Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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This year’s legislative session is under way at the Capitol. It began at noon on Jan. 9 with many of us, me included, taking the oath of office. Two days later the governor and the executive branch’s other elected officials were sworn in, followed by the governor’s State-of-the-State speech. Aside from the ceremonies, it was a typical first week in that we quickly got down to the business of introducing and hearing legislation in committees. As you know, I am always glad to spend as much time as I can with people who come...
There’s nothing like a winter bird-hunting trip to offset all the activity that goes with celebrating Christmas and the coming of the New Year. I managed to put farming chores and the Legislature on the back burner long enough to break the shotgun out more than once recently. First came a duck hunt on the Yakima River near the Tri-Cities, and then some pheasant hunting off to the east, aided by my four-legged friend Colt, the faithful Vizsla. Besides winding down from the holidays it allowed me to see the ongoing benefits o...
I am glad to be sharing legislative updates with you again. From July to December, I and other senators who were seeking re-election had to follow limits set by the Legislature on sending information to constituents. Now that the election is far enough past us, I am allowed to comment on what the results mean, and what is on the agenda for 2017. If there was any doubt left that Governor Jay Inslee is a typical tax-and-spend, big-government liberal, he did away with that earlier this month by proposing the largest tax...
Fishing season in our local lakes opened this past Saturday, and like many others, the Schoeslers took to the water hoping to land enough trout for dinner – except in our case, it was four generations of our family: Dad, me, daughter Veronica, son Cody and grandkids Kaegen, Macy and Elyse. Is there any better way to spend part of a Saturday, no matter how many fish end up on the stringer? A guide to Washington’s presidential primary: The presidential campaigns are all over the news, especially as they relate to primaries and...
The 2016 legislative session has been over for a little more than three weeks. It has been a joy to be back in Adams County and on the farm, although I have made sure to also keep an eye on the governor’s signing of bills we passed during the 20-day overtime. On Monday afternoon the governor signed the supplemental budget that contains the spending adjustments we agreed on this year. He surprised many of us by vetoing several line items, which throws the budget out of whack by around $200 million! When that disappointing n...
Twenty-four years as a state legislator and two years as Senate majority leader have put me on a first-name basis with people with some pretty impressive résumés: leaders of the biggest industries and companies in our state, members of Congress, and so on. You know, folks whose accomplishments in life are easy to admire. But one of the people I have admired most is someone I met not as a legislator but as a Ritzville native and a member of our local Zion Philadelphia Church: Rudolph “Rudy” Thaut. Mr. Thaut passed away earli...
The term “unintended consequence” is mentioned from time to time in the Legislature. It generally refers to a negative aspect in a new law – something no one had foreseen until the law went into effect, which needs to be fixed with another piece of legislation. Our Senate majority knew the unprecedented two-year tuition cut we enabled at Washington State University and our other state-run colleges and universities would allow more students to pursue a college degree. It would help them avoid taking on more debt through stude...
The Legislature has adjourned for the year. We wrapped up our voting late Tuesday night, on the 20th day of an overtime session that would not have been necessary if my leadership counterparts in the House of Representatives had simply followed the rules about preparing a budget proposal. Now that the 2016 legislative session has ended, the scoring has begun. Groups representing business, labor, environmental and other interests will look at voting records and decide who deserves their praise. Newspaper editorials are...
While the speed limits on our roads may be inconvenient at times, they exist for a reason. You can complain that the speed limit is too restrictive (and bills to raise speed limits on certain roads have been introduced during this legislative term) but that’s no excuse for ignoring the law. A 2012 state law places a limit on government spending. Not only does the budget have to balance for the two-year cycle it covers (2015-17, currently), but the spending level it sets also can’t exceed the amount of available revenue exp...
The two Senate committees that address fiscal issues – Transportation, and the one I serve on, Ways and Means – have joined the policy committees in taking a break so the entire Senate may go to work fulltime in the Senate chamber. We’ll have through March 11 to decide which bills move across the Capitol Rotunda to the House of Representatives. This past week, with the policy committees already on pause, the Senate’s days were pretty much divided between action on the “floor” of the Senate and work in the fiscal committees....
Ninth District, Senate Republican Leader The second week of our eight-week legislative session wrapped up last week. The Senate’s 12 policy committees are going at full speed, considering they’re already halfway through the time allowed for taking action on Senate legislation. The two budget committees, which have until Feb. 11 to move Senate bills forward, will shift into high gear next week. I wouldn’t have guessed that the minimum wage in our state would be a hot-button issue in this year’s legislative session, but the...
On the Monday after Thanksgiving I will be back at the Capitol to begin a “special” session of the Legislature. I’ve been through plenty of these in 19 years, and most of them aren’t all that special – they tend to happen only because the Legislature failed to get its work done in the time allotted by the state constitution for regular legislative sessions (105 days in odd-numbered years, 60 days in even-numbered years). Of course, some of the special sessions have been more deserving of the name. In November 2007, for examp...
Sept. 16, 2011 – For nearly all of my 19 years as your legislator, September has brought what are called “assembly days.” That’s when legislative committees assemble at the Capitol, usually over two or three days, to discuss actions they’ve taken and actions that are on the horizon. It’s a “preview-review” sort of meeting that is productive but not what I would call essential. The September assembly days were canceled last year to save money, and again this year – a sensible move. Even so, there’s no shortage of news co...