News Releases

Efforts to replace the outmoded I-5 bridge spanning the Columbia River took a key step forward this week when the state Department of Transportation (WSDOT) released a comprehensive inventory of bridge data. WSDOT was directed to conduct an inventory of existing data from previous efforts to replace the bridge as part of Senate Bill 5806, which establishes a process for ...

Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, will chair the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee when the Legislature convenes in January for the 2018 legislative session. Having been the ranking member on the committee when Democrats were in the minority, the move to chair will put Cleveland in charge of the committee. Democrats are now the majority party in the Senate after ...

Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, issued this statement after the Legislature approved a 2017-18 operating budget hours before state government would have had to shut down statewide. “The citizens of this state have been waiting years for the Legislature to solve our education funding crisis. I worry every day about the kind of future we are creating for our children and grandchildren, ...

Key lawmakers say Democrats in the state Capitol will do everything in their power to provide Washingtonians continued access to affordable health care if the U.S. Senate should advance the bill that was passed today by the U.S. House to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with the GOP’s American Health Care Act (AHCA). State Sen. Annette Cleveland, the ...

Insurance carriers will be required to reimburse refills for birth control for 12 months at a time instead of monthly under legislation passed today by the Senate. Having already passed the House, the bill now goes to the governor to be signed into law. Currently insurance providers do not have a uniform rate at which they dispense birth control. House ...

Legislation establishing a process to open discussion on a replacement Interstate-5 bridge spanning the Columbia River is one step closer to being sent to Gov. Jay Inslee following its passage today in the House of Representatives on a 59-37 vote. The bill had previously passed the Senate on a 45-4 vote, but since a few technical aspects were amended by ...

The public will be better informed of the availability of insurance coverage for breast reconstruction and prosthesis, under legislation passed 97-0 today by the House of Representatives. As Senate Bill 5481 had already passed unanimously in the Senate, it now goes to the governor to be signed into law. “Given the choice, nearly 60 percent of breast cancer survivors opt ...

The Elson Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University and any other medical school in Washington state will be better able to recruit physicians to serve on their faculties, as a result of legislation passed today by the House on a 91-6 vote. Having already passed the Senate unanimously, the bill now goes to Gov. Jay Inslee to be ...

The inability of congressional Republicans to pass a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is good news for Washingtonians, Democratic state lawmakers said today. The scheduled vote on the federal legislation stalled for a lack of support Thursday from moderate Republicans who feel the proposed GOP alternative is too harsh and from conservative Republicans who feel ...

State contractors employed by numerous state agencies would have to observe the requirements of the Senate’s proposed Equal Pay Opportunity Act as a result of an amendment adopted into the Senate’s proposed operating budget late Thursday. “Pay inequity has economic consequences that extend far beyond gender,” said Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver and the author of the amendment. “When a company discriminates ...