Tag Archives: TVW

Three initiatives to Legislature to receive hearings next week

Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Padden’s subscribers February 22, 2024. To subscribe to Sen. Padden’s newsletter, click here.

Dear friends and neighbors,

After weeks of no action on any of the six initiatives sent to the Legislature early this session, Senate Democratic Leader Andy Billig of Spokane and House Speaker Laurie Jinkins announced last Friday that the Senate and House finally would schedule public hearings on three of the measures.

These three initiatives will receive public hearings next week:

  • Initiative 2111, which would ban any state or local government in Washington from imposing an income tax, will receive a public hearing in House Hearing Room A in the John L. O’Brien Building next Tuesday, February 27, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
  • Initiative 2081, which would give parents the right to review K-12 instructional materials and require parental notification of school-provided medical services, will be heard in House Hearing Room A in the John L. O’Brien Building next Wednesday, February 28, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
  • Initiative 2113, which would restore police pursuits, will receive a hearing Wednesday, February 28, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. in Senate Hearing Room 4 of the John A. Cherberg Building.

If you want to testify on any or all of the initiatives, either live or in written form, go here for more information about the process. Or you can use the links below:

Click here to sign in about Initiative 2111 (ban on income taxes in Washington).

Click here to sign in about Initiative 2081 (parental rights concerning their children’s education).

Click here to sign in about Initiative 2113 (restore police pursuits).

A Senate committee room in the John A. Cherberg Building. 

TVW’s viewing schedule for next week has not been released, but it is likely that TVW will televise all three hearings, either live or delayed. Go to TVW’s website to watch any or all of these important hearings online.

All three initiatives reportedly will be passed on Friday, March 1, by the legislative committees to which they were referred.

Democratic leaders said the other three initiatives sent to the Legislature this session will not receive public hearings, meaning they automatically go on the statewide ballot this November for Washington voters to decide. Those are:

  • I-2117 would repeal the state’s costly climate policy, called “cap-and-trade” by some but “cap-and-tax” or “cap-and-gouge,” by opponents who note this law has caused gas prices to rise substantially. The climate policy became state law in 2021 and took full effect early last year. It is now in the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee.
  • I-2109 would repeal the state capital-gains income tax that was passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature in 2021. It is now in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
  • I-2124 would allow people to opt out of the mandatory payroll tax for the state-run long-term care program. It is before the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee.

It’s very disappointing that our Democrat colleagues are waiting this long to consider measures literally sponsored by “the people of Washington.”. The petitions in support of these six measures each received more than 400,000 signatures and collectively over 2.6 million signatures in 2023. It’s especially disappointing that the other three initiatives won’t receive hearings at all.

Legislators have three options with initiatives to the Legislature: 1) adopt the initiative as written, in which case it becomes law; 2) refuse to pass it, which would result in the measure automatically being placed on the statewide ballot next fall; 3) propose and approve an alternative initiative, in which case both the original initiative and the alternative would both appear together on the fall statewide ballot.

If you have questions about how to participate in state government this year or thoughts to share on anything in this e-newsletter, please give me a call or send me an email.

Thank you, as always, for the honor of representing you in Olympia!

Best Regards,

Senator Mike Padden

Senate capital budget includes 4th District projects

With the end of this year’s legislative session 14 days away, the Legislature is in the midst of a very important and anticipated time – “budget week.”

This is the week when the Senate released its 2024 state supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets.

The Senate’s capital budget plan actually was released last Thursday and passed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday. It was approved by the full Senate 49-0 today.

The Senate’s supplemental capital budget plan, Senate Bill 5949, funds the construction and maintenance of state buildings, public-school matching grants, higher-education facilities, public lands, parks and other assets.

The Senate capital budget includes funding for some key projects in the 4th Legislative District.

There is $975,000 to help with the recovery from last summer’s Oregon Road wildfire near the community of Elk, as well as the Gray fire near Medical Lake. The wildfire-recovery effort will be administered by the Spokane Conservation District.

