Dear friends and neighbors:
The 60-day session in Olympia is flying by and our Democratic majority in the Senate continues to make exciting progress. This week we faced an important deadline to move bills out of the Senate and over to the House for consideration. I wanted to provide a brief update some of the issues on which I am focusing.

Reminder: Town Hall on Saturday

I hope that you will join House Speaker Frank Chopp, Representative Nicole Macri, and me for our town hall meeting this Saturday, February 17, at 1:30 p.m. at Seattle First Baptist Church at 1111 Harvard Avenue in Seattle.

Improving K-12 education

On Wednesday the Senate passed legislation (E2SSB 6362) that will at long last bring the state into compliance with its constitutional obligation to provide ample funding for public schools. Seattle legislators have worked closely with Seattle Public Schools to make sure the legislation starts to address systemic problems in last year’s education funding compromise by increasing funding for special education and moving up the timeline for full state funding of educator salaries.
I am also thrilled to report that the Senate passed SB 6531, which is my bill to modernize the state’s school construction assistance program. The proposed changes should bring more money to Seattle to relieve the overcrowding that many of the schools in our district are experiencing. The bill will have a public hearing next week in the House Capital Budget Committee.

I was proud to stand with my colleague Reuven Carlyle as we voted to abolish the death penalty.

Senate votes to abolish the death penalty

With just minutes remaining to pass Senate bills off the floor, we took a historic vote to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. This is an emotional subject, but I believe SB 6502 is the right direction for our state. We have overwhelming evidence that the death penalty is unfairly administered, expensive, and inconsistently applied across our state.
I recorded a brief video with my colleague Sen. Reuven Carlyle shortly after the vote.

Wrongful death

Another major issue before the Senate Law& Justice Committee and the legislature this year involves legislation to correct defects in our wrongful death statutes. The Ride the Ducks crash on the Aurora provided a clear example of these shortcomings. The parents of the students who were killed were not allowed to sue the operator for damages because they were not US residents and because the kids were over age 18.  2SSB 6015 will correct this injustice and make sure that those who cause damages to others do not escape responsibility just because of the identity of the victims.

Reducing Gun Violence

As the father of four kids in public school, I find the news of the shooting in Florida devastating. It serves as a grim reminder that we must continue to demand action on reducing gun violence. We have taken several important steps in the Senate this year, including:

  • Senate Bill 5992, which would ban bump stocks, the trigger modification device that allowed the shooter in the Las Vegas massacre to transform semi-automatic rifles into machine guns.
  • Senate Bill 5553, which would prevent suicides by allowing people who realize they are experiencing periods of extreme depression or stress to voluntarily waive their firearm rights.
  • Senate Bill 6298, which would keep guns out of the hands of those convicted of domestic violence harassment.
    We know that we must do more and will keep working to make our people and communities safer.

Stay in touch

With only three weeks remaining in this session, we will now be racing through consideration of supplemental operating, transportation, and capital budgets and several hundred House bills. Our new majority is firmly committed to working with the House to complete our work and adjourn on time no later than March 8.
I hope to see you on Saturday for the town hall! Please contact me with any questions about issues before the Legislature this year.
Best wishes,
Jamie
Senator Jamie Pedersen
43rd Legislative District
Jamie.Pedersen@leg.wa.gov
(360) 786-7628