Dear Neighbors,

Summer may be slowing down, but my work for our 11th Legislative District surely is not. Between public bank presentations, work groups, healthcare meetings, working on cost of living and budget solutions to federal cuts, and travel across our state and county, I’ve been busy since my last update! Keep reading to learn more about my recent work and how I’m preparing for the upcoming legislative session.

Don Morgan visit

Don Morgan, president and CEO of the Bank of North Dakota (BND), graciously came out to the Northwest to share his expertise at several town halls around the state and with our Public Bank Work Group (see below). Mr. Morgan has a long banking and financial history, bringing years of expertise to his role. I attended his town hall meeting in Tacoma in July and was encouraged by all the folks that showed up to learn more about this model! Mr. Morgan has unique expertise as the leader of the only publicly owned bank in the U.S.—the Bank of North Dakota.

Mr. Morgan emphasized the importance of partnering with local independent financial institutions, thus creating a symbiotic relationship between BND and local community banks.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Mr. Morgan after the event. You can watch our video here.

Public bank work group

The Public Bank Work Group (PBWG), funded by a proviso I sponsored in the 2026 supplemental budget, is working to develop an implementation plan for our own publicly owned state bank. The PBWG held its second meeting last week and is laying the foundation for our coming work to fulfill our mission. That meant learning more about public banking and how it works in North Dakota. Mr. Morgan and other BND leaders shared their perspectives and experiences with the group to help us better contextualize our mission. Creating a public bank is a way to increase revenue without raising taxes, support our local communities, increase our leveraging capacity for state and local projects, and create jobs all at the same time. It’s a win/win/win/win. The group seems excited about the prospects—I know I sure am!

Universal healthcare symposium

Last month, I participated in a universal healthcare symposium at Heritage University (HU) in Toppenish with Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer, HU President Emerita Kathleen Ross, HU President Dr. Chris Gilmer, the President of Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences Dr. Michael Mittelman, the Universal Healthcare Commission, and more! There was a large turnout, and it was a great meeting discussing our need and common desire to implement access to great healthcare regardless of status, wealth, or station.

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)

I attended the annual NCSL conference in Chicago at the end of July. This is a gathering of state legislators and staff from across the country where we share successes and lessons, and learn about contemporary issues facing states.

My biggest takeaway from NCSL was the session by Nobel Prize winner Prof. Geoffrey Hinton, known as the “Godfather of AI.” Prof. Hinton gave a lecture presentation followed by a Q&A “fireside chat” with Rep. Paul Cutler (R-UT), which provided a very enlightening and sobering talk on his perspective and experience on the promise and perils of artificial intelligence. Prof. Hinton highlighted some of the challenges we may soon face with AI, including the risk of large job displacement and unemployment, a discreditable information and media landscape, the risk of political manipulation, and the ultimate risk of losing control over AI altogether. He cited very concerning recent developments of AI models breaking out of their closed containment systems and even learning to coordinate and work together to accomplish tasks without regard for legal restrictions. You can read an article NCSL published about Prof. Hinton and his work here. This added another layer to conversations I’m already having about data centers, AI infrastructure, and how changing technology affects our communities. As always, please let me know how these issues are impacting you!

I also attended the National Asian Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators (NAPACSL), where we focused on matters uniquely affecting our Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander constituents. NAPACSL is just one leg of a four-legged stool known as the Quad Caucus—the other three legs being the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, and National Caucus of Native American State Legislators. After all our meetings were concluded, the Quad Caucus gathered to break bread together. It’s great to be able to talk about issues unique to our communities and ally together in the struggle for justice.

While at NAPACSL, I also had the opportunity to meet privately with members of Canadian Parliament about how we can protect and strengthen our state, province, and national relationships. Since then however, the relationship between our two countries has deteriorated drastically due to actions of our federal administration. I’ll continue to do my part maintaining good relations with our valued neighbors to the north, but we all need to do our part.

 

Upcoming session

The 2027 legislative session is fewer than 120 days away, and while that feels like a long time, I have much to do before then. I’m working alongside stakeholder groups, legislative staff, and constituents to develop new bills, and refine those I’m planning to reintroduce as well as brainstorm solutions to our budgetary issues.

I’m always working on new policies for the next legislative session! If you have ideas for policies you think I should introduce next session or improvements to any bill you saw this session, please reach out! I’m sure you’ve thought, “There ought to be a law to …”

Back to school

To all the students and families in our district who went back to school recently: I wish you well on a new academic year! Nothing less than the future of our country is riding on your shoulders. (No pressure intended 🙂) Study hard and learn how to think critically. The most important lesson you can learn is to learn how to learn. It requires listening skills, communication skills, analytical skills, keeping an open mind to new concepts, and personal values. Learning is a lifelong process and you need to have the tools throughout your life to continue to gain wisdom and grow.

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 as soon as they’re introduced every day during the legislative session.

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

Thank you for reading and following along this session, and for trusting me in this role to represent our district.

Talk to you soon.
Bob