Dear friends and neighbors, Your 5th District Legislative Delegation, Rep. Lisa Callan, Sen. Mark Mullet and I, are scheduling three town hall meetings on Saturday, February 22 at different locations for your convenience: Maple Valley, North Bend and Issaquah. I’ll send you the time and place details when they’re finalized. For now, I hope you will consider marking your calendar so you can join us at one of them. We are in the fourth week of this 60-day session, this means all the bills not voted out of policy committees by this Friday will be as good as dead. The ones in fiscal committees still have another week to be heard and voted on. So, as you can imagine, everybody is in high gear and bills are moving really fast. In this newsletter I want to discuss a measure that could help solve transportation issues at local levels, as well as a few bills, including three of mine, aimed at cleaning the environment. I’ll let you know how these, and the rest of my bills, fare next week when I send you the town hall details. I am honored to serve you in Olympia and I truly value your feedback, comments and ideas, so please don’t hesitate to contact my office anytime. Sincerely, |
A new way to address transportation needs
While different communities have different transportation needs, there’s something every county, city and town in the state have in common: they all need funding to address those needs.
I believe they should be able to seek that funding for the betterment of their communities, so I introduced a measure that would give local governments three transportation revenue options:
My bill would remove the requirement that fuel taxes levied by counties must also be distributed to cities within the county. In other words, no splitting; whatever local government passes the tax, that body—whether it be a town, city or county— gets the proceeds. The bill does require that all proceeds from these revenue options must be used for transportation improvements. I understand nobody likes to talk about taxes, but everybody wants to fix their roads and reduce traffic congestion. This bill is a solution to give more funding power and independence to communities that are currently strapped for money to address their needs. Associations of Cities and Counties are very supportive of my legislation and its companion bill in the Senate, but I think it’s important to get input from the people who are living with their communities’ unresolved transportation issues day in and day out. That’s why I hope there’s time this session for both bills to get hearings in their respective chambers. |
For more on this bill, click on the image below to watch my latest video update:
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Washingtonians deserve a clean environment
CLEAN FUELS STANDARD: A bill to implement a clean fuels program, which would create jobs and strengthen our economy, passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate. We passed it again last week and this time around we’re hoping it reaches the governor’s desk.
Nearly half of our greenhouse gas emissions are from the transportation sector, and this bill helps cut those emissions by incentivizing cleaner fuels. This would increase our demand for biofuels, which we’re already making in Washington, but right now they’re being sold to neighboring states. This legislation makes sure that the benefits of the clean fuels we’re making stay in Washington.
It also makes a huge difference for air quality, especially in neighborhoods close to major roads and highways. For people living with respiratory conditions this could be, literally, a breath of fresh air. CARBON SEQUESTERING: This measure recognizes the forest products sector as a significant net sequesterer of carbon. It creates the Forest Carbon Reforestation and Afforestation Account at the State Conservation Commission (SCC). I introduced this bill so that the SCC and conservation districts statewide can work with private landowners to engage in voluntary reforestation and afforestation projects, which would increase carbon sequestration efforts in Washington. URBAN AND COMMUNITY FORESTRY: I sponsored a bill to modernize the Evergreen Communities Act with the goal of helping communities develop urban forestry plans aligning with other high priority goals, such as salmon and orca recovery, environmental health disparities, human health, and local air and water quality improvements. DON’T DRIP AND DRIVE: This successful program was started by the Department of Ecology a few years ago to encourage drivers to check for and repair leaks to help them properly maintain their cars and, as a result, reduce stormwater contamination. Because the program was limited in scope to the Puget Sound region, I brought this bill forward to expand it statewide. The measure also makes funding provisions for its implementation in 2021. |
Ask Bill
I receive many emails, letters and calls every week and I do my best to respond to each one of them as promptly as possible. This session I am also doing something new: responding to some of the correspondence I get from you on camera. Click on the image below to watch my first Ask Bill video:
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