Mike Padden

The 2022 session train keeps chugging along, and the end of the line is in sight. We have exactly one week to go until the scheduled end of this year’s regular session. Tomorrow is the final cut-off deadline to approve bills that originated in the House of Representatives, and for...

As we enter the homestretch of the 2022 legislative session, it’s budget week in Olympia. In odd-numbered years, the Legislature is required to create and pass three budgets: an operating budget, a transportation budget, and a capital budget. In the even-numbered years, like this one, lawmakers use the short session...

As we wrap up the sixth week of this 2022 legislative session, we have now passed the “cutoff” for Senate policy bills to move forward from the Senate, and likewise for bills in the House of Representatives. The good news: Some really good Senate bills survived the voting deadline and...

Today, as the Senate wrapped up its work for the year on Senate-sponsored legislation, it gave its approval to a measure sponsored by Sen. Mike Padden that would make it a crime to interfere with a firefighter or emergency medical services provider in the performance of their duty. “I was...

Lovick amendment would add treatment sentencing alternative In its final vote of Wednesday night, the Washington State Senate unanimously approved Senate Bill 5054, a measure aimed at strengthening the state’s felony-DUI law and reducing the pain and suffering faced by victims of impaired drivers. The 48-0 vote sent the proposal to...

We’ve almost reached the end of the fifth week of the 2022 Legislature. Only four weeks remain in the regular session. The majority of this week has been spent on the Senate floor, voting on bills that were advanced by the policy and fiscal committees. The universe of measures we...

Our state is blessed with an abundance and variety of natural resources that make it an ideal home for sportsmen and recreational enthusiasts. In 2005 the bipartisan Washington State Sportsmen’s Caucus was formed to help make sure that the interests of anglers, hunters, shooters, boaters, ATV enthusiasts and others are...

The Senate’s majority Democrats tonight voted to approve legislation that would allow a child of any age to provide consent for medical procedures and care without seeking the consent or even informing the child’s parents or legal guardians. The controversial measure would also grant blanket immunity to a health-care provider...

On Friday, January 28, which would have been Sen. Doug Ericksen’s 53rd birthday, the Senate took time to honor and remember his life and accomplishments. After representing Whatcom County’s 42nd District in the state House and Senate for a total of 23 years, Doug passed away in December after contracting...