Dear Neighbors,  

Can you believe we’re halfway through session? We’ve done a lot of work and have more to go. Keep reading to learn more about my bills, what I’ve been up to in Olympia, and about our upcoming midterm town hall.  

Town hall 

I’m hosting a town hall meeting on Saturday, Feb. 21, at WA Local 32 Plumbers, Pipefitters, and HVAC/R Union Hall (597 Monster Rd. SW, Renton, WA 98057) from 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.  

This is an excellent chance to learn about pending legislation and ask questions! Please email Bob.Hasegawa@leg.wa.gov with any accessibility or language access needs. You can RSVP here!  

My bills 

Senate Bill 5947 was pulled out of the Rules Committee and is on its way to the floor for final passage by the Senate. This bill would establish a Washington Health Care Board to design and implement state-based universal health care as soon as the federal government passes legislation allowing us to do so. This bill is a next step to my bill passed last year (SJM 8004) setting the stage in Washington state for universal health care. 

House Bill 1408, the House companion to my bill (SB 5460), is in the House Rules Committee and will hopefully be passed soon by the House. This bill directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) to make sure Community Preservation and Development Authorities (CPDA) use their funding intended ways that help mitigate the negative impacts on local communities from major facilities like sports stadiums—things like assisting small businesses, repairing unreinforced masonry buildings, addressing litter, public safety, addressing housing needs, and supporting homelessness remediation and outreach. It also preserves the revenue streams for the CPDAs so it can do that work for the communities.  

—– 

One of the constraints of our “part-time” Legislature is we quickly run out of time to hear and work on excellent legislation.  

This is why I introduced Senate Bill 5744, requiring a legislative comparison study between the Washington State Legislature and full-time legislatures across the country. We have thousands of bills introduced a year and simply don’t have the time to fully evaluate them all. More and more bills are being introduced to address gaps and loopholes in our law that keep popping up because society is changing faster and faster every year. We can’t even think about planning ahead for a Washington State we want for our grandchildren.  

I went into more depth on this issue in November (read more here). 

Floor action 

We’re in the thick of floor votes. We passed some excellent legislation off the floor, including:  

  • SB 5906, prohibits ICE from accessing nonpublic areas in education and health care settings without a judicial warrant or court order. 
  • SB 6081, protecting Washingtonians from invasion of privacy, including unauthorized disclosures of sex designation and historic sex designation changes in official government records. 
  • SB 5944, making sure interpreters and translators can include compensation for missed or cancelled appointments in collective bargaining agreements. 
  • SB 6237, requiring landlords to disclose to tenants that a property may be in a flood hazard area, and requires landlords to disclose if their flood insurance covers renters’ belongings.  
  • SB 5880, addressing the backlog of toxicology testing for DUIs by allowing analysis conducted by certain certified and accredited labs to be used in court proceedings. 

 

Meetings 

While voting on the floor tends to limit our availability, I got to meet with some great groups last week, including:  

  • Associated Students of Western Washington University 
  • Washington Education Association 
  • Boys & Girls Club of King County 
  • Renton Historical Society 
  • Salmon recovery partners 
  • SEIU health care workers 
  • Refugee advocates 
  • And more!  

Events 

I spoke at the legislative Page School earlier this week. Our student pages serve both the House and Senate, and their curiosity and enthusiasm for the legislative process is really inspiring. These students have such a bright future, and I’m excited to see where they go next!  

Photo courtesy of M. Clift 

Contact 

Below are some great ways to contact and keep in touch with my office.  

Phone: 360-786-7616 (during regular business hours; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) 

Email me! 

Sign up for my introduction sheet distribution list to see the new legislation introduced every day.  

If you’d like to schedule me to speak with your organization to talk about my important initiatives on public banking, social housing, universal health care, or other issues, please schedule something with my executive legislative office manager and scheduler, Sarah Ellerbrock, at sarah.ellerbrock@leg.wa.gov. 

Thank you for reading and following along this session and trusting me in this role to represent our 11th District.  

Talk to you soon.
Bob