OLYMPIA — A bill to protect libraries was signed into law Tuesday. In 2023, petitioners in Columbia County gathered enough signatures to put a measure on the ballot to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District in Dayton. State statute required they collect signatures from at least 10% of residents who live in unincorporated Columbia County. Even though the library district serves all Columbia County residents, state statute would have only allowed people living in unincorporated parts of the county to vote on the library’s future, despite city of Dayton residents paying taxes to fund the library too. That would have excluded two-thirds of the county’s residents, according to reporting ...
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.