Dear Friends and Neighbors,
It’s the tenth week of the legislative session–and it’s been so wonderful operating in-person and interacting with so many of you face-to-face. One of the most important parts of my job is informing you about what we’re working on in Olympia—and hearing from you about what’s important to you. Thank you to those of you who have already reached out to share your input—I really appreciate it. I’m delighted to invite you to our upcoming 11th Legislative District Mini Town Hall where you can learn more about our work, ask questions, and provide feedback.
Join my 11th LD seatmate, Representative Steve Bergquist, and I for a Mini Town Hall on Saturday, March 18th from 1-4pm at Refuel Café (401 Olympia Ave NE Ste 102, Renton). Please email my legislative assistant, Leona, at Leona.Wankowski@leg.wa.gov to sign up for a 15-minute time slot to chat with us between 1pm & 4pm. Sign up to swing by, say hello and enjoy a coffee on us!
If you’d like to get in touch but can’t participate in the Mini Town Hall, please feel free to email me at David.Hackney@leg.wa.gov or come stop by my office in Olympia. I hope to hear from you soon.
Working towards a Decarbonized Future
This year, I am Co-Chair of the bicameral, bipartisan Hydrogen Caucus to help educate and promote Hydrogen technology as an alternative energy source as we attempt to decarbonize the economy and implement zero emission cars, trucks, ferries and airplanes. We meet bi-weekly to discuss legislation involving Hydrogen technology and to hear from industry leaders about their technology, products and roadblocks. We started in January of 2023 and have been growing in number every meeting. We recently heard from PACCAR a light and heavy-duty truck manufacturer in Renton, Washington in the 11th LD that makes and sells electric battery trucks and is in the process of developing prototype hydrogen fuel cell trucks.
The Legislative Ethics Committee
I am proud to serve on the Legislative Ethics board consisting of a Representative, a Senator and civilian members. Our mission is to fairly administer the Ethics Act. The Ethics Board has five main duties:
1) Develop and distribute training materials and ensures legislators and staff are trained on ethics issues.
2) Adopt rules of procedures and substantive rules for the behavior of legislators and staff
3) Publish formal advisory opinions whether particular factual situations violate the Ethics Act
4) Issue Ethics Alerts to provide clarity or direction on an issue
5) Respond to signed complaints from any person or can initiate investigations on its own motion
The Board can only act on complaints involving conduct by legislators or legislative staff that fall under the provisions of the Ethics Act. We meet regularly depending on the volume of issues that need to be addressed. I am honored to have been appointed to the Legislative Ethics Committee in January of 2023.
An Update on My Bills
We’re over halfway through! We’ve been very busy on the House floor the last few weeks, running bills late into the night to push our priorities forward. I’m honored to share that we passed 328 bills, 60% of which were passed unanimously, and 78% of which were passed with 80 votes or more. We’re working hard to better support housing opportunity, workforce development, behavioral health support, education, and climate resiliency in Washington. I’m proud to share that seven of my bills have passed in the House and are now being considered in the Senate. You can watch my testimony on the House floor below:
House Bill 1460, concerning the Department of Natural Resources land transactions, revenue distributions, and creation and management of a trust land transfer program
House Bill 1420, concerning lien priority mortgages and deeds of trust
House Bill 1324, concerning the scoring of prior juvenile offenses in sentencing rage calculations
House Bill 1236, enhancing access to clean fuel for agencies providing public transportation
House Bill 1187, concerning privileged communication between employers and unions that represent them
House Bill 1257, concerning the authority of cargo and passenger ports
House Bill 1189, concerning the release of incarcerated individuals from total confinement prior to the expiration of a sentence
Thank you so much for taking the time to read. It is an honor to serve as your representative. Please don’t hesitate to reach out at David.Hackney@leg.wa.gov, or contact my legislative assistant at Leona.Wankowski@leg.wa.gov to set up a time to stop by my office.
Hope to see you at our mini town hall!
Sincerely,
Rep. David Hackney