Dear Neighbors,

The Legislature is already hitting cut-off deadlines as this short session approaches the half-way mark.  Wednesday was the last day House policy committees could pass non-budget bills on to Rules or fiscal committees. Tuesday will be the last day that the fiscal committees can approve non-budgetary House bills, too.  That means we will begin hearing bills that have been sent to us from the Senate.

Update on my bills

I’m pleased to report that SHB 2315 concerning Suicide Prevention has passed out of the House Health Care & Wellness Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health & Human Services.

One of the reasons suicide prevention is so important is that our state has a 15% higher suicide rate than the national average. Pursuant to a suicide prevention bill I sponsored in 2012, HB 2366, the Washington State Department of Health recently issued a report on mortality rates. The report revealed that some of the highest rates of suicide (25%) are men & women who’ve served our country. Veterans are two to three times more likely to die from suicide than from any other cause. HB 2315 builds on HB 2366 by expanding required training to physicians and nurses and others on the treatment team. We know that 60% of the people who complete suicide sought out a primary care provider a month before they took their lives. The bill also requires the development of a plan to create a pilot program to support primary care providers in the assessment and provision of appropriate diagnosis and treatment of adults with mental or other behavioral health disorders and track outcomes of the program, and requires the development of the Washington Plan for Suicide Prevention. Here is a blog post I wrote on the bill for Forefront, an organization affiliated with the University of Washington to develop and disseminate innovative, evidence-based approaches to suicide prevention. I will keep you updated on the bill’s progress in the next few weeks.

Watch my video update

 

Six-year licenses start rolling out next week

Beginning February 10, all new driver license or state ID card applicants—including first-timers and those who are transferring their licenses from another state—will receive a license or ID card valid for six years.

The per-year cost for a driver license or ID card will remain at $9 per year, but new applicants will pay for the additional year, which changes the fee from $45 to $54. If you are renewing a current Washington driver licenses or ID card, you will get a notice from DOL later this year to transition to a six-year renewal period. In 2012, the Washington State Legislature authorized extending driver’s license terms from five to six years to improve customer service by reducing customer volumes and wait times in driver license offices.

What kind of business climate does Washington really have?

You hear it often:  Small business is the backbone of our economy.  For every Microsoft or Boeing or Nordstrom, there are dozens of individually owned dry cleaners and pet stores and plumbers and machine shops.  If they have fewer than 50 employees, they’re officially “small businesses” in the eyes of the state.  And they matter greatly.

In Washington State, small business provides four out of 10 private-sector jobs and so we need to make sure our state does more to support this essential part of our economy.

Some recent studies do show that our state ranks pretty high in being friendly to small business.  Here are a few examples of how we rank compared to other states.  That said, I hope you will send me feedback on how we can better support small businesses in our state.

The studies and articles are out there, and easy to find.  To skim across the top, here are a few:  According to the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation, Washington has the sixth most business friendly tax climate in the nation.  To add a little context, Texas doesn’t make the top 10, Idaho barely makes the top 20, and South Carolina is near the basement, in 37th place.

The most recent State of Entrepreneurship Index prepared by the University of Nebraska ranks Washington at number two in the nation for “entrepreneurship environment” and “growth in business formation.”

And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce put us at number eight in its survey of “Enterprising States,” which comes up with its results by factoring in, among other things, taxes and regulations, entrepreneurship, innovation, and a state’s “talent pipeline.”

February is Black History Month!

It started as Negro History Week on February 12, 1929, founded by Carter G. Woodson in the hope that Americans would learn about forgotten chapters of our nation’s history and develop mutual respect for people of all colors, races, and creeds. In 1970 it was expanded to a month. But it wasn’t until 1976 that Black History Month became official when, during the bicentennial, President Gerald Ford urged the people of the United States to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” This year’s Black History Month theme is “Civil Rights in America,” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act law signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. While racial equality is considered by many as the civil rights issue in the history of the United States, other civil rights struggles have risen to the forefront, from the right to education and health care, to same-sex rights and equal pay. This February, check your local paper for Black History Month events and activities to learn more about the contributions of African Americans, and to celebrate the journey of civil rights in this great nation. “The arc of history bends slowly, but it bends towards justice.”  -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thank you very much for your emails and calls, I really appreciate hearing from you. Keep them coming!

Sincerely,