experienced a noticeable reduction in algae blooms. There are cheaper alternatives to phosphorous that are just as effective, and the bill exempts certain agricultural users who have no viable alternatives. This is a good bill for the State, and a great bill for Capitol Lake and other bodies of water throughout our community.
HB 1721 makes Washington the first state in the nation to ban coal-tar pavement sealant. The sealant contains high concentrations of toxics called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are linked to cancer and the destruction of fish and aquatic wildlife. Runoff from pavements that contain coal-tar sealants poison streams and lakes and they endanger both human and animal life. Alternative pavement sealants which are much less toxic are readily available.
Significant changes coming to workplace safety enforcement.
I was honored this week to have my colleagues join me in a 97-0 vote to improve workplace safety. Workplace deaths rose 32% from 2009 to 2010. HB 1676 will bring about expedited abatement of serious or willful violations of workplace safety. Right now a serious workplace safety violation can go unfixed for months or even years by a simple appeal of the business. Under HB-1676 a business gets two important due process steps of appeal and then they will fix the safety hazard. Most of these decisions will now take less than ninety days to determine. The same version of this bill has passed the Senate. Fixing workplace safety hazards in a more timely way will save lives, reduce workplace injuries, and save businesses the cost of higher workers compensation costs.
This week’s budget brief: Protecting basic education during tough budget times
Did you know K-12 education makes up more than 40 percent of state spending? Since most of that funding is protected by our state Constitution, our schools won’t feel the same impact as other areas of state government as we cut $4.6 billion from the next budget. But it’s hard to avoid any impact at all. Learn more here about how education funding fits into the bigger budget picture and which K-12 investments are safe. While I do not agree wholly with the relative cuts to date, the link provided will help ground you in how most legislators see the education portion of the budget. As I have mentioned many times over, our job is not to simply balance a budget. Instead, we have to balance a budget that puts us on a path to long-term success. As you will see in the K-12 budget brief, prior legislatures have disproportionately cut environmental protection and higher education. The first is our moral imperative for generations to come, and the second is a critical function in state government to develop our human capital. As a former teacher, spouse of a school counselor, and father of two young kids, I am deeply committed to our schools, but anything short of a long-term commitment to our environment and higher education would also be a failure on our part.
Thank you to the citizens of the 22nd District for giving me this incredible opportunity to serve you and the citizens of our state. Keep sharing your thoughts and keep engaging in this great democracy of ours.
Chris