Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Week two of the 2013 Legislature’s “special session” was marked by ongoing budget negotiations and ceremonial bill signings, including several of my measures, which I will go into more detail about below. The special session was convened by the governor on Monday the 13th, and by law it can last up to 30 days.

BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS

During the two-week break between the adjournment of this year’s regular session and the commencement of the special session, budget negotiations continued. I have been very active in education policy and budget negotiations, as well as capital budget negotiations, so I am in Olympia a lot!

People are glad to know that the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus (MCC) is fighting for a budget that does not raise taxes on the families and employers of our state. We will have to reach a point in negotiations where both the Senate and the House can agree on budget, while upholding the state law that requires the budget to balance against four years’ worth of revenue projections.

The MCC believes that we can have a sustainable budget and make substantial investments in education without raising taxes.

I will continue to keep you updated as negotiations are made. It is my hope that we can finish the necessary work within the 30-days allotted for a special session.

BILL SIGNINGS

Last Thursday, the governor signed three of my bills into law and earlier in the month, three other measures were also signed.

One measure of particular importance to residents in the district is Senate Bill 5105. This bill addresses the state housing-voucher program for offenders and clearly outlines the conditions to which the state Department of Corrections must adhere to when issuing housing vouchers. The picture to the right is from the bill signing of SB 5105.

Senate Bill 5399 corrects timing provisions for counties that are trying to comply with the Growth Management Act, while Senate Bill 5465 makes a much-needed correction to state law in regards to the supervision of physical-therapist assistants who are in education programs. Senate Bill 5197 is my school-safety bill that would help schools fund improvements to make their buildings and campuses safer for our children.

Two of my bills had identical counterparts in the House, which were recently signed into law. House Bill 1466 revises alternative public works procedures and House Bill 1447 authorizes the completion of the heavy-haul corridor for the Port of Tacoma.  

SPENDING TIME IN THE DISTRICT

Since the regular session adjourned on April 28, I have spent more time in the district meeting with many constituents and attending various community events.

Last Friday I attended and spoke at the Puyallup PTA awards banquet. Education continues to be a major area of focus for me and I enjoyed being able to thank the parents, volunteers, and teachers in person for their hard work and commitment to our students. I’ll be touring several schools in the district towards the end of the month, which is something that I always look forward to.

On Tuesday I was honored to be on a panel of judges for the senior board evaluations at Puyallup High School. This is something that I have done in the past and it is always encouraging to see the great work that the students put into their final projects.

Yesterday, at the annual Port of Tacoma breakfast, I was once again reminded of the need to complete SR-167. It remains a critical link in our transportation and import/export infrastructure.

IN CLOSING

I was shocked to hear the news of the bridge collapse in Mt. Vernon, but I am very glad that there was no loss of life. This incident highlights the importance of investing in and maintaining our road systems.

Memorial Day is right around the corner and it offers a good opportunity to reflect, honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I plan to once again spend Memorial Day at the Puyallup VFW’s Memorial Day program. It is a great program and if you’ve never been, I encourage you to check it out.

My district office is now open and staffed by my legislative assistant, Matt DelRiccio. If you are in the area, feel free to stop by and say hello!

District Office Address:

101 S. Meridian, Suite D

Puyallup, WA 98371

Sincerely,

Senator Bruce Dammeier

Residents of the 25th Legislative District who are concerned about community and neighborhood safety can breathe a bit easier now. That’s because the governor has signed Sen. Bruce Dammeier’s bill to address concerns about the state housing-voucher program for offenders.

Many people from Dammeier’s district were present for Thursday’s signing of Senate Bill 5105. They included Julie Door, a citizen lobbyist who became integral to the discussion that produced the new law; it began last year when Puyallup’s Shaw Road neighborhood became a possible location for a halfway house for newly-released offenders.

“While this measure addresses major concerns for the people of my district, it will also positively affect other neighborhoods and communities all across the state,” said Dammeier, R-Puyallup. “This bill increases transparency and clearly outlines conditions to which the state Department of Corrections must adhere when issuing housing vouchers.”

Dammeier also had two other bills signed Thursday. Senate Bill 5399 corrects timing provisions for counties that are trying to comply with the Growth Management Act. Senate Bill 5465 makes a much-needed correction to state law regarding the supervision of physical-therapist assistants who are in education programs or training.

Earlier this month Dammeier’s school-safety bill was signed along with House of Representatives bills that mirrored two measures he had introduced in the Senate; one revises alternative public works procedures and the other completes the heavy-haul corridor for the Port of Tacoma.

Today the Senate honored the life and legacy of honored football coach Forrest “Frosty” Westering with a resolution sponsored by

Frosty began coaching at Parsons College in 1962, but his legendary career took off when he joined the Pacific Lutheran University team in 1972. There he led the PLU team to four national titles, three NAIA titles and one NCAA Division III title.

It wasn’t the number of wins, titles or records that he or the team held that made him so well liked – it was his sense of humor, his positive outlook on life, and his gift of connecting with people that made a lasting impression.

“Frosty was an inspiration to so many people,” said Dammeier, R-Puyallup. “His legacy can be found throughout the Puget Sound region and all across Washington because he impacted the lives of young men who have gone on to become leaders in communities across the state. It is my honor to pay tribute to a man that upheld the highest integrity and character both on and off the football field.”

Frosty’s family, including his wife Donna, daughter Holly, and son Scott, who is the current PLU football coach, as well as two PLU representatives, the vice president of student life and the director of athletics, were in attendance for the formal reading of Senate Resolution 8658.

