Lawmakers aim to tackle drug laws and homelessness
Washington lawmakers return to Olympia Monday with several pressing issues to address — chief among them, revising Washington’s criminal drug laws and addressing the state’s housing and homelessness crisis. Here are four key topics the Legislature is expected to debate during its 105-day session, which runs through the end of April: reforming drug laws, housing and homelessness, long term care tax, and gun control. Continue reading at Axios. (Brendan Lynch)
Hospitals, nurses at odds over how WA lawmakers should address health care crisis
Washington hospitals and nurses, faced with staffing shortages that plague the healthcare industry nationwide, are seeking help from the state Legislature, which begins its 2023 session Monday. Nurses are calling on state lawmakers to enact nurse-to-patient ratios, saying they would ease burdens on nurses and reduce turnover and burnout. A staffing ratio bill died in the Senate last year. Pressure on lawmakers to take action will likely only increase as the healthcare industry remains on rocky financial footing, with several Washington hospitals threatening to cut back services or even close. Continue reading at Puget Sound Business Journal. (SEIU HEALTHCARE 1199NW)
Inslee, lawmakers focus on workforce amid tech layoffs and shortage in other industries
While the tech industry is shedding jobs, many other employers are desperate for workers. State legislators are newly focused on trying to help. Legislators told reporters Thursday they want to make it easier for behavioral health specialists licensed in other states to take jobs here, and they propose new police training facilities closer to where incoming officers will live and work. They also want new training and apprenticeship programs. “We have to rethink how we’re doing this. We have a new problem, we need new solutions,” Senator Andy Billig (D-Majority Leader) said. Continue reading at KIRO 7.
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