Dave Paul - LD10 Rep. Pos. 2 (D)

Background / qualifying experiences

I’m an educator and community leader and I have worked at Skagit Valley College since 2008 and served on the Oak Harbor Educational Foundation since 2009. I have had the honor of serving in the State Legislature for the past two years. Voters can trust that I will continue to listen to all constituents and work hard to find bipartisan solutions whenever possible. The legislation that I have sponsored to protect veterans, support education and improve transportation policies shows my commitment to bringing people together – Democrats and Republicans alike – and finding solutions.

State economic recovery

The biggest issue facing our district is combating COVID-19 and addressing the pandemic’s impact on our families and the economy. I will continue my work with health officials, community leaders and local elected officials to implement common-sense public health measures that help keep our families, schools and communities safe – and get our businesses back open. We need to make sure that efforts to rebuild the economy are focused on our Main Streets and not Wall Street. Finally, we need to ensure that the most vulnerable members of our community are protected from draconian budget cuts proposed by many candidates.

State budget deficit

I will look towards identifying opportunities to use the capital and transportation budgets as ways to fund family wage jobs and improve our infrastructure. I will look for ways to protect vital services as we balance the operating budget.

State regressive tax structure

Washington’s tax system is the most regressive in the nation and is not equitable for working families and the middle class. Washington’s B&O structure is also extremely complicated and is a burden for small-business owners. The Legislature has taken some good first steps in terms of tax reform, such as creating a progressive Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) structure that benefits low- and middle-income homeowners. Our state should take a comprehensive and holistic examination of its tax structure, eliminate needless corporate tax breaks and ensure that working families are not paying a disproportionate amount of their income on taxes.

Fully fund state’s public education

Public education is the paramount duty of the state government. While others believe we should cut funding to our schools or promote vouchers, I believe there is still work to do; including in special ed funding, funding property poor school districts and better funding counselors. I will be working to ensure these issues are not neglected by the legislature. I am also proud of my work to improve opportunities for high school students to earn college credit through Running Start, College in the High School and CTE Dual Credit.

Climate change in Washington

I am very concerned about improving the environmental health of the state in general and the Salish Sea in particular. More must be done to fund programs that protect our environment and these programs will save the state money in the long term. For example, improvements to energy standards of new buildings will save homeowners, companies and public agencies money in a few years. Many environmental programs are not only common-sense, but they are low cost.