Dear friends and neighbors,

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, your 33rd district delegation is having a virtual town hall next week on Wednesday, March 24 at 7 p.m. I hope you will be able to join us. Please click on the image below to go to the Facebook event for all the details. If you’d like to submit your questions in advance, please do so here. You can also ask them directly in the comments section of the event as it is happening. Note: you don’t need to have a Facebook account to access the event page or to watch the town hall live.

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Our kids deserve a fair start

Accessible, affordable, high-quality child care is the key to restarting our economy, getting parents back to work, and giving our kids a fair start in life.⁠⁠ 

Because our economy and our children’s success begins with child care, we passed House Bill 1213, the Fair Start for Kids Act, over to the Senate.

We urgently need strong support for child care and early learning programs so families and businesses can thrive. And we must ensure livable wages for our childcare providers, who are overwhelmingly women of color going without sufficient pay.⁠⁠  

Children are our most precious resource. Investing in them is an investment in the future of Washington!

Helping Washington students graduate during the pandemic Earlier this month, Governor Inslee signed a bill to ensure that current Washington high school seniors can still graduate during this public health crisis, eliminating uncertainty for families and educators. The pandemic has disrupted learning all over our state. There is no school district that has not been hurt by COVID-19, and students should not be punished for circumstances out of their control. With this new law, districts can grant emergency credit waivers to eligible students who are on track to graduate. I’m proud of our action to help students succeed and move forward in achieving their dreams. We need to lift up the resilient, hardworking students of Washington.

Banning private prisons in Washington

We passed a bill out of the House to ban private detention facilities in our state. ⁠It will always be wrong to profit off prisoners, and there is no justice in making money from the misfortune of others. ⁠

The Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma is the only private prison in Washington, and it has had numerous accounts of abuse and poor conditions. We must stand up for the rights of people detained here. Families belong together, and every person in our state—no matter their immigration status—deserves safety, adequate nutrition, and access to health care. ⁠ To learn more, click here for the press release (also available in Spanish).

Three of my bills are in the Senate, here’s their current status: 

HB 1108, to maintain funding for the Foreclosure Fairness Act program, was heard in the Senate Committee on Business, Financial Services & Trade on March 11 and was voted out of committee yesterday. For information on this measure, please see my January 31 newsletter.

HB 1109, the Bill of rights for survivors of sexual assault legislation, was heard in the Senate Committee on Law and Justice on March 15 and is scheduled for executive session tomorrow. For information on this bill, please see my previous newsletter. 

HB 1271, to ensure continuity of operations in the offices of county elected officials during public health crises, was heard in the Senate Committee on State Government & Elections on March 12 and is scheduled for executive session today. For more on this bill, please see my previous newsletter.

Community Immersion Law Enforcement Project

The Community Immersion Law Enforcement Project (CILEP) is a new officer training and education program that aims to create lasting change within each officer and police department across Washington, starting with Kent’s Police Department. Officer training and education curricula rooted in community-centered values is vital to building a more equitable and just approach to community safety and police accountability.

I am requesting a budget proviso to enable the CILEP program to amplify the values, voices, and experiences of South King County’s communities of color,

Here’s a segment on the CILEP from the March 9 Kent City Council Meeting:

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Keep in Touch

As always, I am grateful that you’ve taken the time to read this newsletter and I hope you found it informative.

Make sure you visit my official Facebook page for frequent news and updates, and remember we have a virtual town hall next week!

Sincerely,

Rep. Tina Orwall