Search Results for: town hall
MacEwen holding telephone town hall
Sen. MacEwen is holding a telephone town hall on February 22 from 7 to 8 p.m. The telephone town hall is a great way for residents in the 35th legislative district to connect and engage with their state lawmakers. During the one-hour telephone town hall, Sen. MacEwen will listen to your comments, answer your questions, and discuss issues related to the 2024 session. Inbound Listener (no PIN): (360) 249-7921. Call Notes: Listeners are to Press STAR to ask a question. Mark your calendar. ...
Washington Bill Aims To Tackle Cannabis Store Robbery Spree
BY BENJAMIN M. ADAMS | HIGH TIMES | FEBRUARY 1, 2024 In a string of robberies, several cannabis retail shops have reported various tactics criminals have been using to get into their businesses in recent months. As these get worse, lawmakers are cranking up the punishments for people involved in such violent crimes. A bill proposal in Washington would tack on an extra year of jail time for people convicted of robbing a cannabis store under certain conditions. Senate Bill 6133 would allow prosecutors in the ...
Initiative 2117
Repeal the "Climate Commitment Act" and its "cap-and-tax" programAll updates to this webpage will cease at midnight on March 7. No further updates will occur until after the election in November.Initiative 2117 Initiative 2117 would repeal "cap and trade" – known officially in the Legislature as the Climate Commitment Act (CCA). Senate Republicans have given it a more accurate moniker -- cap-and-tax. Senate Republicans also call it a “hidden gas tax” because so much of it rides on the backs of anyone ...
Initiative 2113
Restore "Reasonable Suspicion" for Police PursuitAll updates to this webpage will cease at midnight on March 7. No further updates will occur until after the election in November. INITIATIVE 2113 During the 2021 session, Democratic majorities changed a state law to limit the ability of officers to do vehicle pursuits of suspects. Before this change in the law, officers only needed “reasonable suspicion” to initiate a vehicle pursuit of a suspect. Under the 2021 law, most vehicle pursuits are only allowed based ...
Initiatives to the Legislature
Initiatives to the Legislature: Three passed, three go to the ballot in NovemberFed up with the destructive and burdensome policies passed by the Democrat majority in the Washington State Legislature, citizens collected more than 2.3 million signatures to put six initiatives before the Legislature. All six received more than 400,000 signatures each and were certified by the Washington State Secretary of State in January and February of 2024. Only three of the initiatives received a hearing and a vote. In three ...
As six initiatives advance to Legislature, senators call for lawmakers to act
OLYMPIA – As six initiatives advance to the Legislature during the current 2024 Legislative session, senators say they hope the Legislature will do its duty by taking a public vote – rather than taking no action and quietly sending them to the ballot in November. The lawmakers say a public vote would demonstrate the Legislature’s respect for the people of Washington, who provided a total 2.6 million signatures to place the measures before the Washington House and Senate. The measures take ...
As six initiatives advance to Legislature, senators call for lawmakers to act
OLYMPIA – As six initiatives advance to the Legislature during the current 2024 Legislative session, senators say they hope the Legislature will do its duty by taking a public vote – rather than taking no action and quietly sending them to the ballot in November. The lawmakers say a public vote would demonstrate the Legislature’s respect for the people of Washington, who provided a total 2.6 million signatures to place the measures before the Washington House and Senate. The measures take ...
Six initiatives advance to Legislature
As six initiatives advance to the Legislature during the current 2024 Legislative session, senators say they hope the Legislature will do its duty by taking a public vote – rather than taking no action and quietly sending them to the ballot in November. The lawmakers say a public vote would demonstrate the Legislature’s respect for the people of Washington, who provided a total 2.6 million signatures to place the measures before the Washington House and Senate. The measures take on signature ...
Senate committee passes another Padden bill removing red tape from construction of smaller condominiums
In 2023 the Legislature unanimously approved a bill from 4th District Sen. Mike Padden that helps encourage home ownership in Washington by making it easier for smaller condominium buildings to be constructed. During this year’s legislative session, Padden has introduced a similar condo-construction proposal. The bipartisan measure was approved yesterday by the Senate Law and Justice Committee. Senate Bill 5792 would exclude buildings with 12 or fewer units that are no more than three stories high from the definition of “multiunit residential ...
Legislative Republicans support ban to prohibit a personal income tax
Click here for a timeline of the 11 voter rejections of an income tax in Washington state. OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, and House Republican Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, released the following statement in response to the certification of I-2111, which would enact a ban that would prohibit any level of government from imposing an income tax on the people. Voters have overwhelmingly rejected an income tax 11 times, including once in an advisory vote. “Our state has an affordability crisis. ...
