News from the Caucus

OLYMPIA… Several of Washington’s Senate Republicans say the next time legislators are in session, they’ll try again to give workers an opportunity to opt out of the mandatory long-term care tax that began cutting into paychecks July 1. “Workers around our state are looking at their pay stubs and saying ‘I didn’t ask for this...

OLYMPIA…The Washington State Legislature passed a compromise bill on the possession of hard drugs such as fentanyl today during a one-day special session. Senate Republican Leader John Braun and House Republican Leader Drew Stokesbary provided the following comments in response: “This bill isn’t perfect, but it is a strong step in the right direction and...

CENTRALIA… State lawmakers have been called into a special session to continue work toward a new state law on the possession of controlled substances, after failing to come to an agreement before the regular legislative session ended April 23. Senate Republican Leader John Braun offered this comment following Gov. Jay Inslee’s proclamation that the Legislature...

Members of Legislature’s majority blame police, alleged ‘misinformation’ from Republicans for interest in rolling policy back to ‘reasonable suspicion’ standard   OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, shared the following comments in response to accusations by a House Democrat that the public’s interest in reforming the current police pursuit law is a result of lies...

  Watch: Police pursuit and drug possession remain top concerns for Senate Republicans as we try to convince Legislative Democrats to grant hearings for the bills that would remedy some of these issues.

— August 8, 2022 It was apparent then, and is even more apparent today: The 2021 legislative session really pushed our state in the wrong direction. Governor Inslee and others who longed for a state income tax finally got their way. Hard drugs were essentially legalized. Even worse, it was done in a way that...

July 12, 2021 The governor’s use of football metaphors when speaking about the COVID-19 pandemic got old a long time ago, but he really fumbled recently by equating his administration’s pandemic response with winning the Super Bowl. Good grief. Has Governor Inslee forgotten about Suzi LeVine? Countless Washington families suffered because he drafted her for...

House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox and Senate Republican Leader John Braun released the following statement today: “We are calling on Governor Inslee to fully reopen the state immediately. He had left the door open to a reopening before June 30, and we viewed June 15 as a more appropriate target. Now, with vaccination rates continuing...

‘Open Safe, Open Now: A Republican plan for Phase 3 and Beyond’ shows trust in the people   READ THE PLAN OLYMPIA…In response to sharply declining COVID-19 case rates and hospitalization rates statewide, legislative Republicans today announced a simple, practical and consistent plan to get all communities in Washington fully open for both school and...

Legislation focuses on increasing supply of housing to help reduce homelessness Senate Republicans announced today they will introduce a package of bills in 2019 to address one of the main causes of Washington’s homelessness problem: the lack of affordable and available housing. At a news conference held at Quixote Village, an Olympia-based community of 30...

Schoesler maintains confidence that budget deal will be reached in time to avoid partial shutdown OLYMPIA…Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, issued the following statement in response to Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcement of a third special legislative session to finalize negotiations on a budget for the 2017-19 biennium. “I fully expect the budget teams to submit a...

Senate passes the Small Business Bonding Relief bill