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Dear friends and neighbors,
We are in the fifth week of this 60-day session. Now we’ll be voting on bills on the House Floor until next Wednesday.
The process for a bill to become a law is complicated, as you might remember from that old classic Schoolhouse Rock I’m just a bill episode. It takes more than going through the motions; we have to work in partnership with stakeholders and colleagues in both chambers and across the aisle.
KING5 put together a short animated video on the legislative process back in January:
Town Hall Meetings coming up
Please join Senator Patty Kuderer, Representative Amy Walen and me at our District Town Hall on Saturday, February 22 from 10:30 to noon at Redmond City Hall.
If between now and then you think of a question or a specific issue you’d like us to address at the upcoming town halls, please send them my way and we will do our best to address them as topics arise and time permits. Thank you!
If you can’t make it that day, I hope you will participate on our Telephone Town Hall the following Tuesday, February 25 at 6 p.m. to continue the conversation and address any pending issues. I will send you a reminder with all the information on the call as we get closer to that date.
Coronavirus
The Department of Health (DOH) and public health officials are monitoring the situation closely, and they currently believe that the risk to the general public is low. There are only a small number of reported cases in the United States, and few of those cases are the result of person-to-person transmission that occurred in the USA.
Health experts are still learning about the coronavirus, including how it spreads and the range of impacts it can have on people. While common symptoms include fever, cough, and respiratory ailments, severity of the illness can vary. In particular, the illness can make older adults and people with existing health conditions more susceptible to developing pneumonia.
The DOH Coronavirus Outbreak website has more information, recommendations and resources that we should all be aware of. In the “What can I do to help?” section under the FAQ is a paragraph that I find particularly important to keep things in perspective:
- The news of this disease outbreak is concerning to all of us, but especially impacts communities who have family or other close connections in China or the greater Asian continent. We should all do our part not to make assumptions by discriminating, spreading misinformation, or harassing individuals, families and communities that have made Washington their home. Just because a disease originates within a certain area of the world does not mean that every person who has an association with that country is ill or has the potential to contract the virus.
Here are some resources to learn more and get updates on the coronavirus:
While there are many uncertainties surrounding this situation, what is clear is the importance of having a strong and resilient public health system to deliver necessary services throughout Washington communities.
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What’s next for transportation after the car tabs initiative?
The passage of Initiative 976 means a loss of more than $450 million in revenue for the state transportation budget.
While it’s true that the initiative is being challenged in court, we probably won’t know the initiative’s final fate until this summer, long after this short 60-day session is over.
Changing an initiative is also politically difficult because it would take a supermajority vote.
And it’s also a myth that we can simply tap the state rainy day fund to replace the missing funds.
The rainy day fund is meant for the operating budget, which pays for public schools, colleges, parks and non-transportation costs. There are also protections in the state constitution that prevent lawmakers from spending the rainy day fund without a supermajority vote and certain conditions, like an economic recession.
All of that means that the transportation budget has to be balanced, now, however painful the cuts or project delays might be.
These cuts and delays are not what any of us want. We need more investments—not less—in highways, transit, ferries and trains to reduce traffic gridlock and get people where they need to be safely and efficiently.
After the fate of I-976 is decided, we’ll need to talk about how to work together and find innovative ways to keep Washington moving.
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Securing Washington’s election system
Hackers are constantly targeting Washington’s election system and not just from within our borders. Many of these attacks are coming from abroad. The fact is, they’re getting better at these crimes, so we must get better at protecting our electoral system from those who aim to undermine its integrity.
In January, the House passed election security legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support. The bill requires the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the Chief Information Officer to consult with county auditors to identify instances of security breaches in elections systems and determine whether they are foreign or domestic. It also requires the Secretary of State to report to the Legislature when security breaches happen and give options to increase the security of our elections systems.
We know that our election networks and data are under constant threat of being hacked. It is crucial that Washington’s election officials and the Legislature have the capacity to protect our infrastructure and thwart these attacks.
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How to track bills
This is a screenshot of my current bill tracker. It provides information on where all my prime-sponsored bills are at any given time:
To create a bill tracker like this one, register here. Once you are logged in, follow these steps:
- Click “Selected Bill Tracking”
- Click the “New” tab, select “Folder” and name the folder
- Click the “New” tab and select “List”
- Name your list, for example, ‘Vandana’s Bills’
- Click “Save and Add Bills”
- Enter the numbers of the bills you want to track, separated by commas (no spaces). To create a tracker for my bills, copy them into the box: 2273,2308,2311,2513,2568,2728
- Click “Save”
- Click ”Report Views” and select “Custom View”
- Click “Add view”
- Give your custom view a name
- Add the fields you want in your report. For my bill tracker above, I selected: Bill, Title, Brief Description, Date, Status and Companion bills
- Click “Save”
- Click “Back to Report”
Now every time you log in and go to your tracker, you’ll be able to see where each of the bills are at that moment. You can add more bills at any time.
Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter, if you need more information on any of the topics discussed here, please contact my office.
Warm regards,
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