Dear friends and neighbors,
We are on week five of this 105-day session! Right now, our work is mostly focused on committee hearings. This is important so constituents can voice their opinion and ask questions, both of which help legislators look at the policy from different angles. Many bills are amended in committee for a variety of reasons, like providing language clarification, or adding a section to improve a policy after hearing constituent feedback.
We will continue hearing bills until February 21st and 28th, policy and fiscal cutoffs. These are the deadlines for bills to pass out of committee as they continue the process.
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UPDATES ON SOME OF MY BILLS
While we’re focused on committees, we have started passing bills off the House floor, including one of my bills!
House Bill 1069 PASSED the House with bipartisan support this past Thursday! By permitting the employer and employee to bargain over supplemental retirement benefits, this bill helps state employees retire safely and with dignity. For more information on this bill, please read this press release, or watch this video for my floor remarks:
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House Bill 1105 passed the Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on an almost unanimous vote and was heard by the Appropriations Committee yesterday and is scheduled for executive session this Thursday! My legislation will streamline the collective bargaining process for the state and workers by allowing the Department of Corrections employees who have interest arbitration rights and the state to save everyone time by negotiating separate from the big coalition bargaining table.
House Bill 1185 passed the Community Safety Committee unanimously on February 6! As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, this bill is a continuation of last year’s Nothing About Us Without Us Act. My legislation will add two voting members appointed by the Governor to the Correctional Industries Advisory Committee. These two voting members must be from underrepresented populations, whose direct lived experience will contribute their unique understanding of programs like Correctional Industries in the Department of Corrections and employment challenges upon release.
House Bill 1644, the Child Labor Safety Bill, was heard in the Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on February 4 and is scheduled for executive session on the 14th, this coming Friday! This important bill is about ensuring the safety and health of working minors. This bill:
- Requires Labor & Industries (L&I) to conduct a safety and health consultation at the worksite before a variance on prohibited minor work duties is granted
- Modifies the outdated penalty assessment structure for child labor law violations, sets a minimum, and increases them based on factors such as repeat violations, size of employer, age of the minor, gravity of violation, among others.
- Revokes an employer’s minor work permit if, among other conditions, the violation caused serious harm or death to a minor, or the employer has been issued several citations for certain violations during a specific time period.
Learn more about my bill in this Cascade PBS story:
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VIDEO UPDATE
I discuss both, HB 1185 and HB 1644 in my latest video update:
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House Bill 1549 was heard in the Labor & Workplace Standards Committee last week and is scheduled for executive session this coming Friday. This bill will modify the responsible bidder criteria for public works projects. It will support workforce development in construction by increasing:
- On-the-job training for apprentices.
- Contractor awareness of existing requirements and resources.
- Connections between contractors and apprenticeship programs through public transparency.
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EVERY WASHINGTONIAN DESERVES SAFETY AND PROTECTION
We’ve heard from so many of our neighbors. Recent federal decisions have generated fear and uncertainty particularly among vulnerable communities in our state. We’ve seen attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and the LGBTQ+ community, actions that could negatively impact our state’s economy and your wallets, and alarmingly, the ramp up of deportations and anti-immigrant policies.
These actions strike at the very core of our values as Washingtonians. We are doing everything we can to protect everybody in our state. Here are some of the ways we are already supporting vulnerable communities:
In response to the growing fears in our communities, the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs launched a rapid response hub to support immigrants with essential legal, financial, and social service information. The Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance (ORIA) at DSHS provides vital services, including: ✅ Immigration & naturalization assistance ✅ Employment & job training programs ✅ Healthcare & legal aid resources 📌 Know someone impacted by immigration policy changes? Share this DSHS resource link to help them access critical information. We will not stand by while families are forced to make impossible choices between safety and survival. Learn more about how we are standing up for immigrant communities in a recent statement from the Chair of the Latino Democratic Caucus. House Speaker Laurie Jinkins and Senate Majority Leader Jaime Pedersen also shared a statement committing to protecting trans youth in Washington. You can read that statement here. I believe in a community where everyone belongs, where different cultures are celebrated, and where we stand up for our values of love, inclusion, and justice. |
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TVW LEGISLATOR PROFILE
TVW has a tradition to film short videos of legislators at the start of each biennium. Here’s the one we shot the first week of session:
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Please give my office a call or drop me a line with your thoughts on any of the issues discussed in this newsletter. As always, I am honored to serve you in Olympia.
In solidarity,
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