In The News

This week on Inside Olympia, an update on the state of schools, student well being and school funding from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. Plus, after nearly a quarter century in the Legislature, State Senator Sam Hunt is retiring. We ask him to reflect on his career. “Let ‘er buck!” That’s how State Senator Sam Hunt ended a letter ...

Washington has passed legislation intended to safeguard its public libraries, after a small city in the southeastern corner of the state nearly became the first community in the nation to shutter its library over the book battles that have engulfed schools, libraries, cities and states across the country. The legislation, which passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support ...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — When Kim Reiter’s husband died from a cardiac arrest while working out at the gym, she was shocked to find out fitness centers are not required to have automated external defibrillators (AEDs). So Reiter contacted her state legislators who helped pass a law requiring the potentially life-saving devices be placed in gyms.

The end of Washington state's 2024 legislative session Thursday will mark the end of several careers of longtime lawmakers. On March 6, Republican Sen. Lynda Wilson added her name to the growing list of legislators announcing they won’t seek re-election in 2024. Earlier this session Democratic senators Andy Billig, Karen Keiser, and Sam Hunt announced they were retiring from the senate.

A longtime Democratic lawmaker who represents Olympia announced Tuesday that he would be retiring after his term ends in January 2025. Sen. Sam Hunt was elected to the Senate in 2016 after serving as a Washington state Representative since 2001.

Someone new will have to soon saddle up to represent the Olympia area in the Washington state Senate. Sen. Sam Hunt, a Democrat who represents the 22nd Legislative District, said on Tuesday he won’t seek reelection this year. Hunt has held the seat since 2017 and before that served 16 years in the House. He chairs the State Government & Elections ...

As battles over books and libraries continue to rage nationwide, the Washington Senate took a small step Wednesday to protect libraries across the state. Senate Bill 5824, passed unanimously by the Senate on Wednesday, comes in response to an effort last year to close the only library in rural Columbia County. It would make such attempts more difficult, requiring more signatures ...

After a rural library district was at risk of being dissolved last year, Washington senators voted 49-0 on to improve the process that could close libraries. The measure also would not leave people out of the dissolution process. For more than a year, some people called books at a library in southeastern Washington “pornographic and offensive.” Dayton library leaders refused to ...

State Sen. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, has introduced a bill to make voting compulsory in Washington. But under Hunt’s legislation, there’d be no punishment for citizens who ignore the requirement. Senate Bill 5209 calls for adding a sentence on every ballot that says: “You may leave any portion or the entirety of this ballot blank. However, you are required by law to submit ...

Numerous Democrats in the Washington Legislature are backing a new proposal to make voting in elections compulsory. Citizens are required by law to cast ballots in about 25 counties, but in no other U.S. states. Republicans in Olympia described the idea as "un-American." State Sen. Sam Hunt (D-Olympia) said he got the idea for what he calls "universal civic duty voting" from ...