Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I wish everyone a joyous, healthy, and successful 2015!
Deputy Minority Leader
I was honored that my colleagues recently elected me Deputy Leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus. As deputy minority leader, I will work to lead the Senate in passing legislation that will provide opportunities and build prosperity for the citizens of our state. In particular, I will continue to focus on the next generation, our children, with a fully funded education system that supports students from early learning, through K-12, and into a higher education system with tuition that families in our community can afford.
For the upcoming session, I was also elected to serve on the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee and the budget-writing Ways & Means Committee.
The legislative session begins on January 12th.
New Year, New Staff
Paul Dillon, who has served as my legislative assistant since 2011, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate, will be leaving to take a job with the YMCA as the Easter Washington Director of their Youth and Government Program. Paul has been an enormous asset to me and the people of our district, and I am extremely grateful to him. I wish him much success in his new job.
I am pleased to announce that Kate Burke will be joining our team as our legislative assistant. Many of you might already know Kate. Last year, she did a excellent job as our session aide, and she is also a familiar face in the community. Born and raised in Spokane, Kate loves the Lilac City. In addition to serving our community through our senate office, Kate is deeply involved with many other organizations and non-profits in the Spokane community.
Kate is the founder and leader of the non-profit Spokane Edible Tree Project. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Project Hope Spokane. Kate is an avid cyclist and served 2 years on the Bicycle Advisory Board for the City of Spokane. Most recently, she served as the Development Director for the Lands Council. Kate is looking forward to serving Spokane and the state in this new role.
Our New Session Aide
Our session aide for this year will be John Draxler. He graduated from Gonzaga University in 2014 and is excited to help us represent Spokane. On campus, John was active with various community engagement programs that focused on urban poverty, civic activism and the environment. In his senior year, he combined these interests with student advocacy to serve as Gonzaga’s student body president.
Keeping In Touch
If you have a comment, idea, question, please let me know. I would love to hear from you!
You can reach me by e-mail (andy.billig@leg.wa.gov) or by phone at 509-209-2427.
And if you know someone who would like to get their own copy of my weekly e-newsletter, tell them they can go to my website at http://www.senatedemocrats.wa.gov/senators/billig/ and click on the link to “Sign up for my e-newsletter.”
Onward!
Andy
