Dear friends and neighbors,

Please join me, Speaker Laurie Jinkins, and Rep. Jake Fey, for a town hall meeting this Saturday at Stadium High School! This is an important opportunity for us to hear your thoughts, answer your questions, and share a mid-session update about our work.

Who: Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, Speaker Laurie Jinkins, Rep. Jake Fey, and you!

What: 27th Legislative District Town Hall Meeting

When: Saturday, March 15th, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (sign-in begins at 9:30 a.m.)

Where: Stadium High School (Auditorium), 111 N. E Street, Tacoma, 98403

If you have any questions you’d like to submit ahead of time, you can do so here. And if you can’t attend, remember you can always reach me at Yasmin.Trudeau@leg.wa.gov. Hope to see you there!

In other news

I’ve heard from many of you over the past few weeks — through emails, phone calls, and text messages — about the chaos happening in our new federal administration and the potential harm to our state and our communities. I want to affirm what we are seeing is deeply concerning. As your fellow community member, I stand with you. As your state senator, I will fight for you to ensure that, in this Washington, we utilize every tool we have to defend the values we hold dear.

My job is to help pass state laws, and my influence at the federal level is limited. It feels insignificant for me to encourage you to work with our federal elected officials, but they are the ones who are most connected to these issues. But I want you to know that I’m still doing what I can.

The Senate has already passed two good bills I sponsored to help with the harm being caused by the Trump administration. Senate Bill 5360 strengthens Washington’s laws around environmental crimes when criminal polluters violate our laws on clean water, clean air, and hazardous waste, ensuring strong protections stay in place as the federal Environmental Protection Agency stops enforcing federal law. Meanwhile, Senate Bill 5714 goes along with our other laws restricting the ability for law enforcement to work with federal immigration enforcement by stopping bail bond agents from doing the same. It is vital now, more than ever, to ensure people feel comfortable interacting with our legal system, regardless of their immigration status.

As state legislators, we are limited in our ability to address some of the fear of our community members experience in the face federal government chaos right now, but these bills are good steps to help ensure we have a functioning, accessible government working hard for all Washingtonians.

Thanks for reading and supporting each other through these chaotic times.

Sincerely,

Sen. Yasmin Trudeau