Video Update from Olympia
As we end the fifth week of the 2019 Legislative Session, my colleagues in the Senate and I continue to work hard to promote important issues. Click here to hear about some of the issues I’ve been working on.
Protecting the habitat of wild salmon and resident orcas
As vice chair of the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks Committee, I am working on a bill to implement the recommendations from the Orca Task Force to increase the amount of chinook salmon that our hatcheries produce and to increase their chances of survival by rehabilitating the juvenile salmon habitat along the Puget Sound shoreline.
This week we heard public testimony on a bill I’m sponsoring that would ban commercial gill nets, which threaten salmon and resident orca populations by harvesting over 50,000 wild salmon, some of which come from runs that are supposed to be protected by the Endangered Species Act. Gill nets are a concern because they catch hatchery and wild salmon alike.
The bill would establish a buy-out program of existing commercial gill net licenses to compensate commercial fishers and allow them to transition to safer fishing methods. I will work to make sure the remaining hatchery salmon are fairly divided between commercial, tribal and sport fishers after giving the Orcas a chance to eat them.
Prohibiting hydraulic fracturing in our state
Wednesday, the bill I sponsored to prohibit the practice of hydraulic fracturing in our state passed in the Senate. Commonly known as hydro fracking, this technology injects large quantities of chemical fluids into the earth, causing oil or gas to flow upward through the well. The long-term effects of this new technology on the environment, wildlife, and human health are unknown, while short-term effects threaten drinking water. Wells used in hydro fracking require millions of gallons of water per year. Instead of putting our environment and health at risk to find more fossil fuels, our state should be encouraging development of renewable energy and other clean fuel alternatives.
Decriminalizing the inability to pay
As a public defender for 10 years, I witnessed struggles of individuals cited with the crime of Driving with License Suspended in the Third Degree (DWLS 3) solely because they lacked the ability to pay money to get their drivers’ licenses reinstated after defaulting on traffic ticket payments. I’ve introduced a bill that will help keep drivers licensed, insured, and out of the criminal justice system. It would prevent a person’s license from being suspended solely for not paying a traffic infraction. The bill also addresses public safety concerns; offenses such as DUI would still cause a license suspension, and violations of that suspension would be criminal. The current system of prosecuting those who are charged with DWLS 3 costs the justice system millions of dollars, and adds to already-steep public defender caseloads. These resources are better spent on smarter and more targeted public safety measures and on helping people avoid getting caught up in the cycle of poverty and incarceration.
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I will continue working on these issues, and more, as a member of both the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee and the Law & Justice Committee, and as vice chair of both the Local Government and the Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks committees.
I want to hear from you on what’s important and how our Legislature can do more to put people first. I encourage you to contact my office or visit Olympia.
Thank you,
Jesse
