Dear Neighbors, This year’s legislative session is over, and I’m glad it ended on schedule. Had we been forced into overtime there’s no telling how many more harmful bills might have been passed. Governor Ferguson called the session “historic,” and on that we agree. His definition is different than mine,...

Dear Neighbors, There are now less than 10 days left for legislators to wrap up their work at the Capitol. The time remaining in this session will be devoted to debating and voting in the Senate chamber, while some of us put in extra hours negotiating final versions of the...

The Elected Officials Reception hosted recently by the Home Builders Association of the Tri-Cities and the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce was a great opportunity to connect with a large number of local business and community leaders. This was at the REACH Museum in Richland — and I count 42...

I’m grateful that my fellow legislators have repeatedly backed our 16th District delegation’s requests for millions of dollars in capital-budget funding to help transform the old Kennewick General Hospital into the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery. This project is one of the good things happening in our area; hopefully it...

Joining me at the recent graduation ceremony at the state prison in Connell were, from left: Denise Kammers, the Dean of Corrections Education for Walla Walla Community College; Dante Leon, WWCC Vice President of Instruction; Dr. Chad Hickox, WWCC President; Ricardo Chavez, WWCC Director of Adult Basic Education for Corrections...

It’s normal for the new state budgets to be adopted on the final day of our regular legislative session, and this year was no different. This is how the operating budget looked as it sat on the “bar” at the front of the Senate chamber on Sunday. The stack contains...

Dear Neighbor, Late in a legislative session, the priorities of the majority come into focus. Judging from the two major policy bills that were passed Thursday and Friday by the Senate’s majority Democrats, the priorities can be summed up in a word: control. Let’s go in reverse order. On Friday...

Click here to view my remarks in support of the no-new-taxes, no-cuts budget proposal offered today in the Senate chamber. Dear Neighbor, I don’t know why the Senate majority chose today to have us vote on the operating and transportation budgets, but I’d guess it is because both contain tax...

I don’t believe unemployment benefits are meant to be paid to people who walk off the job and go on strike, yet on Friday the majority Democrats on the Senate budget committee endorsed a bill to allow that. To view the public hearing that led to the vote on SB...