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Inslee signs Dolores Huerta Day bill

The first time the Washington State Legislature designated a day, in statute, honoring a woman was in 1999, establishing April 16 as Mother Joseph Day.

The second time was yesterday, March 21, when a large group of people flooded the governor’s conference room to witness the moment Gov. Inslee signed my bill to designate April 10 as Dolores Huerta Day.

Watch a short video on passage of this historic legislation:

This measure passed out of the House the first week of March, and the Senate gave it its unanimous support last Monday with Ms. Huerta herself looking on from the Senate wings, as she was in Olympia that day to participate in Latino Legislative Day activities.

You’ve surely heard chanting of the phrase “Sí se puede!” (Yes, we can!), however, did you know it was not César Chávez, but rather Huerta who started it?

Together, Chávez and Huerta fought against abuse and discrimination and in 1962, they launched the National Farm Workers Association, which preceded the United Farm Workers of America Union.

Huerta’s work went beyond improving living conditions for farmworkers. She fought for civil rights and stood up for the rights of women, always emphasizing the importance of building community.

I am proud that Washington will honor the work and legacy of an inspiring American icon, a symbol of strength, perseverance and leadership, an example to us all.

Major health care bills pass House

We passed three great bills to improve access to health care, protect consumers, and create a new social security program for long-term care services.

Cascade Care is a series of plans on the health exchange for those who purchase their own health care, rather than receive insurance from their employer. Cascade Care offers cheaper plans with lower deductibles and a simple, easy to understand list of comprehensive services.

The Long-Term Care Trust Act creates a new social security program to provide long-term care services. Most people don’t save for long-term care, but do end up needing some form of help as they age. With more people than ever moving into the 65+ age bracket, we better start planning how to cover these services.

Balanced billing, or surprise billing, happens when you go to a hospital that is in-network and covered by your insurance, but one of the medical providers (like an anesthesiologist) is out-of-network. Patients generally don’t know about this until weeks or months later, when they receive a bill. That’s unfair, and puts consumers in the middle of a billing dispute. The House passed legislation to protect consumers from this unfair practice.

Climate bills moving forward

Three priority climate bills continue to move forward. These meaningful actions our state can take will cut greenhouse gas emissions and move us toward a clean energy future.

Phasing out ‘super pollutants’ – Hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, are commercial and industrial refrigerants and foam-blowing agents. They are also super-polluting greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more damaging than carbon dioxide. This bill phases out these harmful gases, for which safe and cost-effective alternatives already exist.

Establishing a clean fuels program – The biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our state is from the transportation sector. A Clean Fuels Program similar to those already successfully underway in California, Oregon, and British Columbia directly addresses that source. It will improve local air quality and provide local economic benefits by increasing demand for biofuels produced in the state.

100% clean electricity – This bill will help get our state to a clean energy future by requiring utilities to gradually transition away from fossil fuel-generated electricity, setting a preliminary “coal elimination” deadline of 2025, and a final “clean grid” deadline of 2045.

Rail safety measures will protect workers, communities Communities along rail routes across the state are seeing an increase in rail shipments of Bakken crude oil and other dangerous, flammable materials. To address this issue, we have two rail safety measures to protect both rail workers and the public from high-hazard, flammable trains: Establishing minimum crew size requirements for freight and passenger trains, and trains carrying hazardous materials. With U.S. rail carriers reducing train crew sizes sometimes down to only one crew member, these minimums are needed to ensure both worker and public safety. Requiring oil producers to meet safer vapor pressure standards prior to shipment from the Bakken region, in order to reduce the risks posed by shipping highly flammable crude oil. It also imposes fines of up to $2,500 per day per rail tank car for violations.

Thank you for reading my newsletter.  If you need more information on any of the issues discussed here, or on any other legislative matter, please don’t hesitate to contact my office.

I hope we get a chance to meet tomorrow!

Sincerely,