E-Newsletters

Mid-Session Recap As we reach the halfway mark in this year’s legislative session, bills face another major step in our funneling process - the house of origin cutoff. ByWednesday, all non-budget related bills must pass out of their initial chamber (either the senate or house of representatives), and be on the way across the capitol rotunda for consideration in the ...

Transportation Investment Package Last week, we saw the introduction and committee action on the Senate's transportation investment proposal. While there is a lot to like in the underlying transportation package, there are some concerning policy bills that have been attached to the package by the Senate majority. First, a quick summary of the base package: An 11.7 cent gas tax would be ...

Safe Routes to School Three of state government’s most important responsibilities are education, transportation and protecting the health and safety of the state’s residents. It is rare that we have a program that delivers on all three of these priorities, but that is exactly the case with the successful Safe Routes to School program. Safe Routes to School encourages children to “actively commute” to ...

WSU Spokane An outdated state law from 1917 dictates that Washington is only allowed to have one medical school, but in recent months, momentum has been building to change that law and allow WSU to establish a second medical school. Last week, Senator Baumgartner and I testified to support of SB 5487, which allows the creation of a WSU medical school in ...

Beginning Our Work on the Three State Budgets Every two years, the Legislature passes three major biennial budgets: An operating budget, which outlines spending for the majority of our government including education, corrections, health care and human services, a capital budget, which funds building and construction projects such as K-12 schools, higher education facilities and other permanent structures, and finally the ...

This past week made Olympia feel like home as we welcomed more than 100 Spokane area constituents to the Capitol Campus. There were education, business, non-profit and community leaders advocating for our community as part of the Greater Spokane Incorporated joint chamber delegation. Plus, we hosted several other large groups of constituents, including home care workers, teens advocating to protect and ...

Sen. Billig on appears on TVW's Opening Day Special. (Click on the image to see the interview!) Monday, January 12th marked the first day of the 2015 Legislative Session. There were the usual ceremonies to mark the opening of the session as well as the introduction of dozens of bills taking their first step in the journey to perhaps becoming a ...

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 ...

Community Leadership Summit on Transit Earlier this month, I participated in a transit summit with other elected officials, non-profit and business leaders and other transit riders. We completed a challenging transit planning exercise and expressed our priorities for transit in Spokane. Organized by the Spokane Transit Authority, the goal of the planning ...

Oil Train Hearing Spokane was the site of one of two public hearings last week on the Governor's Rail and Marine Oil Transportation Study. I testified at the hearing on the growth of oil transportation by rail through our state and the significant impact that oil trains could have on two important community priorities: safety and prosperity. Our safety could be ...