Dear Friends and Neighbors,
It’s week ten of the legislative session—and 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.
The most important part about my job as a legislator is keeping you informed, with transparency, about what we’re working on—and listening to feedback directly from you. Read on for an invite to our upcoming 1st Legislative District Telephone Town Hall!
The Power of Representation
Happy International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month from our women-majority caucus! Much of our history ignores the labor, resilience, and influence of women, especially women of color who face additional barriers to opportunity and recognition. Here in the People’s House, we are working towards a world where women are truly welcome to lead, take charge of their health, and walk equal paths towards success. We envision a Washington that ensures economic, reproductive, and civic freedom for women across our state. Today, and everyday, we celebrate our trailblazers who continue working toward gender equity! When women lead, progress is possible.
Bingo in senior centers
There are senior centers operating in multiple counties that would like to offer bingo at their facilities in both counties but are currently prohibited by law from doing so.
Senior centers provide invaluable services to seniors and communities by providing hot meals, food pantry items, health and wellness programs, enrichment activities, transportation to grocery stores and medical services, inclusion programs for seniors with developmental disabilities, and other community benefits. The Northshore Senior Center has three locations between King County and Snohomish County—and would like to offer bingo at all three locations but are prohibited from doing so in current statute. For Northshore Senior Center, this means seniors at the Bothell facility can enjoy bingo and connect with community, but members at the Mill Creek facility are left out.
I sponsored House Bill 1707 to find a creative solution. This bill modifies the definition of bingo in the Gambling Act to eliminate the requirement that bingo must be conducted only in the county within it’s located. Socialization is critically important for seniors to maintain cognitive abilities and mental wellbeing. Bingo helps provides a valuable outlet for social connection for seniors in Washington.
Protections for medicinal cannabis use
Washington was on the leading edge of cannabis legalization. While we opened this industry cautiously, as it has expanded, it has revealed gaps and inequities that need to be fixed. This year, I sponsored House Bill 1563 to provide equitable criminal and civil protections to qualifying patients and providers who have a valid authorization for the use of medical cannabis.
Patients who are authorized for medical cannabis use can choose to meet with a medical cannabis consultant and get a recognition card that signifies that they are in the Department of Health cannabis patient database: if there were two patients who qualified for an authorization, the one with the recognition card would get full arrest protection but the one without it would not have this level of protection. This is fundamentally unfair.
Washington begins with the assumption that a qualified patient not in the database is a criminal unless they can establish an affirmative defense and that leaves patients vulnerable: this bill protects patients. It ensures that qualifying patients and providers who have a valid authorization but have chosen not to be entered into the database are protected from being arrested, prosecuted, or subject to other criminal sanctions or civil consequences for certain violations of state law relating to the use and possession of cannabis. This bill prevents gardens from being destroyed, equipment from being seized, and legal costs from being incurred that can destroy lives.
Watch my testimony on the House floor here
Housing for all Communities
Accessory dwelling units provide a critical opportunity to create housing for all residents of all income levels. I sponsored House Bill 1596 to help to increase the financial incentives for the creation and rental of ADUs: this would create a solution that is a win for the renter, the community, and the property owner. It is a much-needed private sector solution to a community need that the private sector has historically failed to accommodate. Washington has a housing crisis, and we need creative, multifaceted solutions coming from public and private sectors. Sadly, the bill could not overcome the opposition to it, and will not move forward this session. I will continue to work on this idea and try to get the concepts embedded into other related bills if I can.
Serve as a Legislative Page!
Sophia Oakes, a student at A.G. West Black Hills High School, served as a page in my office.
Pages participate for one 40-hour work week, assisting the House of Representatives with duties including serving on the chamber floor, making deliveries throughout campus, supporting member offices, and attending Page School. Page School supplements the hands-on learning experience with a classroom component geared toward understanding the legislative process.
The Washington State Legislature has one of the best Legislative Page programs in the country. Because we are operating in-person again, and many youth did not have an opportunity to participate during COVID, our page program is back and for this year, open to youth ages 14-18. I invite you to apply.
To help lower-income families participate in the program, the House of Representatives created the Gina Grant Bull Scholarship; check out the FAQ page to see if you can apply.
Taking part in the page program is a great opportunity for young people to gain a unique perspective of the legislative process. If you have a teen who could benefit from this experience, I encourage you to consider sending them to Olympia for a week.
For more information, please visit the House Page Program website.
1st LD Town Hall
Join me and my 1st LD seatmates, Senator Stanford and Representative Duerr, for a Town Hall on March 19, from 1-2:30PM at Cascadia College.
If you’d like to get in touch but can’t participate in the Town Hall, please feel free to email me at shelley.kloba@leg.wa.gov, or come stop by my office in Olympia. I hope to hear from you soon!
Sincerely,
Rep. Shelley Kloba