There is also $4.8 million to replace the boiler at the Kaiser Aluminum plant in Spokane Valley. This is about meeting state emission requirements, so this funding is a big win for Kaiser and its over 1,100 workers. Kaiser is matching the capital budget funds.

Other 4th District projects in the budget include:

  • $118,000 in phase two funding for Spokane Scale House Market in Spokane Valley. The 2023-25 budget included $750,000 for Spokane Scale House Market, located at Spokane Conservation District.
  • $150,000 for the city of Spokane Valley Cross Country Course.
  • $32,000 for the West Valley Centennial Middle School baseball field’s fences and dugout.

It’s a good capital budget for the 4th District and for the state, and it’s good to see taxpayers’ money coming back to be invested in local projects.

Pollinator bill buzzes through House committee

Mount Spokane High School senior Julia Costello testified this week before a House committee in support of Senate Bill 5934, which would help bees and other pollinators. 

It was good to see that the House Local Government Committee yesterday passed Senate Bill 5934, a bipartisan measure that aims to promote the use of pollinator-friendly shrubs or bushes in landscaping.

Mount Spokane High School senior Julia Costello, who approached me this past fall about sponsoring the bill, came over to Olympia to testify in favor of the proposal during its public hearing before the House committee on Tuesday. You can watch Julia’s testimony here. Julia made a compelling case why improving pollinators’ habitat is beneficial.

Julia is a Girl Scout working to finish requirements to earn the Gold Award, which is equivalent to earning the Eagle Scout award as a Boy Scout. One of Julia’s Gold Award requirements is working with a legislator on sponsoring a bill. It has been an honor to work with Julia on this measure.

Also testifying in favor of SB 5934 earlier this week in the House was Spokane Conservation District Director Vicki Carter. You may watch her testimony here. In late January, Vicki sent this letter in support of SB 5934.

Under the bill, a local government may encourage but need not require applicants for project or commercial-building permits to include pollinator-friendly plants in any landscaped area.

Pollinators, including bees and butterflies, play a very important role in the pollination of crops, contributing to the production of fruits, vegetables and nuts. In fact, 75% of the world’s food supply depends on pollinators. Taking steps to protect and enhance pollinators is very important to the environment but also important to agriculture practices.

House Housing Committee passes two Padden bills

On Monday, the House Housing Committee passed two bills that I’ve introduced this year, including one that helps encourage home ownership in Washington by making it easier to construct smaller condominium buildings. Both proposals had previously passed the Senate this session. 

The panel approved Senate Bill 5792, which would exclude buildings with 12 or fewer units that are no more than three stories high from the definition of “multiunit residential building” if one story is utilized for above- or below-ground parking or retail space.

This bill builds on last year’s successful measure to have more housing options for Washington’s middle class. Condominiums provide an affordable path to homeownership for first-time homebuyers.   

When SB 5792 received a public hearing in the Housing Committee last week, Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley testified in favor of it, as did an official with the Building Industry Association of Washington. Earlier this session, Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson testified in support of the bill.

The law created last year by Senate Bill 5058, which I also prime-sponsored, exempts buildings with 12 or fewer units that are no more than two stories high from the definition of “multiunit residential building.”

Washington has one of the lower homeownership rates in the nation, and both last year’s new law and this year’s bill can help our state address this problem. These smaller condominiums would still have the same building requirements that a townhouse or single-family house would have.

My other proposal approved by the Housing Committee is Senate Bill 5840, which would simplify the process of leasing property – a change requested by the Real Property section of the Washington State Bar Association to bring Washington in line with other states.

Washington is the rare state that requires commercial leases that are over a year to be acknowledged before a notary. Many legal documents do not need to be notarized. By eliminating the notary, these transactions will be a little easier.

Both SB 5792 and SB 5840 now go to the House Rules Committee, the final hurdle before bills reach the House floor for a full House vote.

