2023 Legislative session wrap-up: Fighting for you

During the hectic, fluid and complex process of the 2023 legislative session, I wanted to keep our priorities front and center. I’ve been fighting to help our low-income and working families, support our veterans and military families, protect and preserve our environment, provide our students more opportunities and ensure our rural counties and cities have the resources they need to keep our communities strong. We’ve made significant progress and I wanted to share some successes we’ve had this session.

As the cost of housing continues to rise, many are struggling to make ends meet. That’s why one of my earliest bills this year was updating the property tax exemption for seniors, disabled individuals and qualifying veterans. I introduced House Bill 1560 and worked with Representative Sharon Wylie to roll this legislation into her bill, House Bill 1355. Many veterans and senior citizens face housing instability and are at risk of homelessness – by expanding eligibility, more will keep their homes.

Supporting our military families was a priority going into this session. I sponsored House Bill 1346 to establish the Purple Star Award for school districts that go the extra mile for children of military service members. Recognizing their work with military kids, the Purple Star Award encourages school districts to provide stronger educational and social-emotional support for military-connected students through professional development, school liaisons and public information.

Supporting working and low-income families was another priority for me. House Bill 1458, which I introduced, studies unemployment benefits for apprentices in classroom study. This helps apprentices fulfill their training requirements, even when those requirements are unpaid. House Bill 1499 allows food banks to more easily carry non-food essentials – like diapers and hygiene products – which goes a long way toward helping low-income families in their time of need.

Additionally, I sponsored House Bill 1658, allowing high school students to earn elective credit for paid work experience and financial education. I’m dedicated to making sure that every student has the financial knowledge and tools to be better prepared for life beyond high school.

Finally, I introduced House Bill 1086 to raise the ceiling on no-bid contracts for small districts, helping them contract with local service organizations. That limit was raised from $25,000 to $75,000, giving flexibility for public service organizations to meaningfully participate in improving our communities.

I am proud to say that all five of these bills made it through the process and to the governor’s desk.

We also passed the state budgets over the last three days of session. I serve on the Capital Budget Committee, which helps with local community projects. The other two budgets include the transportation budget and the operating budget. I want to share some local projects that I am particularly excited about.

The Capital Budget includes a dike northwest of Stanwood to prevent flooding in Stanwood and the submerging of the road to Camano Island. The state $1.9 million investment will be matched by $1.75 million from Snohomish County. I teamed up with Snohomish Councilmember Nate Nehring to request this money.

The Capital Budget also includes $13.6 million for Crescent Harbor Elementary School and $13.9 million for Oak Harbor School District’s Hand-in-Hand Early Learning Center. These investments allow us to leverage more than $100 million of federal funds.

Though I was proud to vote for this project in committee and on the House floor, Rep. Dave Paul, Oak Harbor Superintendent Michelle Kuss-Cybula and local education leaders deserve recognition for tirelessly advocating for this investment.

We also funded affordable workforce housing at the Coupeville Food Bank and a commercial kitchen facility in Arlington.

The Operating Budget includes investments for homeless services at the Skagit First Step Center, pay increases for home-care providers and employees serving individuals with developmental disabilities and veteran service officers in Island County.

And we’re not done! We’ve already been working hard on priorities for the next legislative session.

Last week, I introduced HB 1857, which provides a tax credit for farmers using low-risk, environmentally friendly pesticides, HB 1861, which provides language assistance in voting materials and HB 1858 which creates a U.S. Naval Academy license plate.

As always, thank you for giving me the opportunity to continue my life-long dedication to public service.

As a veteran having attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated from Naval Nuclear Power School, trained at a naval nuclear reactor plant and served in the Middle East and Southeast Asia as a public affairs officer, I am honored to serve you here in the Washington State Legislature.