The third week of the 2015 session is almost over and things are beginning to move quickly in Olympia. We have been busy this week, hearing bills in various committees, meeting with visitors to the Legislature and promoting good legislation to improve the lives and safety of Washingtonians. We’ve also...

Members of the Majority Coalition Caucus have announced that Spokane Valley Sen. Mike Padden will continue to serve as chairman of the Law and Justice Committee, which deals with civil and criminal law and will assume responsibility for corrections issues. “In the last two years, the Senate Law and Justice...

Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley and chairman of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, offered this statement following today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that certain corporations may claim religious-freedom protections. “For the second week in a row the court has found that the Obama administration overreached its authority. Today’s ruling...

Sen. Mike Padden, Chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, announced today that the interim committee work session scheduled for June 16 will now include a discussion of the independence of hearings officers at state agencies. The topic was added in response to a recent whistleblower complaint filed by...

Sen. Mike Padden was among a majority of Senate Law and Justice Committee members who today endorsed legislation to require that an underage girl’s parent or guardian is notified before she can have an abortion. Padden, R-Spokane Valley, said the vote on Senate Bill 5156 completes the work he and...

As published here Jan. 24, 2014 in the Tacoma News Tribune Court dictates school funding? What’s next? By MIKE PADDEN, MATT MANWELLER AND TERRY NEALEY There is a clear principle outlined in the Washington Constitution, based on our federal model, called the separation of powers. This is the system of checks...

Sen. Mike Padden will devote the Senate Law and Justice Committee’s Jan. 29 meeting to public hearings on the two gun-rights initiatives before the Legislature. His panel will begin taking testimony about Initiative 591 and Initiative 594 at 1:30 p.m. that day in Senate Hearing Room 1. Padden, R-Spokane Valley,...

Of the 45 states that allow felony charges for those accused of driving under the influence, none is more lenient than Washington; Sen. Mike Padden’s effort to change that dangerous distinction received strong support during a Senate committee hearing today. Padden, architect of the sweeping anti-DUI legislation Washington lawmakers adopted...

Washington State’s 4th District Senator, Mike Padden, Chair of the Senate Law and Justice Committee, talks about his bill to make state anti-trafficking laws include expanding the definition of “communication with a minor for immoral purposes” to cover the purchase or sale of commercial sex acts and sex trafficking; add...