Children’s Day in the Senate

Senator Padden’s granddaughter, Annie Kay Padden, sits at her grandpa’s desk on the Senate floor during Children’s Day in the Senate Monday. The senator’s son, Justin, and Justin’s wife, Whitney, brought Annie Kay to Olympia earlier this week. 

Two Senate pages sponsored this week

Senator Padden with Senate page Evangeline Morgan.

I’ve had the privilege of sponsoring two Spokane-area students who are serving as Senate pages this week.

One of them is Evangeline Morgan, a sophomore at St. Michael’s Academy. She is the daughter of Joe and Missy Morgan of Mead.  

The other page is Parker Ebel, a sophomore at Gonzaga Prep. Parker is the son of Erich and Kelly Ebel of Spokane. 

The Senate Page Program is an opportunity for Washington students to spend a week working in the Legislature. Students are responsible for transporting documents between offices, as well as delivering messages and mail. Pages spend time in the Senate chamber and attend page school to learn about parliamentary procedure and the legislative process. Students also draft their own bills and engage in a mock committee.

Thanks to Evangeline and Parker for doing such a good job as pages this week!

Senate page Parker Ebel sitting at Senator Padden’s floor desk.

Snake River dams continue to be key issue

Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River near Clarkston.

In recent years, the future of the four dams on the lower Snake River dam in southeast Washington has become a very controversial issue, with dam opponents, including Governor Inslee, pushing for their removal. Meanwhile, many people throughout eastern Washington have argued the dams should stay in place for several reasons, including the abundant clean hydropower they provide, as well as transportation for wheat barges and other vessels, recreation, irrigation and flood control.

All of my fellow Republicans in the Senate and I support the four Snake River dams and want them to remain. We recently sent this letter to U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers in support of the dams.  

This issue is not only important in Olympia but also in communities throughout our side of the Cascades. Earlier this week, the Spokane Valley City Council heard a presentation on preserving the lower Snake River dams. The presentation was by Chelsea Martin of Spokane Valley’s Modern Electric Water Company and Dan Wilson, past president of Local 338 of the Steelworkers Union. You may watch a video of their presentation here. 

Contact us!

If you have a question or concern about state government, please do not hesitate to contact our office. During the session we are conducting business from our Senate office in Olympia. We are here to serve you!

Phone: (360) 786-7606

Olympia Office: 215 Legislative Modular Building, Olympia, WA 98504-0404

Email address: Mike.Padden@leg.wa.gov

PLEASE NOTE: Any email or documents you provide to this office may be subject to disclosure under RCW 42.56. If you would prefer to communicate by phone, please contact Sen. Padden’s Olympia office at (360) 786-7606.

To request public records from Sen. Padden, please contact Randi Stratton, the designated public records officer for the Secretary of the Senate and Senate members.

 

Democrats refusing to act on six voter initiatives sent to Legislature

Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Padden’s subscribers February 1, 2024. To subscribe to Sen. Padden’s newsletter, click here.

Dear friends and neighbors,

It is looking more and more likely that the six initiatives now before the Legislature will wind up going before Washington voters this November.

In late December, petitions containing more than the required number of valid voter signatures for the six measures were delivered to the Office of Secretary of State’s Elections Division, which then conducted a standard signature-check process.

Sponsors said each of the six initiatives had at least 424,896 signatures, well over the minimum of 324,516 signatures needed to be certified, and more than the recommended total of 405,000. According to the initiatives’ sponsors, the combined total number of signatures for the six measures was 2,684,663. 

As Secretary of State Steve Hobbs certified each of the six initiatives, it was delivered to the Legislature for consideration.

This graphic shows that Washington voters have rejected 11 income-tax proposals. It is appearing more likely that they will have their say again this fall on a measure that would ban any local or state government in Washington from imposing an income tax.

