23rd-District Legislative News

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Today I did something that for a long time I would not have thought possible. At noon Monday, January 11, 2021, I was privileged and humbled to take part in the opening of a new session of the Washington state Legislature, as your newest state representative, a proud member of your 23^rd-district legislative team. I may not have fully grasped yet what a profound honor this is; I’m told that it will take a while to set in. But from the moment I learned that I would be working for my Kitsap friends and neighbors in this position, I’ve been aware of the responsibility that I asked for, and that you gave me.

Today at noon we began a journey together, you and I. For me to be as effective as possible in this position I will need your input, your advice, your ideas, and what I hope will be your constructive criticism. For my part, I will use these regular e-newsletters to keep you up to date on the issues facing our community and our state, and what your Legislature is doing to make Washington a better, more equitable, more inclusive and more prosperous place for all of us to live, work, and raise our families.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has raged in Washington, and the world, for nearly a year, the Legislative session will be conducted remotely, with today’s opening events being the only time that lawmakers will gather as a group to conduct business at the state Capitol in Olympia. Shortly after the session was gaveled into existence at noon, I cast my first vote to approve the rules that will allow lawmakers and staff to work remotely and safely for the balance of the 105-day session.,

Obviously, it’s going to be different. At times it will be difficult, no doubt, with the limitations imposed by the coronavirus and by the new technology that we’re so dependent on. But that same technology has opened up opportunities for people all over Washington to take part in the session in ways never before possible. Every single committee hearing and work session will be streamed live by TVW. Every floor session of the House and Senate, every debate and every vote, will be yours in real time.

There are new opportunities for remote testimony during committee hearings, sparing citizens the need to take off work and spend a day or more traveling to and from the Capitol. For those who prefer to put their thoughts in writing, written testimony will be invited and given the same consideration as oral comments. Here’s a comprehensive how-to prepared by legislative staff that will answer most if not all of your questions about how this strange new thing will work, and it will tell you how private citizens in their homes can make the most of the situation.

My First Bill

I’ve been very vocal about my priorities over the last several months, and managed to share them with as many people here in Kitsap as possible, given the constraints of the pandemic. At the same time, I also listened to you to make sure that I could be an advocate for your priorities as well. As a longtime resident of our beautiful district, I was not surprised to learn that my priorities, and yours, meshed more often than not.

We want our kids to have the best schools and the bright futures that education can bring about. We want every single person to have access to affordable, high-quality healthcare. We want our communities and our state to have a thriving economy, with an abundance of family wage jobs, successful small businesses, and fertile ground for entrepreneurs to grow their ideas into the next great thing. We want an equitable society that makes conscious, continuous efforts to undo the toxic realities of centuries of systemic racism that harms us all regardless of our origins. We want everyone to feel safe in our homes and in public. And to put it simply, we want everyone to get a fair shake.

Many of those priorities come together in the first bill I introduced as a lawmaker. House Bill 1078 is a simple bill, long overdue, that restores the right to vote to formerly incarcerated persons who are no longer in total confinement under the jurisdiction of our Department of Corrections. As a person who was incarcerated at one time, I know firsthand how difficult it can be for a person in that circumstance to feel that they are once again a full-fledged member of society.

The evidence is clear that restoring voting rights is linked to reduced recidivism. If the goal of our corrections system is truly to correct, rather than simply to punish, this is an important step we can and should take. I’m pleased that the first lawmaker to sign onto my bill as a cosponsor is a Republican, demonstrating that this is not a partisan issue. HB 1078 will have a public hearing in the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations on Thursday, January 14, at 10 a.m.

I’ve also introduced, again with a Republican cosponsor, HB 1086, which will create the state office of behavioral health advocacy. We are finally recognizing that behavioral health is just as crucial to a person’s well-being as physical health, and having a committed advocate within the state government can benefit countless Washington residents and their families, especially in times of stress like we’re experiencing now.

COVID-19 Update: Vaccinations and Contact Tracing

The vaccine has arrived at last. Many here in Washington have already received their first of two doses, but there is still a long, long way to go. We need to accelerate the pace of vaccinations, and I’m relieved that the incoming administration in Washington D.C. has announced that as a goal.

Even if vaccinations become widely available and are embraced by the majority of Washingtonians, we should not expect a return to normalcy anytime soon. Just in the week that ended yesterday, 17,776 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Washington, and there is no telling how many people are infected but have not been tested and diagnosed. It’s important that we continue to do everything we can do to follow public health measures and support contact tracing. That is why I am pleased to see that more than 1.6 million Washingtonians have signed up for WA Notify, Washington’s exposure notification tool.

WA Notify is free to use, anonymous, and protective of your privacy. It works by alerting you whenever you are around another WA Notify user who later tests positive for COVID-19. You can download the app on your iPhone or Android. For more instructions on installing, please see below, and in the meantime, you can check your eligibility for the vaccine by taking a short survey at findyourphasewa.org. Also, visit this DOH page for helpful information and videos that detail everything else you might want to know about the vaccines.

Again, Thank You

This legislative session began on a cold, dark, and rainy day. It is scheduled to come to a close April 25 on what we can all hope will be a sunny spring day. I’d like to think that’s an apt metaphor for how things are going to go for all of us, too. We’ve been through a difficult 2020, for many reasons. The events of the first few days of this new year have shaken us as well. But I’m an optimist. If I didn’t think bad times and tough situations could be improved, I would never have gone to nursing school and become a registered nurse. I never would have gone to law school and taken on challenging cases. And I certainly never would have found myself in the Legislature. Thank you for giving me this chance to work on problems that affect us all. I know that when we adjourn we won’t have fixed everything that needs fixing. But with your help, we will make progress. And then we’ll make some more.

Sincerely,

Tarra Simmons