Legislative Commentary

The 2014 legislative session begins in a month. Because we won’t be assembling new state budgets from scratch, the upcoming session is scheduled to last just 60 days rather than the 105 allowed by the constitution in budget-writing years.

My one prediction for the 2014 session is this: Our bipartisan Senate majority, now in its second year will continue to concentrate on encouraging job creation, and improving our state’s public-school system, and spending tax dollars wisely. There are many other issues on the table, I realize, but these three need to remain our priorities.

Speaking of schools, I’m pleased to note that our legislative district is now home to not one, not two, but three state high-school football champions. The Freeman High School Scotties, Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos and Chiawana Riverhawks from Pasco all emerged victorious from the recent state playoffs in Tacoma. It’s the second consecutive state title for Ritzville, my alma mater, and for head coach Greg Whitmore, who is a close and longtime friend. Congratulations to all of the players and coaches!

This is my final commentary for 2013, so I will close by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

Transportation, aerospace make for busy fall


Typically fall is a quieter time – the harvest is in, the planting is completed and there are plenty of days for hunting and other outdoor activities. Not this year: Ruger the faithful hound and I were able to go looking for pheasant just two days, on opening day and the day before Thanksgiving. That’s because it was probably the busiest fall I’ve had in my legislative career.

First, you may recall from my previous report how our Senate coalition arranged meetings in 10 cities statewide, to listen to people’s ideas about improving our transportation network. Those wrapped up in mid-October, and during the following month the feedback from those forums was factored into a new transportation proposal. The co-chair of the Senate Transportation Committee took it to the negotiating table in Olympia; I and other coalition leaders have joined him there for talks with representatives from the governor’s office, the House of Representatives and the Senate minority.

Time will tell where this effort ends up, but I can tell you already that the Senate proposal is miles ahead of what the governor and the House majority were pushing during the legislative session. That’s mostly because the Senate package includes cost-saving reforms and would complete projects – not just get them started. Then, in the first part of November, the governor called the Legislature back to the Capitol for what turned out to be a three-day special session. We adopted a pair of measures intended to attract more aerospace jobs in general and specifically the next phase of Boeing’s 777 jetliner, and the work to assemble it would mean thousands of jobs for Washington.

I was among those who pointed out, prior to the voting, how other Washington employers should be receiving the same level of legislative consideration. That’s because the same factors that drive up the cost of doing business for a big aircraft manufacturer in the Puget Sound area also affect the bottom line of family businesses in our region of the state.

Majority Coalition Caucus marks one-year anniversary

It was a little more than one year ago that my fellow Republican senators chose me as their new leader, after my friend Sen. Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla decided not to seek another term at the helm. Soon after that an unprecedented opportunity presented itself: if two Democratic senators who shared many of our priorities were to join forces with our 23 Republican senators, we could create a bipartisan coalition that would hold a majority of the Senate’s 49 seats.

On Dec. 10, 2012, I was at the Capitol to take part in an announcement that reverberated through Olympia: the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus had formed and would take charge of the Senate the following month. This past Tuesday, when I was already in Olympia for a pension-policy committee meeting and to continue transportation negotiations, several of us who were at the Capitol marked the MCC’s first anniversary; click here for more on that (and see photo).

Republicans hadn’t been on the governing side of the Senate for 10 years, so my first year at the top has been particularly busy.

Still, I can’t say enough about the big things our coalition has already accomplished: a billion dollars in additional funding for public schools, in response to a Supreme Court ruling; a new state budget that was balanced without having to extend taxes that were supposed to be temporary; and most of all, an increase in support for our state colleges and universities that allowed them to freeze tuition for the first time since 1986. Looking back, I’ve been able to honor the values of our Ninth Legislative District while doing what a leader must – which is to get it right for our state as a whole. On to 2014!