19th District lawmakers to host Virtual Town Hall meeting Wednesday, Jan. 31
Sen. Jeff Wilson, Rep. Jim Walsh, and Rep. Joel McEntire are inviting residents of the 19th District to join them for a one-hour Virtual Town Hall meeting, Wednesday, Jan. 31, starting at 6 p.m. Those who wish to participate must register in advance for the meeting. The virtual town hall format allows the public to interact with their lawmakers via their computers, tablets or smartphones. The event will be conducted using the Zoom platform. Lawmakers will discuss major issues of the 2024 legislative session and provide constituents an ...
Wagoner: No need to raise property taxes and rents; there is a better way to get needed funds to local governments
Legislative Democrats recently held a hearing on Senate Bill 5770, which would triple the allowable growth rate of property taxes and almost certainly drive record-high rents up even more. While proponents point to the tax proposal as a way to get much-needed funds to local governments, Sen. Keith Wagoner has introduced two bills to accomplish that goal without punishing already-struggling property owners and renters. “I’ve seen a lot of bad ideas in Olympia but raising property taxes and rents during a housing-affordability ...
Dozier asks for committee hearing on parental-rights initiative
OLYMPIA… Under Washington’s constitution, initiatives to the Legislature are to have precedence over all other measures before lawmakers except spending bills. Sen. Perry Dozier today added an exclamation mark to that requirement by formally asking the chair of the Senate’s K-12 education committee to hold a hearing on Initiative 2081 “as soon as possible.” I-2081, certified to the Legislature this past week by the secretary of state, would establish a wide-ranging parents’ bill of rights. Dozier, R-Waitsburg, is prime sponsor of ...
Update from Olympia
Greetings Friends and Neighbors, Things are moving quickly here in Olympia with over 1,000 new bills introduced in the state Legislature. I’d like to think that many of these proposals are needed to address problems our citizens are facing, but a cursory look reveals some troubling themes that I’ve discussed before, particularly when it comes to public safety. I won’t rehash the debates of last session, but suffice it to say that reforms around police pursuits and drug possession were needed and perhaps ...
Republican leaders support Initiative 2117 to repeal carbon tax, call for public hearings on the measure
Senate Republican Leader John Braun and House Republican Leader Drew Stokesbary released a joint statement today following the certification of Initiative 2117 (Concerning carbon tax credit trading) by the Secretary of State on Tuesday. "Governor Inslee and Democrats misled the public about the costs of the carbon tax on working families, farmers and small businesses. Now that Washingtonians know the truth, they are pushing back and saying 'no' to this regressive tax. "Every House and Senate Republican opposed this policy from day ...
Sen. MacEwen calls on committee chair to hear I-2117
OLYMPIA, Wash – On January 16, Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs certified I-2117, an initiative to repeal provisions of the Climate Commitment Act by prohibiting any carbon tax credit trading. The initiative received about 420,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. As ranking member and lead Republican on the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee, Washington State Senator Drew MacEwen requested the Committee Chair, hold a public hearing. Article II, section 1(a) of the Washington State Constitution states, “The first power ...
8th District lawmakers to host virtual town hall Feb. 17
– In a combined effort to support open communication and more community engagement, three 8th District lawmakers are hosting a virtual town hall on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m. Washington State Senator Matt Boehnke (R), State Representative Stephanie Barnard (R), and State Rep. April Connors (R), all three representing the 8th Legislative District, invite the public to attend the virtual event. Virtual Town Halls are a great way for local residents in the Tri-Cities area to connect and engage with ...
Session gets under way, massive tax hike already being proposed
When I and other budget leaders met with news reporters to preview our session I spoke about the need to be conservative about appropriating the billions of dollars collectively generated by the capital-gains income tax, the long-term care payroll tax and the cap-and-trade law, because those sources would go away if three of the citizen initiatives in play are passed. There's more about the initiatives below; click here to view the legislative preview, which included discussions with other legislative leaders ...
State-run detention centers like Green Hill School need security-protocol overhaul
Governor needs to be accountable, stop minimizing problems OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, and Centralia Chief of Police Stacy Denham are disputing the governor’s recent claim that security protocols at Green Hill School, the state-run maximum-security detention facility in Chehalis, are “improved.” They provided the following statement in response. “We cannot emphasize enough how badly the hiring, training and security protocols at Green Hill School and other state-run detention facilities across Washington need to be overhauled to ensure the safest and ...
NEWSLETTER: Session begins TODAY -- you can testify in support of my bills -- learn how
Friends and Neighbors, Today marks the beginning of the 2024 Legislative Session. We operate on a biennial schedule, so this is the "short" year. This means we meet for 60 days, during which time we are tasked with making minor adjustments to the biennial state budget adopted in 2023 rather than writing an entirely new budget. We also can continue work on bills we sponsored last year. My priorities this session are to make Washington a safer and more affordable place to ...