Fantastic Friday

January 18, 2019

Fantastic Fridays

Welcome to my first Fantastic Friday letter!  Every Friday throughout the 2019 legislative session I will be sending out a Fantastic Friday letter to constituents of the 40th Legislative District.  These letters will contain a summary of events occurring during the week in the capitol and my personal legislative updates for you.

Legislative Updates

Every week I will be posting a new Legislative Update video on my legislative website.  You can view my first legislative update at this link.

A good first week

We had a wonderful first week of session!  I want to congratulate and thank all of you for electing me as officially the first Native American Woman Representative in Washington!  We have an extremely diverse caucus this year, and I think that variety of experiences and backgrounds are really going to help us pass some meaningful, important legislation this session.

I was humbled to partake in not only the traditional swearing in ceremony for representatives, but also a tribal swearing in ceremony.  For the first time ever, native drums were heard in the chamber of the House and native men and women filled the air with song. A special thanks to my daughter, my mother, and members of the Squaxin, Tulalip, and Nisqually tribes for participating in this historic ceremony. You can learn more about my great first day here.

Getting down to business

This week I introduced my first two bills, HB 1181 and HB 1339.

HB 1181 is a bill I designed to provide tax relief for senior citizens and veterans.  Our elders and our military heroes deserve our respect, and this bill will make sure that their struggles are noted in our taxing structure.

HB 1339 is the Native American Voting Rights Act.  This bill will ensure that our Native American communities and families have the ability to cast their votes in Washington elections.  Loopholes such as using permanent mailing addresses in ID’s and withholding voting boxes on reservations made it possible to prevent our people from having their voices heard.  This bill will remove those obstacles for Native Americans.

Notable meetings

In every Fantastic Friday letter I send to you, I will let you know of the notable meetings I had with constituents during the week.

The week I met with:

The Northwest Straits Commission

  • We discussed how to best protect and take care of the Salish Sea.

The Whatcom Council of Governments

  • We discussed how to best provide funding for our infrastructure.

The Skagit Public Utility District

  • We discussed providing fresh water access for rural homes.

The American Indian Health Commission

  • We discussed health priorities for AIAN (American Indian and Alaskan Native) communities.

Send us your teen for a week

Every year, students ages 14 to 16 come from all over the state to serve as legislative pages at the House of Representatives. Pages perform a wide variety of responsibilities, from presenting the flags to distributing amendments on the House floor.

In addition to contributing to the efficient operation of the legislature, pages receive daily civics instruction, draft their own bills, and participate in mock committee hearings.

Pages are sponsored by members of the Legislature, usually from the district in which they live.

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 him or her to Olympia for a week.

For more information, please visit the House Page Program website.

How can you get informed and involved in your democracy?

Here’s a quick guide on how to contact your lawmakers, learn about the issues or share your views on legislation being debated:

As a constituent, your views and interests, combined with your participation, are crucial to decision-making here in Olympia.

Our democracy is strongest when everyone has the ability to learn about the issues and share their comments, questions and ideas. I hope to hear from you soon!

Thank you

Thank you all for taking to the time to read this week’s Fantastic Friday and for taking an interest in our progress at the House of Representatives.

I will be sending out a Fantastic Friday letter every Friday throughout the legislative session.

Please feel free to reach out to me using the information below, with any questions, inquiries, or concerns you may have.

I am here for you!

Sincerely,
Rep. Debra Lekanoff
Washington State Legislature