With the end of the 2013 regular and two special sessions now in the rear-view mirror, Senator Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, talks about the wins of the Majority Coalition Caucus and how their dynamic will further improve state government in 2014..

Sen. Mike Padden is grateful that the DUI-related legislation he introduced is on its way to becoming law, following a unanimous vote today in the state House of Representatives. The state Senate had given Senate Bill 5912 its unanimous support Wednesday. “This represents the most comprehensive set of changes in...

The Senate today gave its unanimous endorsement to legislation proposed by Sen. Mike Padden that would do more to keep people from driving under the influence on Washington roads. Padden, R-Spokane Valley, hopes the House of Representatives will act on Senate Bill 5912 while its members are waiting to formally...

Major changes to the state’s DUI laws are one step closer to a vote by the full Senate. This afternoon the Senate Ways and Means Committee endorsed legislation from Sen. Mike Padden to help keep drunk drivers off the road while those who keep racking up DUI arrests would head...

Sen. Mike Padden offered this statement today after receiving word that Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, died late this morning at a Seattle hospital from complications related to treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, which had been diagnosed earlier this year. “From the start of his service as a legislator in...

Gov. Jay Inslee today signed legislation that will let coroners and medical examiners be open – to the point of having immunity from liability – about their conclusions when talking about a death that occurs in connection with a law-enforcement action or inside a correctional facility. “This bill makes it...

Sen. Mike Padden’s efforts to thwart those in the human-trafficking trade culminated today when the comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation he introduced this year received the governor’s signature before a crowd of supporters. “The people of our state, especially young girls, deserve whatever protection we can give them from those who view...

As more than 20 people looked on, many of them outfitted with life preservers for the occasion, the governor this afternoon endorsed Sen. Mike Padden’s bill to align Washington’s boating law with its motor-vehicle law when it comes to driving under the influence. “Boating is understandably a highly popular form...

This morning the Senate Law and Justice Committee unanimously backed a bill that would make sweeping changes in state law concerning the crime of driving under the influence. Sen. Mike Padden, committee chairman, is the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5912. He said the measure has evolved significantly since the...