Friends and neighbors,
This week you will find an announcement on my first town hall with Rep. Christine Kilduff. I also want to share the process for floor action, when the House passes bills all day long, and an update on priority legislation I sponsored.
Town hall in DuPont on March 23
Please join me, Rep. Christine Kilduff, and your fellow neighbors at a representative town hall on Saturday, March 23 from 10:00am-12:00pm. We will be at the DuPont Civic Center (1700 Civic Drive, DuPont). I look forward to seeing you there and hearing from you!
Floor action: Passing bills all through the night and day
We recently passed two key deadlines here in the House – one for policy committees and another for fiscal committees. Those deadlines are set internally and require each bill to pass through the committee they are assigned to, or else they will not be considered further that year.
Both this week and next week, I will spend most of my time on the House floor debating and voting on the bills that made it out of their respective committees by these deadlines. Senators are going through the same process with their bills.
Legislation passing off the House floor will then go the Senate for their consideration, just as Senate bills will cross the rotunda for consideration by House committees.
Bills considered necessary to implement budgets are exempt from these cutoff deadlines and could be voted on up until the last day of session.
Please visit http://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/ if you’re interested in the status of any bill.
Legislation I have sponsored that has passed so far
There are quite a few bills that are still in under consideration at this point in the session. I am happy to report that many of the bills I have shared with you in past emails have been voted out of the House and are heading to the Senate. Here are a few:
HB 1137 is legislation I introduced to increase compensation rates for National Guard members who are called in to state service for wildland fire response. Guard members are regular citizens with families and day jobs and that service should not be taken for granted. Thankfully the bill passed with a vote of 95-0.
Health care professionals work tirelessly to take care of us and our loved ones. That’s why I feel it is so important to have strong standards to address and avoid workplace violence in the health care setting. HB 1931 helps address workplace violence by requiring more frequent reviews of incidents and creating frequent violence prevention plans. I’m happy to report the bill passed with a vote of 97-0.
To address the needs in our communities regarding the discharge process from Western State Hospital, I introduced HB 1826, which passed with a vote of 97-0. Very excited to see this move to the Senate and hopefully bring community partners into the discharge process by getting them more complete information.
For too many people, earning an advanced degree like a doctorate means traveling outside the region. HB 1755 provides regional universities more opportunities to offer advanced education degrees at their affordable tuition rates. It passed with a vote of 95-2.
I hope this update is helpful to you. Do not hesitate to contact my office if you have any questions or concerns. Your input and concerns are important to me. It is my honor to serve you!
Sincerely,
