Dear friends and neighbors,

Tomorrow will be the 22nd day of this 60-day session, and Wednesday is the first key deadline known as policy committee cutoff. Bills not passed out of policy committees by January 31st will be considered dead unless they’re directly related to the budget. The next deadline, fiscal cutoff, is on Monday, February 5th, the last day for bills to pass out of fiscal committees.

It’s a very busy time in Olympia and we all seem to be in overdrive to get as many bills moving as we can before times runs out.

No more interest for UI overpayments

The Covid-19 Pandemic took a toll on everyone: mentally, physically and, of course, financially. In response, Congress enacted several temporary, Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). These temporary UI benefit programs extended the number of benefit weeks a claimant could receive under certain conditions.  

Benefits under one of the programs, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, were payable for weeks of unemployment beginning in February 2020 to September 2021.  House Bill 1975 will make it so any overpayment assessments during that time will not be charged interest until Jan. 1, 2025.  The Employment Security Department adopted procedures to waive certain COVID-19 pandemic relief overpayments. But until an overpayment has been waived, interest will continue to accrue.  My legislation will relieve individuals of further financial burden relating to the pandemic. Places may not be shutdown anymore, but the financial effects of COVID-19 still linger for many.   Any interested that has already been paid will be applied towards a principal balance, penalties, or they could receive a refund for their payments.   My bill passed the Labor and Workplace Standards Committee unanimously on January 19 and continues moving forward in the legislative process.

Strengthening our teacher workforce

Teachers are vital to the development and education of our children, which makes it imperative for educators to receive effective training.  

House Bill 1565, also titled the Educator Workforce Act, will strengthen Washington’s public school teacher workforce by incorporating a teacher exchange program and a teacher residency program.  

A teacher residency is equivalent to the student teaching process, as it is a pre-service clinical practice in a public school in which the resident co-teaches with a pre-service mentor, while the resident concurrently completes teacher preparation program coursework. 

Under this bill, the Educator Preparation Programs will be modified, requiring data collection, organization, and analysis. 

Everyone, including teachers, deserves the opportunity to learn. Requiring data from these programs will show what improvements need to be made, and what more could be incorporated into training future educators. 

I introduced this bill last year and it passed the House but stalled in the Senate, so it has to go through the process all over again this year. There’s good news: it was heard in the Education Committee on January 22, and is scheduled for executive session tomorrow!

Full bellies & bright minds

During the pandemic, the federal government provided emergency funding for states to increase access to food for children. Washington state invested heavily in this area and continues to do so in our most recent budget. But as federal funding has ended, so has the guarantee of a good meal for many of our public-school children.

That’s why I’m supporting universal school meals for all our public-school kids, regardless of their ability to pay. House Bill 2058 requires public schools to provide breakfast and lunch, without charge, to any student that requests it, starting in the 2024-2025 school year.

Studies show that having a meal and not having the anxiety of wondering where the next meal will come from allows students to have greater success in the classroom. We don’t make children pay for school bus rides, a necessary component of learning, so why are meals any different? If providing a meal helps improve our school testing scores and gives children the chance to thrive, then it is worth the cost, just like other elements of basic education.

Protecting Reproductive Care

On January 22, we recognized the 51^st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. I am proud of the work we’ve done to protect access to reproductive care, and I continue to believe that Washington serves as a beacon of light for people impacted by draconian, anti-choice laws in other states.

Last year we solidified access to abortions and reproductive care:

• We passed legislation shielding patients and providers of reproductive care and gender-affirming care from retribution by other states.
• We passed the My Health, My Data Act which protects the right to reproductive care by blocking websites and apps from collecting and sharing sensitive health data.
• We passed legislation to ensure providers cannot be disciplined for providing care in accordance with Washington state law, no matter where their patients live.
• We passed legislation ensuring that Washingtonians will continue to have access to a safe abortion pill, Mifepristone, regardless of pending federal lawsuits.

And this year we’re working on legislation that will fine tune some of those protections.

As always, thank you so much 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.

Sincerely,