In the home stretch There is less than one week left in the 2020 legislative session. On Friday the Senate completed its work on legislation not necessary to implement the budget that was passed and sent to us by the House of Representatives. On Saturday, the Senate was in session to begin what we... Read More...

No love for the taxpayer Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope this update finds you well and your life full of love and joy. Week five of the 2020 legislative session was spent mostly on the Senate floor voting on bills previously approved by their assigned committees. Several of my bills survived the cut-off deadlines and... Read More...

Tri-Cities Day comes to Olympia! Week three is in the books, and what a week it was! Not only did three of my bills advance in the legislative process, but the Senate also passed my resolution declaring January to be Human Trafficking Awareness Month. The Senate also had a vigorous debate over taxes, as the... Read More...

Bills, bills, bills… We just wrapped up week two of the legislative session, which means we are a quarter of the way through. It’s amazing how much we can fit into a short session. Sometimes that’s good news and sometimes it’s not. This week, we spent time in committee meetings, discussing and amending... Read More...

2020 Session is underway! Senate Republicans are listening to you! With only 60 days allotted by the state constitution for the “short,” even-year session, lawmakers arrived in Olympia this week ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work. For those of us legislators who are committed to listening to the people of... Read More...

The final stretch… We are through the last full week of the 2018 regular legislative session. There are now just six days until the scheduled end of the session on Thursday, March 8. Democrats in the House and Senate have each passed their own supplemental budget plans. The two chambers will now be... Read More...

A better way on the budget Republican alternative offers tax relief, tuition breaks and investments in mental health and special education Time is ticking down on the 2018 session, and last week, all eyes in the Capitol were focused on the state budget. On Friday the Senate Democrats passed their supplemental budget proposals. While there are some... Read More...

$2.4 billion more in tax revenue pours in We have reached the halfway point on the legislative calendar, as the Senate has now completed work on its own bills and is now exclusively considering bills passed in the House of Representatives, along with those necessary to pass the supplemental budgets. While many good bills died because of the... Read More...

What they did while you were sleeping… For all but political junkies, TVW (the state-supported public-affairs network) usually makes for a good cure for insomnia. On Wednesday night, however, things got a bit heated, as Democrats tried to push through a controversial bill aimed at forcing homecare workers into labor unions. While reasonable folks can disagree on... Read More...