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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
We’ve had a full week of floor action debating and passing bills on the House floor, and we continue in a race against the clock to send as many bills as possible to the Senate before the March 8 deadline.
Being in Olympia and spending so many hours with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I’ve gotten to know many of them quite well and I can assure you they are all fine individuals who I am honored to work with.
When I hear folks talking about how divided we are politically, I wish they’d come and spend a few hours watching us from the gallery (or on TVW) as we vote on bills. They’d see that, while we may disagree sometimes, most of the bills we pass are bipartisan. Every single person here is after the same goal: to make a difference in the lives of the people we represent.
Bills on their way to the Senate
I am happy to report that three of my bills have been passed by the House:
As I told you in my February 5 newsletter, my legislation authorizing the state auditor to receive non-conviction data, HB 1179, passed the House on January 26. It was heard in the Senate Committee on Law & Justice on February 16, and is scheduled for executive action, which is when the committee votes to pass the bill, this coming Thursday, March 9.
The measure authorizes the release of non-conviction data to the Office of the State Auditor for the express purpose of conducting a process compliance audit procedure and review of any independent deadly force investigation required by law.
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Yesterday, the House unanimously passed my legislation (HB 1265), establishing a property tax exemption for adult family homes that serve people with intellectual or developmental disabilities and are owned by a nonprofit.
Housing for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is scarce, and clients are often low income. Accessible and affordable housing is hard to find; there are long waiting lists for people with disabilities who need housing, so adult family homes are a great solution to provide these housing and service needs. These homes have been typically run by nonprofits, which makes them tax exempt.
It’s been that way for decades and just recently a new auditor came up with a ruling that said they wouldn’t be tax exempt anymore because the caregivers were paid for their services, which they should be. The reason residential operation for care is affordable in these homes is because of the tax exemption, and my bill ensures that the model will continue to be viable.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because I introduced a very similar bill last year, although it made it out of the House then, it died in the Senate. I hope they support it this time and it reaches the governor’s desk.
Watch my floor remarks on this bill:
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Lastly, in my February 19 newsletter, I discussed HB 1387, my legislation to create a study establishing the best practices for creating a statewide program to help city and county agencies recruit law enforcement officers. The study will consist of a diverse array of stakeholders, from police organizations to cities, the Office of Equity to human resources experts, and more. It passed the House with a unanimous vote on March 3 and is now headed to the Senate.
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I also want to tell you about a bill I was proud to co-sponsor, HB 1474, which passed the House on March 2 and was referred to the Senate Housing Committee today. It establishes a homeownership program to address the history of housing discrimination in our state.
Generations of systemic, racist, and discriminatory policies have formed barriers to homeownership for Black, Indigenous, and people of color, as well as other historically marginalized communities in Washington state. Historically, redlining, racially restrictive covenants, mortgage subsidies and incentives, and displacement have been explicitly outlined practices. To date, racially restricted covenants have been identified in more than 40,000 property deeds across the state. Consequently, the target groups still feel the impact of this discrimination today. Homeownership for people of color and other marginalized communities is 19 percent below that of white households (Dept. Of Commerce, 2022).
Click here or on the image below for a comprehensive KUOW story on this problematic issue and the solution this legislation presents.
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Another bill I co-sponsored, HB 1051, known as the Robocall Spam Protection Act, will hold bad actors accountable for illegal robocalls.
The measure passed the House unanimously on February 27 and has been referred to the Senate Law & Justice Committee.
Everyone receives calls and messages on their phones that are annoying and deceptive. Robocalls are a hazard of the digital age, and hundreds of millions of these calls flood Washington. These predatory and dangerous calls and scams affect seniors, youth, and those who are financially fragile. It is the single highest number of complaints that the Office of the Attorney General receives.
HB 1051 will strengthen current robocalling laws, recognizing that, since the technology to prevent fraudulent robocalls exists, we have an obligation to use it to protect Washingtonians.
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Track all the bills!
We have passed many more bills to the Senate so, if you’re interested, there is an easy way for you to see a table that gets updated when a bill passes. Click here, or on the image below, select House Bills and then select which report you want to see.
Town Hall Meeting
Your 5th Legislative District delegation will hold a community town hall on Sunday, March 19, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Gibson Hall in Issaquah.
This will be the first in-person town hall meeting for us in a long time, so we are very excited and looking forward to giving you an update on our work in Olympia, as well as to answering your questions.
We hope you’ll join us!
As always, thank you for reading this report. Please don’t hesitate to call or email my office with your comments, feedback, questions, or ideas.
Sincerely,
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