Friends and neighbors, 

The 2025 session is only a couple of weeks old, but we’re already hard at work looking for ways to make our community and state better for you. 

As chair of the Transportation Committee, I’ve been busy in budget meetings, trying to find the best ways to improve Washington infrastructure and create more jobs and a cleaner environment.  

In addition to that, I want to share with you two other exciting things I’m working on here in Olympia. 

Supporting local journalism 

Our democracy depends on a free press, which is why our founders included this freedom in the First Amendment. Local journalism is an invaluable tool for transparency and accountability of public institutions. Just as importantly, local journalism also helps us build and strengthen our sense of community. Despite that, we are seeing local news outlets withering and dying off all over our state. I’ve got legislation to change that. 

I’m proud to sponsor Senate Bill 5400, a bipartisan plan to establish the Washington Local News Journalism Corps. This grant program will support local news organizations, with a particular focus on underserved communities. To receive the grants, news organizations must employ journalists dedicated to covering local issues. It also ensures that funding goes to organizations committed to producing original, local content that serves the public interest. These grants will be funded by a tax on very large technology companies. 

You can read more about this proposal from Brier Dudley, the Seattle Times Free Press editor, here. 

Distracted students 

We all spend too much time staring at our phones. But for kids, especially kids in the classroom, the distraction of cellphones is especially detrimental. 

There is a mountain of evidence to show that devices in the classroom have a negative impact on our students and inhibit an educator’s ability to teach. 

I introduced bipartisan legislation to help address this issue. Senate Bill 5346 asks every school district in the state to develop policies to keep cellphones and other devices out of Washington’s classrooms. 

I hope this action will help students focus less on their screens and more on their academic success.  

There’s still time to become a Senate page! 

This week, I had the pleasure of meeting Morgan Smith, a student at College Place Middle School in Lynnwood, who served as my page this week.  

Morgan said she had a blast meeting everyone and experiencing up close how the legislative process really works.   

There’s still time to become a Senate page in 2025, and our office would love to sponsor you! If you or someone you know wants to serve as a page, you can learn more about the program, including how to apply, here. 

Stay in touch  

Your feedback and input are such an important part of the democratic process. Please do not hesitate to reach out to my office at Marko.Liias@leg.wa.gov, and we will be more than happy to get in touch with you! You can also stay up to date by following my official legislative social media accounts on X, Facebook and Instagram.  

Talk soon!  

Marko