Legislative Commentary

Our Majority Coalition Caucus was all set to end the third week of the 2013 legislative session by sending several good job-creation bills on their way to the House of Representatives.

As the majority we had enough votes to pass bills that would reform the state workers’ compensation system in ways that will help Washington employers stay in business and possibly grow (which means more jobs). However, job creation isn’t our coalition’s only goal – we also want to leave the chaos and bickering to the “other Washington” and bring a new level of bipartisanship and cooperation to the Senate.

Several members of the minority said they needed more time to review our proposed reforms. We listened, and in the interests of cooperation, we postponed the votes, probably until early next week. In the meantime our bipartisan coalition is busy on several other fronts of interest: education, public safety, energy, the environment and government transparency. Please read on for some examples.

This week brought another meeting with Governor Inslee –

I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve spoken since I became leader – plus a group of our state’s business CEOs.

There were plenty of faces from back home, too, from the Spokane Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau and the City of Pasco, to firefighters from Pullman and Spokane Fire District 8 and representatives from Big Bend Community College. The state Horticulture Association folks came to the Capitol earlier in the week, and Thursday I got to take part in one of my favorite session activities: speaking to this year’s Ag Forestry Leadership Program class.

Senate says ‘so long’ to two 9th District neighbors

This week the Senate said farewell to two members of our caucus who in a geographic sense were neighbors of the 9th Legislative District. One is Bob Morton, who served the people of the 7th Legislative District from 1991 until he retired at the end of 2012, with 17 of those 21 years spent in the Senate.

The second is Jerome Delvin, who served the 8th Legislative District. He came to the House in 1994 and moved to the Senate 10 years later, the year before I did. He was elected to the Benton County Commission and is therefore trading governing at the state level for governing at the county level.

I worked on a number of issues with Bob and Jerome –

such as agricultural and water legislation – for the better part of 20 years (or more) and counted them not only as colleagues but also as friends. Although the institution that is the Senate will continue on, it has lost decades of valuable experience with the departure of these two public servants.

Gridlock? What gridlock?

Although we delayed voting on the workers’ comp legislation, the Senate did pass its first bills of the 2013 session on Wednesday – and there was no sign of the gridlock predicted by members of the Senate minority after our coalition formed in December.

The five bills passed this week addressed issues ranging from the appointment of judges to runaways, and were approved by large margins. Apparently a more bipartisan and more transparent approach can work in Olympia.

Our commitment to transparency was on full display earlier in the week when the Senate Rules Committee met for the first time in 2013. I’m a member of this committee, which is considered by many to be powerful because it serves as “gatekeeper,” deciding which measures passed by policy and fiscal committees will become eligible for votes by the full Senate.

We made sure the committee met openly in the Senate Rules Room, where the public and news media could witness the proceedings. Well, of course the Senate Rules Committee meets in the Senate Rules Room, you might say – but no. In recent years many of these meetings took place, with little notice, in places that are typically off-limits to the public.

It was nice to hear a few compliments from the president of the Senate – Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, chairman of the rules committee – who clearly noticed the change. We’re glad to oblige.

Early action on construction funding, security upgrades for K-12 schools

One of the three budgets the Legislature must draft and approve every two years is the capital budget. By “capital” we mean physical assets, from school buildings to state parks to community-level projects (such as new lights for McDonald Park in Colfax).

Typically money for school construction is part and parcel of the capital budget, which isn’t adopted until late in the session (that would be late April this year).

However, our coalition’s commitment to supporting education has led to a new strategy: let’s put money into the K-12 construction account much earlier this time around. That way school districts that plan to put bond issues before their voters will have certainty that state matching funds are available.

The bill also acknowledges the heightened concern we all have about school safety; it would make grants available for the installation of at least one silent alarm in the district administration office, and safety improvements to exterior doors. I was the first senator to sponsor Senate Bill 5455 after our capital-budget chairman introduced, and look forward to it receiving a public hearing before the Senate budget committee on Monday.

Measure would promote jobs while protecting environment

Senate Bill 5296 would increase the number of sites cleaned and promote private-sector job creation by emphasizing the renewal of lands with commercial potential.

The toxics cleanup account is a product of the Model Toxics Control Act was created by a voter initiative in 1988; it’s funded by a “hazardous substance tax,” primarily on petroleum products. For the budget cycle we’re in (mid-2011 to mid-2013) revenue generated by the hazardous-substance tax totaled $352 million.

Unfortunately, in recent years the MTCA account has been a frequent target of diversions – $233 million shifted to general government spending since 2009 alone. Consequently, 1,900 toxic sites in our state are awaiting cleanup while the fund created by voters dedicated to that work is repeatedly being raided. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve strongly opposed efforts in past years to impose a so-called “barrel” tax that supporters say would be used for pollution cleanup – we already have MTCA!

It would make more sense to get back to what the voters intended 25 years ago, in a way that promotes economic growth and create jobs while protecting the environment.

Protecting teachers and school staff

It’s a felony in Washington to assault a firefighter, a court employee or a school-bus driver. However, if a teacher or other school staffer is the victim the charge is only a misdemeanor.

One of our Majority Coalition Caucus members this week proposed a bill to address that inconsistency in the law. Senate Bill 5497, which has broad bipartisan support, would upgrade the charge for assault of school staff to a class C felony.

While it would be even better if Washington educators weren’t exposed to any violence, the prime sponsor notes, adding them to the list of protected professions fits with the importance we place on school safety.

Proposed amendment would help school resource officers

Under Washington law if a school principal or other school employee has the right to search a student if he or she has a reasonable suspicion that the student possesses something illegal (such as drugs). However, due to a recent state Supreme Court decision, a law-enforcement officer who is serving as a school resource officer needs to meet a higher standard –

probable cause – before conducting that same search.

For instance: If a student tells a teacher that he or she saw another student put illicit drugs into a locker, that teacher can inform the principal who can then search the student and the locker under the reasonable-suspicion standard. However, under the probable-cause standard, a school resource officer would have to see the student with the drugs to detain and search the student.

Senate Joint Resolution 8203 would restore the reasonable-suspicion standard under which school resource officers are allowed to search students, which is the same standard afforded to school staff. As a proposed constitutional amendment it would have to be passed by the Legislature as well as by a public vote.

A healthy environment and a vibrant economy are often portrayed as being conflicting, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Legislation to refocus use of the state’s toxics clean-up account was scheduled for a vote Tuesday by the Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunications Committee.

Measure would bring parents into loop when sex offender enrolls

State law requires principals, teachers, and other school officials to be notified when a juvenile sex offender enrolls at that school. They can monitor that student’s behavior and interaction with classmates, looking for something suspicious.

That law was enacted in 2005; these days technology such as texting and social networking sites allow students more interaction outside school. A predator has more opportunities to groom a victim outside of the classroom, when teachers can’t monitor interactions.