Monday was the start of the 2020 legislative session. With only 60 days during this short session to complete our work, lawmakers wasted no time getting down to business. Some legislators have returned to Olympia, determined to thwart the will of the people. They are content to leave the fate...

Forward-looking approach aims to head off problems before they occur Ongoing problems at the scandal-plagued state Department of Corrections are prompting a trio of Senate Republicans to introduce a package of sweeping reforms to address what they call a costly and fatal record of mismanagement. Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley,...

Sen. Mike Padden wants the courts to be able to consider previous DUI convictions over a longer period of time – as long as 25 years.

AUDIO: The ranking Republican on the state Senate’s Law and Justice Committee is speaking out against Thursday’s Washington Supreme Court ruling that sentencing youth to life without parole is unconstitutional. Senator Mike Padden says that, in 2012, the Legislature passed a law that allows life in prison in specific juvenile...

Today Sen. Mike Padden attended the international Juvenile Sex Trafficking Conference in San Diego, where he joined others in congratulating San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan on being awarded a Pathbreaker Award. “District Attorney Stephan has been a national leader in the fight to end sexual exploitation of children,”...

No monkey business with initiatives, court tells Legislature A state Supreme Court ruling Tuesday sends a police-deadly-force initiative to the November ballot, protects the initiative process, and establishes the supremacy of the state constitution over the whims of some legislators who find it inconvenient, says Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley....

A week ago I traveled to Olympia for the signing of two bills I sponsored. One bill concerned the use of body cameras for law enforcement and the other dealt with pretrial release conditions that trial court judges may impose. There are additional details about both bills later in this...

Measures would clarify rules on body-cam use and restore judges’ ability to protect the public from drunk drivers and other potentially dangerous offenders awaiting trial Today Sen. Mike Padden joined the governor, members of law enforcement and concerned citizens at a ceremony at the Capitol where two of his public-safety...

One of my chief frustrations this session was the way the Majority seemed determined to twist and torture – and sometimes completely circumvent – the constitution of the state in order to get its way. A key example of this was the Legislature’s response to Initiative 940 on police use...