For lawmakers from the state\u2019s 47th District, the main focus of the current legislative session will, of course, be the state\u2019s growing budget gap, but issues surrounding education are also taking a priority.<\/p>\n
But the primary concern for all elected officials this year is getting under control the state\u2019s budget, which is showing a gap between revenue and expenditures of nearly $7 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, as with all legislators here, we\u2019re really working hard on the budget,\u201d said Sen. Claudia Kauffman, D-Kent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt truly is a cloud that is hanging over the entire session,\u201d Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Kent, said. \u201cAnd each day it gets worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simpson said Washington was in better shape than other West Coast states and many other states throughout the country, but difficult times were still ahead.<\/p>\n
Kauffman said everyone was working hard and she was confident the budget would be brought under control.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s working very, very hard on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kauffman said her top budget priority was transportation funding within the 47th, like improvements to State Route 516 near Wax Road as well as from Witt Road to State Route 169 in Covington.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have made these my top priority in transportation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kauffman also added that she was concerned about the governor\u2019s proposed cuts in health-care funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is going to come down to priorities,\u201d Simpson said, adding that he would work to shore up the unemployment system, stimulate the economy and try to make investments and\/or cuts where they best make sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are struggling to pay for health care or just hang on to their house,\u201d he said, adding that there were not any specific local priorities, but instead he was looking at what was best for the region and state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s good for our district is good for Washington,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But the budget isn\u2019t the only thing lawmakers are hoping to accomplish this year.<\/p>\n
According to Rep. Pat Sullivan, aside from working on the state budget, his main focus will be on passing the Basic Education Funding Task Force recommendations. Sullivan, D-Covington, who is a former PTA president and member of the Task Force, said the recommendations have met with mixed response, with the Washington Education Association expressing some concerns while the PTAs and the League of Education Voters support the measure.<\/p>\n
The WEA represents teachers throughout the state, while the League of Education Voters doesn\u2019t represent any one group. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to \u201cmaking Washington\u2019s preschools, public schools, and colleges the best in the nation,\u201d according to its Web site.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Basic Education Funding task force worked for 18 months on the project before delivering its report to the governor in December.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be really disappointed if we weren\u2019t able to move something forward this year,\u201d Sullivan said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Sullivan said he hopes something can be accomplished this year, though he admits the final bill is still being negotiated.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, it\u2019s not an end product,\u201d he said of the report.<\/p>\n
Kauffman also cited the Basic Education Funding Task Force as something she hoped to work on, as well as on early learning programs and any proposed changes to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think everyone has their own opinion on that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sullivan said he was working on a bill that would create new \u201cbenefit zones\u201d that would allow a city to make improvements to a section of its jurisdiction and then keep a greater portion of sales tax from businesses in the zone to help recoup costs for infrastructure improvements.<\/p>\n
Sullivan also said he was looking into an idea used in other states, including California, that would allow local jurisdictions to allow developers inside local improvement districts to mitigate their projects in other sections of the city, not just within the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has to be within the local jurisdiction, but not necessarily within the district,\u201d he said of the proposal.<\/p>\n
Sullivan said both proposals were aimed at bringing in and retaining businesses, adding that he was trying to put some focus on helping local governments with economic development.<\/p>\n
Sullivan said he was also beginning work on a bill that would seek to make up the difference for community colleges, such as Green River, between the tuition and the amount the state pays for Running Start students.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe college is not being fully funded for that student,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is an equity issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from the budget, Kauffman said she was working on a consumer protection bill that would force manufacturers to notify consumers if their car contained an event data recorder, a device that functions like an airplane\u2019s \u201cblack box.\u201d Kauffman said the consumer should own that data as well as be notified it is being kept.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently there are no regulations in Washington State regarding the event data recorder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Simpson said many of his non-budget priorities come from his work as chairman of the Local Government and Housing Committee, which focuses on issues affecting local municipalities from counties and cities to library districts and the like, as well as affordable housing issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some real challenges out there as far as housing affordability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Simpson, a firefighter himself, said he was also working on a bill brought to him by the state fire chiefs association that would ban novelty lighters that look like toys. Simpson said there is strong anecdotal evidence that children will play with such lighters and accidentally start fires.<\/p>\n
Simpson also said he is sponsoring a bill that will make it illegal for convicted sex offenders to have access to the Internet. Simpson said he was spurred on by an episode of the TV show \u201cTo Catch a Predator\u201d in which a repeat offender fell for the sting a second time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be allowed to use the Internet anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about protecting our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, Simpson said he working on a bill that would allow developers to purchase the development rights in rural areas in exchange for creating higher densities within urbanized areas. Simpson said this would be a market-based approach that would further protect rural land, while concentrating growth in places where the infrastructure and services already exist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the piece of the Growth Management Act that was missing when it was passed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
To contact Rep. Pat Sullivan call 360-786-7858 or e-mail sullivan.pat@leg.wa.gov.<\/p>\n
To contact Rep. Geoff Simpson call 360-786-7918 or email simpson.geoff@leg.wa.gov.<\/p>\n
To contact Sen. Claudia Kauffman call 360-786-7692 or e-mail kauffman.claudia@leg.wa.gov.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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