Legislative Commentary

A year ago today the longest legislative session in state history finally ended.

It was no fun being away from the farm during the run-up to harvest, but at least the heavy lifting we did in 2017 had much to do with the 2018 session ending on schedule.

This year’s wheat harvests are already under way, with asparagus and cherry harvests winding down, and the talk I’m hearing so far is positive from the areas that usually come in earlier.

By the time you read this my own harvest may be going, hopefully a safe and fire-free harvest, which is the same thing I wish for my friends and constituents.

Earlier last week I made a quick run to Olympia for meetings of the Select Committee on Pension Policy and the Senate’s Facilities and Operations Committee.

The pension-policy topics tend to be technical (annuities, “month of death” and “written spousal content” were on the latest agenda), but considering the state-run pension systems involve billions of taxpayer dollars and many thousands of public employees, I take them very seriously.

The F&O committee, as it’s known, is made up of the top leaders of the Senate Republicans and the Senate Democrats. This time we approved new policies about how people are to conduct themselves in the workplace.

Although allegations in news stories late last year involved current and former House members, a look at our Senate policies showed there was room for improvement.

The changes I voted to adopt were driven by members of our staff and affect only the Senate, but the hope is that standards of conduct will become consistent across the Capitol and up-to-date.

The drive back to Adams County included my first visit to Boeing’s aircraft factory in Renton.

I’d been to the plant in Everett, which produces the 747, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner.

The Renton plant builds the 737, the world’s most popular jet, and has since 1967.

Like agriculture, aerospace is a cornerstone of our state’s economy, and I appreciate any opportunity to learn more about this important sector.

I’ll wrap up this brief report with a few more quick items:

Earlier I mentioned the “heavy lifting” we did in 2017 on reforming the state’s education-funding system, part of which was driven by the state Supreme Court’s decision in the McCleary case.

In the latest of his excellent series of “Economic Sense” policy papers, the Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Senator John Braun, offers his common-sense opinion on how to avoid a repeat.

At the end of June the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that requiring public employees to belong to labor unions and pay fees to them is unconstitutional.

But it seems at least one Olympia-based labor union that relies on state-employee membership is being less than helpful to those who wish to become ex-members.

I’ve written to Governor Inslee several times since the decision in the Janus case was issued, about the importance of standing with workers who simply want to exercise their new right to decide if the benefits of union membership are worth the cost to their paychecks.

So far he hasn’t responded, which hints at whose side he’s on.


If you travel on U.S. Highway 395 and have ideas for making safety improvements, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to participate in the state Department of Transportation’s “online open house” before it closes Sunday.

Visit https://395openhouse.com/ to provide feedback.

The Connecting Washington package adopted by the Legislature in 2015 included $15 million for safety improvements on Highway 395, and the more input DOT receives from the people who use the highway, the better.