{"id":3077,"date":"2026-01-23T17:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/bateman\/?p=3077"},"modified":"2026-01-23T17:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:33:10","slug":"town-hall-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/bateman\/2026\/01\/23\/town-hall-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"Town hall recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear friends and neighbors,<\/p>\n

I hope you had a chance to watch our online town hall with Reps. Beth Doglio and Lisa Parshley last Monday night. If you missed it, it\u2019s on YouTube here<\/a>. We answered pre-submitted and live questions on every topic from banning plastic bags, to data centers and AI, protecting access to vaccines, face masks for ICE and law enforcement, rural land use, and more. I\u2019m glad to have constituents who are so engaged in the legislative process and informed on the issues before us!<\/p>\n

\"\"The first three weeks of a short session are mostly spent on committee work \u2013 hearing bills and moving them to the floor where they can be voted on by the full Senate<\/em><\/p>\n

Police training in Lacey<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not everything we do during session happens on the capitol campus. On Tuesday, I brought one of my colleagues from another district for a visit to the new Lacey police station and training center which is under construction. Once completed it will be one of the most modern law enforcement facilities in the state. It will be more than just a police station \u2013 it\u2019ll have space for important behavioral health work, better evidence handling and storage, and improved training areas. We all want to be safe in our communities, and part of that is effective, well-trained law enforcement. Better training also helps ensure they\u2019re policing in the best possible manner, with de-escalation techniques to reduce violent confrontations and working with behavioral health professionals when they encounter someone having a personal crisis.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m working with one of my Republican colleagues, Sen. Drew MacEwen from Shelton, on a bill<\/a> to make Lacey one of our state\u2019s regional training centers for new law enforcement officers. We have law enforcement training centers in Arlington, Pasco, Vancouver, Burien, and Spokane, so anyone seeking to become a police officer must go to one of those places for weeks of academy classes. Creating training opportunities here in Lacey will help people in the South Sound \u2013 not only will it improve local recruitment and allow people to get trained closer to home, but it\u2019ll also reduce wait times to get into the academy by expanding statewide capacity. I\u2019m hoping we can find funding for this new training center this year, or if not, in the next full biennial budget.<\/p>\n

53rd<\/sup> anniversary of Roe v. Wade<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This week saw the 53rd<\/sup> anniversary of the Roe v. Wade<\/em> decision. While it was overturned by the federal Supreme Court in the 2022 Dobbs<\/em> decision, here in Washington we remain committed to defending reproductive health care and the right to abortion. I know it is critical that everyone in our state \u2014 and those coming from other states \u2014 can get the care they need. We have already passed major protections, including the Shield Law<\/a>, My Health My Data<\/a>, eliminating cost-sharing for abortion<\/a> in health care coverage, the Affirm Washington Abortion Access Act<\/a>, and much more, but the work is far from over.<\/p>\n

I have two additional bills on reproductive rights this year \u2013 SB 5917<\/a>, to distribute mifepristone pills purchased by the state to health care providers who can get them directly to people in need, and SB 6182<\/a>, which would create a fee on health insurance plans of less than $1 a month and direct the money to an \u201cabortion savings fund\u201d that would help fund reproductive health care providers like Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n

At a time when so many of our rights are under attack, Washington must stand strong as a national leader in protecting reproductive rights and access to abortion care.<\/p>\n

As always, thank you for reading. I hope these updates are helpful, and if you ever have questions or feedback about our work in the Legislature, you can reach me at Jessica.Bateman@leg.wa.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In service,<\/p>\n

-Jess<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friends and neighbors, I hope you had a chance to watch our online town hall with Reps. Beth Doglio and Lisa Parshley last Monday night. If you missed it, it\u2019s on YouTube here. We answered pre-submitted and live questions on every topic from banning plastic bags, to data centers and AI, protecting access to vaccines, face masks for ICE and law enforcement, rural land use, and more. I\u2019m glad to have constituents who are so engaged in the legislative process and informed on the issues before us! The first three weeks of a short session are mostly spent on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":1240,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTown hall recap - Sen. 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