By the end of this past week, all six initiatives had been certified and sent to the Legislature:

  • Initiative 2113 deals with police pursuits. It would erase certain requirements that since 2021 have prevented law-enforcement officers from pursuing a suspect unless they think someone has committed certain crimes, including a violent offense or driving while impaired. It has been sent to the Senate Law and Justice Committee for consideration.
  • I-2117 would repeal the state’s costly climate policy, called “cap-and-trade” by some but “cap-and-tax” or “cap-and-gouge,” by opponents who note this law has caused gas prices to rise substantially. The climate policy became state law in 2021 and took full effect early last year. It is now in the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee.
  • I-2081 would give parents the right to review K-12 instructional materials and require parental notification of school-provided medical services. It has been referred to the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.
  • I-2109 would repeal the state capital-gains tax that was passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature in 2021. It is now in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
  • I-2111 would ban any local or state government in our state from imposing an income tax. Like I-2109, this measure is in the Ways and Means Committee.
  • I-2124 would allow people to opt out of the mandatory payroll tax for the state-run long-term care program. It is before the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee.

Legislators have three options with initiatives to the Legislature: 1) adopt the initiative as written, in which case it becomes law; 2) refuse to pass it, which would result in the measure automatically being placed on the statewide ballot next fall; 3) propose and approve an alternative initiative, in which case both the original initiative and the alternative would both appear together on the fall statewide ballot.

Regretably, Senate Democrats so far have refused to even schedule public hearings on any of the six initiatives. Any initiative not enacted this session will be placed on the statewide ballot this fall for you and other voters to decide.      

If you have questions about how to participate in state government this year or thoughts to share on anything in this e-newsletter, please give me a call or send me an email. 

Thank you, as always, for the honor of representing you in Olympia!

Best Regards,

Senator Mike Padden

Panel passes pollinator proposal

A bill I introduced at the request of a Mount Spokane High School student to help bees and other pollinators is buzzing through the Senate this year.

The Senate Local Government, Land Use and Tribal Affairs Committee on Tuesday approved Senate Bill 5934, a bipartisan measure that aims to promote the use of pollinator-friendly shrubs or bushes in landscaping.

Mount Spokane High School senior Julia Costello approached me this past fall about sponsoring the bill.

Julia is a Girl Scout working to complete the requirements to earn the Gold Award, which is equivalent to earning the Eagle Scout award as a Boy Scout. One of Julia’s Gold Award requirements is working with a legislator on sponsoring a bill. Julia made a compelling case why improving pollinators’ habitat is beneficial. It was nice for Julia to see this bill pass out of committee. It has been an honor and pleasure to work with her.

Before passing SB 5934, the Senate panel approved an amendment that establishes that a local government may encourage, but does not have to require, applicants for project or commercial-building permits to include pollinator-friendly plants in any landscaped area. 

Spokane Conservation District Director Vicki Carter sent a letter in support of SB 5934.    

The proposal will be sent to the Senate Rules Committee, which serves as the final hurdle before bills reach the Senate floor for a vote by the entire Senate.

Gonzaga Prep student serves as page

Last week I had the pleasure of sponsoring Anthony DeGon (in photo above), a sophomore at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, during his week as a Senate page at the Capitol.

Anthony told me he is very interested in representative government, so I think he really enjoyed his time here in Olympia and seeing how the Legislature works.

He enjoys playing football, soccer, skating and reading in his free time. He also is an active member of the Prep debate team. He wants to attend college to further his future by studying political psychology. Anthony is the son of Alice DeGon. 

The Senate Page Program is an opportunity for Washington students to spend a week working in the Legislature. Students are responsible for transporting documents between offices, as well as delivering messages and mail. Pages spend time in the Senate chamber and attend page school to learn about parliamentary procedure and the legislative process. Students also draft their own bills and engage in a mock committee.

Committee OKs Padden health-care bill

Last Thursday, the Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee passed Senate Bill 5920, my proposal that would allow our state Department of Health to have more psychiatric beds in our state. 

