Dear Neighbors,
I had hoped to be able to report on a budget agreement today, but negotiations are continuing as I send this. House Democrats held a press conference yesterday to discuss operating and capital budget proposals to get the ball rolling. Here’s the link to the press conference: https://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2012040055.
I am pleased that the current draft House budget does not make cuts to education or our fragile safety net. It also does not move education payments into the biennium.
Update on my bills
I am pleased to let you know that Governor Gregoire signed my remaining bills last week:
SHB 2354 – regarding stolen property trafficking. This bill gives law enforcement the ability to investigate complex rings of auto theft and will help as they go after the most prolific offenders.
SHB 2366 – which will require several health professions to complete training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management.
SHB 2614 – My bill to improve the Foreclosure Fairness Act, SHB 2421, was amended onto this bill.
SHB 2692 – concerning the protection of young adults involved in the commercial sale of sex. This was one of the 12-bill package that passed the legislature to combat human trafficking in our region. The bills will, among other things:
- Provide more tools and resources for law enforcement to reduce the commercial sale of sex with increased enforcement of commercial sex laws.
- Expand fines for those convicted of promoting or purchasing of young women in commercial sex industry, and direct the fines to the local jurisdiction in which the offense occurred.
- Divert first time users to “john schools” designed to educate offenders about the negative costs of this industry.
- Designate funds for rehabilitative services to help young victims transition out of the commercial sex industry.
- Add Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor and Promoting Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor to the list of criminal offenses that may constitute a pattern of criminal profiteering activity.
- Address the seizure and forfeiture of property in the crimes of Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor, Promoting Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor, and Promoting Prostitution in the First Degree.
- Criminalize compelling the mentally disabled to engage in the commercial sex trade.
- Authorize vacating of records for prostitution convictions of minors found to be trafficking victims.
- Add Commercial Sexual Abuse of a Minor to the list of criminal street gang-related offenses.
- Criminalize coerced sexually explicit acts.
- Expand the definition of the crime of “luring” pertaining to transportation facilities.
- Address illicit establishments operating as reflexology businesses.
Make a person who knowingly publicized directly or indirectly any commercial sex advertisement that portrays a minor and that will take place in Washington State guilty of sexual abuse of a minor.
I was pleased to attend the bill signing ceremonies and celebrate with those who worked so hard to support these bills!
Washington awarded three-year $25 million competitive federal grant to expand home visiting services
Washington is one of 10 states that just received a competitive federal grant to expand voluntary home visiting services to families so that they have the support they need to give their child a great start in life.
Over the next three years, Washington is expected to receive about $25 million from the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV). In the first year, $6.6 million will directly support 545 families in some of the state’s most at-risk communities.
Home visiting is a voluntary service in which nurses or other trained professionals or paraprofessionals offer information and support related to healthy child and family development. Depending on the program, these visits in the family’s home can happen during pregnancy up to a child’s fifth birthday. Evidence shows that for families receiving home-based support, their children are born healthier and are less likely to suffer from abuse or neglect.
Making home visiting available to at-risk families is a key strategy in Washington’s 10-year Early Learning Plan. Right now, only 2 to 11 percent of eligible families receive evidence-based home visiting services. In 2010, the state Legislature created the Home Visiting Services Account (HVSA) as a way to match and leverage public (state and federal) and private dollars to fund, support and evaluate more evidence-based, research-based and promising home visiting programs in the state’s most vulnerable communities. As a result – and with today’s award – Washington state now invests six times more money in home visiting services than it did just two years ago.
The HVSA is administered through a partnership between the Department of Early Learning (DEL), and the private nonprofit Thrive by Five Washington (Thrive).
Do you know someone who needs a college scholarship?
How do you encourage students to not only go to college, but to enter science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) programs? This was the question high-tech employers, such as Boeing and Microsoft, were asking themselves when faced with the reality of a rapidly shrinking potential-employee market.
So, to address the issue, Boeing and Microsoft teamed up with the Legislature in 2011 to create the Opportunity Scholarship Board in the hopes of encouraging more high school graduates to prepare for careers in certain high-tech fields.
Fast forward to this coming fall – the Opportunity Scholarship Board will be awarding a whopping 3,000 STEM scholarships worth $1,000 each!
In order to qualify for an opportunity scholarship, all a person needs to do is meet the following criteria:
- Meet the income-level requirement – up to $102,000/year for a family of 4
- Have at least a 2.75 GPA
- Fill out the federal student aid paperwork and the scholarship application
That’s it! And better yet – since the scholarships are renewable for up to 5 years, they could potentially be worth $5,000 toward a STEM education.
The scholarship application is available here, and the deadline is April 16th.
Click here for more information, or check out this Seattle Times article.
Sincerely,
Tina