E-Newsletters

Dear friends and neighbors, It’s budget season at the Legislature! Both the House and Senate have proposed versions of the three budgets that we pass every year – operating, transportation, and capital. What do all three budgets entail, and what’s in them for our district? Operating Budget! Our operating budget ...

Dear friends and neighbors – We’ve passed the halfway point of the legislative session! I’m happy to report that I’ve passed eight bills through the Senate which are now making their way through the process over in the House. I’ve got legislation moving on subjects as diverse as affordable housing and ...

Hello friends and neighbors! It’s been a busy week in the Senate! Last week we finished passing most Senate bills out of policy and fiscal committees and now we are voting them off the floor. It’s been long days of debate and deliberation with more than 150 bills, most of which ...

This week was Children’s Day in the Legislature, a fun tradition where the members bring their families to the floor. It was great to be able to do this again after two years of remote sessions, and it felt good to have my kids at work. They got to share ...

Dear friends and neighbors, It’s been an exciting week in the Legislature – here’s the news! Cutoff deadline – what’s that? Friday was a big deadline in the Legislature—policy cutoff—the last day a bill can pass out of its policy committee, or else it’s considered “dead” for the rest of session. There are ...

Dear friends and neighbors, Some of the most important issues to our district get heard in the Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks (AWNP) Committee, often simply called the “Ag committee”. Whether it’s maintaining our competitive advantage in agriculture, supporting our rural economy, ensuring there is enough water for fish, farming ...

Dear friends and neighbors, Things are already moving quickly here in the Legislature, and soon bills will need to either make it out of committee or be “dead”. There are some exceptions, but most bills will need to make it out of committee by Feb. 17^th, or they will never make ...

Dear friends and neighbors, Traffic fatalities and accidents are on the rise, with 745 people in Washington killed in crashes in 2022[1], the most we’ve had since 1990. That’s about a 20% increase over 2021 – a trend we can’t allow to continue. Alcohol or drug impairment was ...

Dear friends and neighbors, It’s the second week of the legislative session and things are already moving quickly! We’ve got bills going through the committee process and I’ll be testifying on many of my bills later this week. Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when many groups do their “lobby ...

Dear friends and neighbors, I’m excited to start off the 2023 session as your new state senator. Folks keep asking me “so how different is the Senate?” and while there are half as many members – so we all get to do twice as many things – my approach hasn’t changed. ...