Happy Fantastic Friday!

New committee assignments

I’m proud to announce my new committee assignments for the upcoming session. It will be my honor to bring your voices to these important committees.

What does this mean?

This means I get to bring a fresh voice and local lens to the tough fiscal and policy decisions made in these priority areas, encourage equity in our investments, strengthen stakeholder engagement and advocate for an agenda that meets the needs of our communities.

What do these committees do?

• State Government and Tribal Relations considers issues relating to state government, including state agency rulemaking, procurement standards, performance audits and public employment. The committee also considers issues relating to elections, campaign finance, public disclosure, ethics in government, and the government-to-government relationship of the state and tribes.​
• Appropriations considers the operating budget and related legislation, budget processes, and fiscal issues such as pension policy and compensation. The committee also considers bills with operating budget fiscal impacts.
• Rural Development, Agriculture and Natural Resources considers issues relating to rural development, as well as issues relating to agricultural production, marketing, and sales; animal and plant disease control; fisheries and wildlife; forest practices and forest fire protection; water; and mining. The committee also considers the management of certain state-owned lands.

Washington STRONG: Economic recovery and climate resiliency

Earlier this week, I announced legislation that will stimulate local economies and protect those hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Washington STRONG Act, developed by myself, Rep. Sharon Shewmake and Sen. Liz Lovelett enables new financing tools that will stimulate the economy and create jobs, transition to a clean energy economy, and fund investments that benefit families, businesses, and communities across Washington.

Washington STRONG authorizes a 10-year series of “green” bonds, which could unlock more than $16 billion for direct investment and has the potential to create upwards of 150,000 jobs by providing much-needed local stimulus with a focus on rural economic development and frontline communities. These recovery bonds will be financed by a per-ton price on carbon, and the proposal has been carefully constructed to minimize the impact on agricultural sectors, moderate and low-income households, and energy intensive and trade exposed businesses.

Washington STRONG will generate a sustainable funding stream needed to finance a resilient recovery and transition Washington to a clean economy. With Washington STRONG, the economic recovery can start in rural areas and frontline communities, with family-wage jobs, using science and evidence to make investments that get people back to work, and provide market-based incentives to transition to a greener economy. This economic policy is based on our state’s needs right now, one that puts environmental justice first, instead of increasing inequity and placing the burden on our most impacted communities.

The investments made through Washington STRONG would help the state meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals, create tens of thousands of family-wage jobs, generate an average of $6 in savings for every $1 invested, generate local spending returns of 175% on the dollar, and boost local tax revenues to support critical community services that are in dire need of additional funding.

“Communities facing pollution and climate impacts are too often Black, Indigenous, and people of color, we live and work on the frontlines, holding up Washington state’s economy. That’s why we are building a movement towards a just transition to a sustainable and resilient economy that meets our needs without digging, dumping, and burning fossil fuels. We stand with our legislators that recognize success for everyone in our state starts with accountability to communities most impacted.” – Rosalinda Guillen, a farm worker and rural justice leader; Co-Lead of the Front and Centered Community Council

Environmental Justice in the news

TED S. WARREN / ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Environmental Justice Task Force, which was created by legislation in 2019, is responsible for recommending strategies for incorporating environmental justice principles into future state agency actions across Washington. The task force recently submitted a final report to the legislature that included:

• Guidance for using the Washington Environmental Health Disparity Map to identify communities that are highly impacted by environmental justice issues with current demographic data.
• Best practices for increasing meaningful and inclusive community engagement that takes into account barriers to participation that may arise due to race, color, ethnicity, religion, income, or education level.
• Measurable goals for reducing environmental health disparities for each community in Washington state and ways in which state agencies may focus their work towards meeting those goals.
• Model policies that prioritize highly impacted communities and vulnerable populations for the purpose of reducing environmental health disparities and advancing a healthy environment for all residents.

Learn more about the potential outcomes of the Environmental Justice Task Force in this recent KNKX article.

