Legislative Commentary

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 over to the Capitol from our district.

The first week of the session generally doesn’t bring a lot of folks from back home, though, so the visitor list had more to do with my job as majority leader.

The governor came calling shortly before I was sworn in for a new term; I was pleased to meet with our new Republican state treasurer, Duane Davidson, and our returning Republican secretary of state, Kim Wyman, and with a group from Boeing, which is so important to our state’s economy.

The Boeing folks are understandably concerned about Governor Inslee’s push for new taxes, including a “carbon tax” that is really a new tax on energy.

I think they’d be glad to know that one of the first things our Senate majority did this session was to make it more difficult to approve tax increases. The details are next.

Senate majority takes action to defend taxpayers

It’s my 25th session as a legislator, and someone told me this week how that’s a record for the 9th Legislative District by more than a few years.

All I know is that it is still a great honor for me to represent and serve my friends and neighbors in our part of the state.

I wish all that experience made it easier to predict the outcome of a legislative session, but I know it always depends on the issues of the year and the attitudes and personalities of the people debating those issues.

On Wednesday the Senate took care of some first-week housekeeping duties by adopting the rules we will use to conduct our business for the next two years.

With support from each of our Senate majority’s 25 members, we renewed the rule that requires a two-thirds majority vote to bring tax legislation to a final vote in the Senate.

That means 33 votes out of 49 senators, not just a simple majority of 25.

A news reporter told me members of the Democrat minority responded by predicting they’ll be able to hold Fourth of July barbecues in Olympia – implying legislators will still be in session then, long past when we are scheduled to adjourn in late April.

I didn’t go to Olympia to fail, and I have no interest in being at the Capitol beyond the 105 days allotted in the state constitution for our regular session.

It’s disappointing to think that Democrats in the Senate minority and the House would have an attitude that already has them remarking about summer cookouts on the Capitol lawn.

The “state of the state”

The governor traditionally addresses a joint session of the Legislature during the first week of each legislative session, in what is known as the “State of the State” speech.

It is the state counterpart to the U.S. president’s State of the Union address.

After Governor Inslee offered his perspective this past Wednesday, the news media asked me and other Republican leaders if we liked anything in the speech. I told them how I was encouraged by two things.

First, the governor sounded like he is open to considering other ways to accomplish full funding of our K-12 system. Meaning he is not locked into the approach unveiled in December, which he tied to a record $8.7 billion tax proposal.

Second, the governor acknowledged the value of what school districts and lawmakers refer to as CTE, short for Career and Technical Education programs.

Our majority has long recognized that college is not for every Washington student – many want a career working their hands, or out in the field, and they don’t need a bachelor’s degree to land what are often good-paying jobs.

We’ve run into roadblocks when looking out for CTE programs, and I hope the governor’s words represent a new attitude toward this critical part of our education system.

Inslee’s remarks were otherwise predictable, including several slaps at the incoming Trump administration.

Naturally he never mentioned the gigantic tax package he proposed in December, choosing instead to describe it simply as “better ways to finance our schools.”

The governor used the words “economy” and “job’ (in an employment sense) only twice each in his speech.

I wonder if he truly understands that a strong Washington economy, not higher taxes, is the best way to solve all the challenges he described.

Openings available for Senate pages in 2017

Our office is accepting applications from teenagers from the Ninth Legislative District who want to spend a week serving as Senate pages during the 2017 legislative session in Olympia.

Openings are available throughout the Legislature’s regular session, which will end in late April.

A page’s week is fun but busy; they meet others their age, earn some money, and have an experience that they’ll always remember.

Students interested in becoming a Senate page must be at least 14 years old and have not yet turned 17.

They need to fill out an application form and send it to our Olympia office at PO Box 40409, Olympia, WA 98504-0409.

Visit http://leg.wa.gov/Senate/Administration/PageProgram/Pages/default.aspx for application forms and more information about page-program requirements.

Forms also are available from Krista Winters in my office, at [email protected] or 360-786-7620.