This proposal would reinstate authority for the Department of Health until 2028 to grant certificate-of-need exemptions related to increasing psychiatric-bed capacity by allowing additional psychiatric beds or construction of a new psychiatric hospital.  

A couple of years ago, a company was deterred from building a psychiatric hospital in Spokane Valley due to the certificate-of-need process. It was built in California instead, which does not require a certificate of need. The federal government figured out long ago that certificates of need do not work; it repealed federal certificate-of-need requirements in 1987.

SB 5920 addresses a need for vulnerable people and illustrates how certificates of need hurt Washingtonians. The need for more beds is clear, and the certificate-of-need law is an unnecessary barrier. States with these laws have higher costs and fewer medical services.

Two weeks ago, Elizabeth Hovde, who testified in favor of SB 5920 during its public hearing before the Health and Long Term Care Committee, wrote about the bill for the Washington Policy Center. You may read her article here.

TVW interview on “ditch the switch” bill

Senator Manka Dhingra (left) and I were interviewed last week by The Impact host Mike McClanahan about SB 5795, our legislation to “ditch the switch” by keeping Washington on year-round standard time.    

Last Wednesday, I had the privilege of doing a sit-down interview at the TVW headquarters in Olympia for the weekly show “The Impact”. Host Mike McClanahan had invited Redmond Senator Manka Dhingra and me to discuss Senate Bill 5795, the proposal that we are sponsoring this year to “ditch the switch”  by keeping Washington on year-round standard time instead of going back and forth between standard time and daylight saving time each year. You may watch our interview here.

“The Impact” airs on TVW on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Unfortunately, the chair of the Senate State Government and Elections Committee, Senator Sam Hunt of Olympia, after originally scheduling SB 5795 for a vote, chose not to bring up SB 5795 for a vote before the committee cutoff yesterday. Unless something significant happens between now and the end of session, it appears that the “ditch the switch” bill will need to wait till next year, which means that Washingtonians will be forced to continue switching between standard time and daylight saving time each year. 

State senators send letter to Congress in support of Snake River dams

Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. 

One federal issue that has the attention of many Washington state legislators is the fate of the four lower Snake River dams between Clarkston and the Tri-Cities. Last December’s announcement by the Biden administration that it and four Northwest tribes were “partnering to restore wild salmon habitats in the Columbia River Basin” while exploring the possibility of breaching the four dams in the future has been a major concern for state lawmakers, especially those from eastern Washington.

That is why I spearheaded a letter last week in support of the four Snake River dams, signed by 20 state Senate Republicans members. The letter was sent to 5th District U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the committee’s ranking member and chair and ranking member of the House Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee.   

Earlier this week, I met with two officials with Modern Electric Water Company – an electric and water utility in Spokane Valley – who visited Olympia, General Manager Joe Morgan and Government Relations and Communications Coordinator Chelsea Martin. Chelsea last week sent a letter of support for the dams on behalf of Modern Electric Water Company to Representative McMorris Rodgers and the other three U.S. House members.    

Senator Padden this week talked about energy issues and the four lower Snake River dams with two officials from Spokane Valley’s Modern Electric Water Company, General Manager Joe Morgan (left) and Government Relations and Communications Coordinator Chelsea Martin (middle).  

Contact us!

If you have a question or concern about state government, please do not hesitate to contact our office. During the session we are conducting business from our Senate office in Olympia. We are here to serve you!

Phone: (360) 786-7606

Olympia Office: 215 Legislative Modular Building, Olympia, WA 98504-0404

Email address: Mike.Padden@leg.wa.gov

PLEASE NOTE: Any email or documents you provide to this office may be subject to disclosure under RCW 42.56. If you would prefer to communicate by phone, please contact Sen. Padden’s Olympia office at (360) 786-7606.

To request public records from Sen. Padden, please contact Randi Stratton, the designated public records officer for the Secretary of the Senate and Senate members.