The Census, redistricting and you  

I hope you participated in the 2020 census to ensure an accurate count of every person in our state. The census takes place every ten years, as required by the United States Constitution. Once all the data has been compiled and processed in every state, it is then used to determine how many seats each state has in Congress. The information also helps in the decisions on how some federal funds will be distributed.   But this count also plays a key role in the states’ redistricting process.   Redistricting is done every ten years, based on the information collected in the census, to change the boundaries of voting districts. The U.S. and state constitutions require that each congressional and legislative district represent roughly equal numbers of people and keep groups that have common minority interests together to make sure political power is fairly distributed.   This is a necessary process because populations are not static. Over the course of a decade there are many births and deaths, but also a lot of moving around as people relocate for education purposes and job opportunities. As states and communities grow and change, peoples’ representation in government gets out of balance. By redistricting, we make sure that every Washingtonian is represented fairly in the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress.    In Washington we have an independent Redistricting Commission made up of five members: two from each of the majority party caucuses, and a non-partisan, non-voting Chair. Once redistricting is completed, the commission is dissolved.   You can click here for a timeline of the 2021 redistricting process. Additionally, you can send an email to Redistricting@sos.wa.gov for the latest updates. House and Senate leaders announce historic Redistricting Commission appointees  This week, House and Senate Democrats announced their appointees to the Washington State Redistricting Commission. The Commission is tasked with redrawing the state’s legislative and congressional district boundaries every 10 years following the completion of the US Census. April Sims will represent the House Democratic Caucus on the Commission, and Brady Piñero Walkinshaw will represent the Senate Democratic Caucus. Both appointees are historic “firsts”: Sims is the first woman of color and first Black Commissioner, and Piñero Walkinshaw is the first Latino Commissioner and the youngest person ever appointed to the Commission. He is also the second LGBTQ individual to serve in the role.  More biographical info about Sims and Piñero Walkinshaw can be found in this joint release.

Notable meetings

This week, I met with:

National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, Environmental Justice Work Group

• We discussed equity in environmental justice and the benefits of national collaboration among legislatures. I’m strongly invested in this work here in Washington state. This year, I have been working closely with Senator Saldaña and  environmental justice stakeholders, such as Front and Centered and the members of the governor’s Environmental Justice Task Force, to re-introduce the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act. This bill would work to implement the Environmental Justice Task Force recommendations and embed environmental justice throughout our state government, among other key provisions.

Community 2 Community

• We discussed a capital budget request to support the Ejido Community Farm Project. This project would allow immigrant farmworker families to own and operate a community farm, complete with housing. The long-term goal is to establish and model a cooperative means of acquiring and owning land that enables low-income people of color to sustainably cultivate farms of their own.

Rep. My-Linh Thai and Sen. David Frockt on reforming the felony bar statute

• We discussed potential legislation that would repeal the state “felony bar” statute, which local police officer defendants have used to shield themselves from liability and to prevent fact-finding in wrongful death cases arising from officer-involved fatalities.  This absolute bar to liability under state statute has been raised in cases brought by indigenous families who lost loved ones at the hands of local police, including Renee Davis and Cecil Lacy, Jr.

Front And Centered Summit

• Yesterday, I was the keynote speaker at the Front and Centered Summit. Front and Centered is a coalition of communities of color-led groups across the state, whose diverse missions and work come together at the intersection of equity, environmental and climate justice. I spoke with them about the legislation I’m sponsoring this year related to climate justice, including the HEAL Act, the Washington STRONG economic recovery and climate resiliency legislation, and reforms to the Growth Management Act (GMA).

Work Session with Skagit County

• I, along with Rep. Sharon Shewmake, Sen. Liz Lovelett, representatives of Carbon WA and the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) met with Skagit County Commissioners Lisa Janicki and Ron Wesen and key county staff to discuss Washington STRONG and GMA reform. These game changing policies could lead to direct investments in our communities to fund much needed green transportation and infrastructure projects (including culverts), help recover salmon populations in the Skagit River, and add hundreds of jobs to our local economy.

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 each week 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!

All best wishes,

Rep. Debra Lekanoff