Dear Neighbors, The 2021 session is underway, and it is a session like no other. I would like to share some personal thoughts following the first few days of session. First, I can’t imagine the impact this session is having on newly elected legislators. With all the hard work campaigning and the excitement of being elected as one of 147 Washington state legislators, getting to come to Olympia and sit on the floor of the House or Senate as a voting member is a unique experience. And just walking into the Legislative Building and looking up at that dome and its surroundings is awe-inspiring. Now they will join the rest of us in spending all or a vast majority of time staring ...
Read MoreAbout Sam
Senator Sam Hunt was elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving 16 years in the House of Representatives. He is chair of the State Government, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee and is also a member of the Ways & Means and Early Learning & K-12 Education committees. In addition, he the serves on the Legislative Oral History Advisory, Capitol Campus Design Advisory, Public Records Accountability and Exemptions and Public Records Committees, and the Washington-Hyogo Friendship Council. A former member of the Washington State Historical Society Board of Trustees, Sam volunteers with the National Institute for Civil Discourse, working to promote and improve civility among members of state legislatures.
A graduate of Washington State University, Sam was a schoolteacher in Pasco (where he also served as a city council member and mayor pro tempore) and Montesano. He also worked for the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, served as staff director for the Washington Senate Majority Leader, was education advisor to Governor Booth Gardner, and served as legislative director at the Department of Information Services.
In 2017, Sam chaired the Council of State Governments West, an organization composed of legislators from the 13 western states, the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and several Mexican border states. He is Chair-Elect of the Council of State Governments, which works with legislators and state elected officials across the nation.
Read Sen. Hunt’s full biography here.
