Lawmakers convene in Olympia for first day of 2023 Legislature
State lawmakers kicked off the 2023 session on Monday, starting a 105-day marathon of bill-passing and budget-writing in their first fully in-person gathering since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago. The return of lawmakers seated side-by-side in chambers, with galleries loaded with family members and other observers looking on, stood in marked contrast to the mostly empty Capitol of the past two sessions. After her colleagues reelected her to lead the chamber, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, walked up the aisle to the dais, exchanging hugs and handshakes with lawmakers of both parties. “The last time I delivered remarks to a packed House, with actual visitors in the galleries, was on the opening day of the 2020 session, my first as speaker of the House,” Jinkins said. “At that time, none of us knew within weeks — in fact I researched it — within seven days of us kicking off our legislative session, would we be faced with a global pandemic that completely changed how we work, how we socialize and how we live our lives.” Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Karen Ducey)

Rep. Bateman & Barkis: WA’s housing crisis requires bold reform. This bill would be transformative
Everyone needs a home. Washingtonians deserve an affordable place to live, work and raise a family — yet that dream is out of reach. While the single-family home has been the iconic American starter home for decades, it is an outdated model that is no longer attainable to most first-time home buyers. Washington is experiencing a housing shortage of more than 140,000 homes To close this gap, we must triple the pace of construction. That’s not possible under the status quo because most cities either restrict home construction to single-family homes or make it only feasible to construct single-family homes by requiring minimum lot sizes and setback requirements. We need to close the housing gap by making it legal to build modest homes in cities where people want to live. Continue reading at Tri-City Herald.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson Partners With Lawmakers to Propose Legislation Targeting Native American Cold Cases
In a statement released on Friday, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced he has partnered state Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, and state Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Anacortes, to propose legislation creating a Cold Case Investigations Unit focused on solving cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people. The primary purpose of the unit would be assisting local and tribal law enforcement agencies to solve cold cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people. “We must address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people,” Ferguson said. “This bill not only honors the task force’s recommendation, it’s the right thing to do and is long overdue.” Dhingra is sponsoring Senate Bill 5137 in the state Senate while Lekanoff is sponsoring a companion bill, House Bill 1177, in the state House. Continue reading at The Chronicle. (HOUSE DEMOCRATS PHOTO)