Levy cliff averted with passage of my bill
We used many strategies in recent weeks to try and convince Senate Republicans to pass the levy extension, including this sign. After the bill passed, I was happy to celebrate with one of our Senate staffers, Victor Rubio Rivera, who diligently updated our message for more than 40 days.I am thrilled to report that this week the Senate passed my bill (SB 5023) to avert the levy cliff and prevent a massive budget cut to our school districts next year. The bill allows school districts to collect the levies approved by the voters, but Senate Republicans refused to act for 43 days while administrators were put in the impossible situation of deciding who to lay off and what programs to cut. And then on Wednesday night, we finally struck a deal with Senate Republicans to end this needless uncertainty and allow our public school employees to do what they do best — educate our children. My bill was quickly approved by the House on Thursday and I expect the governor to sign it into law early next week.
I want to thank all the parents, teachers, students who spoke up and helped move the needle on this important issue. We persisted together and it paid off! Now, we need to tap that same energy as we work to find a solution on the larger education funding challenge.
Town Hall March 18
I hope you will be able to join us for the 41st District Town Hall on March 18 at Somerset Elementary School from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I will join Reps. Tana Senn and Judy Clibborn to provide an update on the 2017 legislative session and answer any other questions or concerns you may have. I look forward to seeing you!
Legislative session hits the halfway mark
We are now more than halfway through the 15-week legislative session and this week marked the “house of origin” cutoff – a deadline for all non-budget bills to move from one chamber to the other. Senate Democrats fought hard to advance progressive ideas that provide real help to people in our state. We will now shift our focus to and debate the 750 bills that are still “alive” and work on finding compromise on a plan for amply funding public schools.
Help decorate our office!
We have been so busy with policy and legislative work, we haven’t been able to put any work into decorating our bare office walls. We are hoping you can help! We love all the furry creatures of the 41st District and we thought it would be fun to create a collage of “Dogs of the 41st”. Please send us a picture of your pup and we’ll add them to our collage.
Thanks for the help, Sophia and Paige!
I had the pleasure of hosting two exceptional students from Mercer Island High School last week. Sophia Kershaw and Paige Fisher served as pages for a week here in Olympia, helping out and learning about the legislative process. If you want to learn more about the page program, click here.
Stay in touch!
As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email, phone or social media including Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for the honor of serving you in Olympia.
Onward!
Lisa
Senator Lisa Wellman
Lisa.Wellman@leg.wa.gov
(360) 786-7641
