Dear friends and neighbors,
Today is the 96th day of this year’s 105-day legislative session, and I have some updates!
This week was the opposite chamber cutoff, which means we crossed the deadline for most bills to pass out of the opposite chamber (so the Senate for all our House bills). We’re also closing in on Sine Die, which is legislative jargon for the last day of session. We have until next Sunday, April 23rd, to wrap up our work.
I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do so far this session. I’ll talk about some of our most important bills later, but we’ve sent 161 bills to the Governor’s desk so far. I’m particularly proud that 115 of those bills had unanimous bipartisan support. We do a lot of important work down here, and most of it is incredibly bipartisan.
This next week is all about concurrences (looking at changes the Senate made to House bills and deciding whether we want to keep them or negotiate a different option) and finalizing our budgets for this biennium.
Legislative Update
We’ve done a lot of good work this session, and I wanted to highlight a couple particularly impactful bills.
This session we knew we needed to do more to protect reproductive rights and gender-affirming care in Washington state. We’ve done that in a couple ways – ensuring that providers can’t be punished for doing their job, protecting patients in Washington state from other states trying to impose their beliefs on us, and protecting your sensitive health care data.
We also took strong action on gun violence prevention, passing bills to ban assault weapons, hold gun manufacturers accountable, and require a 10-day waiting period and safety training to purchase a firearm.
Another important bill that stands out for me is SB 5729, which caps insulin costs at $35 a month. I’ve been diabetic since I was 12 years old, and I understand just how critical it is for insulin to be affordable. It’s the oldest prescription drug still available yet there are no generics, and costs can be extraordinarily high. This bill will help save lives.
What’s it like presiding over the House?
Last week I sat down with Rep. Tina Orwall and Rep. Dan Bronoske to talk about what it’s like to preside over the House. They both serve in leadership positions and help me run debate on the floor. If you’re curious about what that means you can learn more here.
Getting Involved in Government
I also wanted to pass along an opportunity to get more involved in your state government. The governor is in charge of appointing people to over 230 different boards and commissions, from the local community college board of trustees to the lottery commission to Puget sound restoration. These boards and commissions include identity-based groups and cover almost any interest area you can think of. You can learn more about what’s available and how to apply here.