Schoesler addresses crowd at Chamber

Senator Mark Schoesler addressed a large crowd of community members during the general membership meeting of the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce on July 11 to discuss the outcome of the two special sessions.

For Schoesler, the two main highlights coming from the special sessions revolved around the reopening of Lyons Ferry as a state park and no tuition increases for colleges. Schoesler believes both the state park and eliminating the increase in tuition helps all of the residents in his district continue have opportunities available to them.

“The thing that I was most proud of first time since 1986 is there will be no tuition increase on any college student in the state of Washington,” Schoesler said, as applause began in the crowd.

Schoesler continued on discuss the reopening of Lyons Ferry as a state park, a change that will be happening sometime within the next biennium. The creation of a state park will help bring more people to the area and will benefit the three counties surrounding the park, Schoesler explained. It has been more than 10 years since Lyons Ferry operated as a state park.

During the first special session, Schoesler explained that not a lot of headway was made for having a balanced budget, and Schoesler wanted to continue to work towards a solution but the governor imposed a two-week break between sessions. The two-week break created a freeze in decisions, Schoesler said, and he would have preferred to continue working as the July 1 deadline was looming.

As the Senate Republican leader, Schoesler was charged with the task of a creating a coalition in the Senate, a task he proved to be successful with. The creation of the coalition consisted of chairman, co-chairman and Democrats, and Schoesler said the group proved successful because they worked together.

“I can honestly say we never lost a bill on the floor of the Senate, or a single amendment anytime we walked on the floor. And that was a very interesting process,” Schoesler said.

Schoesler continued on to explain that the Senate is now required to create a four-year balanced budget compared to the previous budget based on a biennium. Based on the McCleary case, the budget also secured an honest one million dollars for education, Schoesler said.

Education funding was one of the largest issues on the floor, and one of the issues that caused the most concern statewide, Schoesler said. Leaders continually heard from school administrators who were concerned about funding at the local levels, and the budget should help schools continue to fund programs they had in the past, with the focus being on transportation.

Another highlight for Schoesler in the special sessions was assisting a bill with ties to Ritzville. Schoesler said the first bill he worked on at the Senate stemmed from local concern, and it was nice to be a part of a bill he knew was directly affecting his hometown community.

Schoesler took the time to answer questions from the crowd, with the majority of the feedback being from community members taking the time to thank Schoesler for his continued service and willingness to help the community.

For more information on the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce, call 659-1936 or go to http://visitritzville.com.