Dear friends and neighbors,
We are well into August, with all that summer brings — fun days for families visiting state parks, children home from school, and legislators preparing our bills and budget items for the next legislative session. But not everything about summer is good news, and a lot of it intersects closely with our work in state government.
I am sure many of us have read about the tragic fires in Spokane, where more than 800 homes and structures have been destroyed, as well as the fires going on in the wildlands of the Central Cascades and Eastern Washington. More than 770,000 acres across the state have already burned this year, the third-most on record, and we still have weeks of warm weather ahead.
I want to give a special thank you to the firefighters working at all levels of government to respond to these fires and keep people safe. It is difficult, dangerous work, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. Gov. Ferguson and our congressional delegation are working to bring disaster response funding from the federal government to help, but I know our state government needs to step up as well. That means helping with recovery for those who have lost their homes, but more importantly, investing in resilience for the future so we are better prepared for natural disasters, which will only become more common with our changing climate.
Washington is a state where our communities and lives are deeply intertwined with nature, and disaster can strike anywhere. We saw this with the river flooding last December in Western Washington, and we see it now with the fires in Central and Eastern Washington. Our leaders on the state capital budget, which invests in infrastructure and construction, have already highlighted natural disaster response and readiness as a priority for next year’s funding. I will certainly be tracking how we can help in the Senate Housing Committee, where we consider policy bills around housing, and how we can support resilient and fire-safe homes and communities.
While there is not currently a major heatwave or smoke immediately in the forecast, these can impact our community any time the wind blows smoke from the east towards us. There are still weeks before the fall and winter rains that will extinguish these wildfires, and we all need to be prepared for future smoke events.
I encourage you to keep a couple links on hand for information in case of a smoke event — the state Department of Ecology, the Department of Natural Resources, and Thurston County Public Health all have helpful information on current air quality, forecasts for coming conditions, and tools to prepare your home and your family for smoke and bad air quality.
In case of a late-summer heatwave, Thurston County maintains a list of local cooling centers here. We have also passed legislation to protect access to air conditioning, which is not just a luxury and can be lifesaving for our more elderly neighbors. Just this year, we passed SB 6200, legislation to ensure tenants and mobile home occupants cannot be prevented by their landlords from installing air conditioning. In 2023, I co-sponsored legislation we passed to help ensure that people do not have their utilities turned off during extreme heat events, just like during extreme cold in winter.
I hope you and your family and friends are staying healthy and safe, and thank you for taking a moment to read this! Let me know your thoughts, on this or any other topics. Your feedback is always welcome and you can reach me at Jessica.Bateman@leg.wa.gov.
In service,
-Jess