You can watch archived footage of the resolution and the personal testimony from many legislators by clicking HERE or by visiting tvw.org.

“We find it interesting that the House budget includes approximately 1.2 billion dollars in additional taxes to pay for 1 billion dollars in new non-education spending,” said Sen. Bruce Dammeier, who serves as vice chairman of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. “We already have the money to prioritize investing in our schools and now can focus on the most effective non-education services and how to pay for them. We welcome that conversation and are pleased that we have a shared understanding and similar dollars allocated to K-12 education.”

The Senate passed a bipartisan plan on April 5 that added $1.5 billion in new K-12 education money with more than $1 billion specifically addressing the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. The plan does not rely on new taxes and is projected to balance over the next four years.

In addition to the $900 million in new taxes approved today, the House budget relies on $270 million in previously-approved taxes and approximately $238 million from a raid on the state’s rainy-day fund, which would require an unlikely three-fifths vote by House members. Its budget also recedes from $160 million in anticipated revenue from ending certain tax exemptions.

“The House budget as adopted doesn’t even zero out over this biennium, and completely fails to balance over four years as is now required by law,” said Sen. Michael Baumgartner, who serves as vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Baumgartner also voiced concern for the House budget’s failure to meet the Senate’s level of support for higher education.

“Even with an additional 1.2 billion dollars in new taxes the House Democrat budget still spends less on higher education than the Senate,” said Baumgartner, who sponsored the Senate’s higher-education funding plan. “One would think, with such a large amount of additional resources, that a stronger commitment to higher education would be reflected. Unfortunately, the House continues to prioritize the growth of other areas of government over higher education, while increasing the tax burden on families and small businesses throughout our state.”

The House Democrat budget follows Gov. Jay Inslee’s lead in allowing college tuition to increase up to 10 percent in the next two years. By contrast, the Senate budget spends more than $3 billion on higher education and implements a 3 percent across-the-board tuition reduction for in-state students.

“The House Democrat plan is yet another budget proposal that makes it more expensive to go to college,” Baumgartner said. “Stacking more tuition increases on top of a decade of tuition increases is a dangerous game to play, and the losers, again, are college students and our middle-income families, who are getting priced out of an affordable college education.”

The Senate and House of Representatives have through Sunday, the end of the 105-day regular legislative session, to agree on a budget plan for the state’s upcoming two-year budget cycle.

“From the beginning, the Majority Coalition Caucus has been about breaking the typical Olympia-mold,” said Dammeier, R-Puyallup. “Non-education spending in our state has grown consistently and twice as fast as education spending. Something drastic must be done to reverse that trend and stabilize future budgets for a sustainable future.”

Instead of raising taxes, SB 5895 would cap the growth of non-education spending to 6 percent per biennia and redirect existing tax dollars to support basic education with permanent policy changes. 

“Unlike previous ed funding proposals from past years, this plan does not consist of quick-fix gimmicks or temporary transfers. It creates stable and permanent changes to our education-funding structure and is a strong step toward fulfilling our constitutionals duty to support our schools.” 

The measure was passed with a 25-23 vote and now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Today is day-96 of the 105-day “regular” session. Wednesday was the final day for the two houses of the Legislature to consider bills approved by the opposite house. Below is a chart, which shows that only about 17% of this session’s bills made it through the “funnel” known as the legislative process. As I have often said, the legislative process is designed to kill bills and only allow through those bills that are truly ready to become law. Fundamentally, this high standard is a good thing – we don’t want it to be too easy to make or change state law!

FOUR KEY ISSUES LEFT TO RESOLVE

Concurrences. We will be spending the next few days reconciling the differences made to particular bills, which passed the House and Senate. To become law, they have to pass with the exact same language, so we are in the process now of deciding whether to accept each others amendments.

Operating Budget. Our most significant responsibility is deciding how the state will spend our taxpayers’ money for the next two years. We must resolve the differences between the Senate and House budgets. Both proposals invest more than an additional $1 billion in our schools in response to the Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. While the Senate proposal lives within the projected revenue and balances out four years without raiding our “rainy day “ fund, the House budget raises more than $1.3 billion in taxes by continuing those set to expire, extending, ending exemptions, and creating entirely new ones. Negotiating a final budget will be challenging, but that is what we are sent here to do!

Capital Budget. We also have to negotiate and compromise on a capital budget that supports construction for our schools, government buildings, colleges, and some other community buildings. It also invests in storm water improvements and pollution cleanup. Because the operating budget makes our debt service (think mortgage payment on a house), final resolution of this budget may have to wait until the operating budget is finalized.

Transportation Revenue Package. We still have the potential to approve a revenue package that will both invest in new transportation infrastructure and help maintain our existing roads. This proposal includes a significant commitment to completing SR-167 from Puyallup to the Port of Tacoma. While not enough to support the full completion, it does help keep our trade-dependent economy well positioned. So far the proposal has not made it out of the House.

FIVE BILLS ON TRACK TO BECOME LAW

Senate Bill 5105 outlines the conditions to which the state Department of Corrections must adhere when issuing housing vouchers to offenders. It will increase transparency, require community input and support local jurisdictions. This is a big win for the 25th District and for the state of Washington.

Senate Bill 5197 focuses on protecting our state’s school children. It will make it more difficult for someone with ill will to get to our students and it will help our law enforcement respond more quickly and effectively.

Senate Bill 5399 is a good governance and fairness bill and will correct timing provisions for counties. Oftentimes they incur penalties when attempting to comply with the Growth Management Act, which can total millions of dollars in lost grants and loans.

Senate Bill 5465 makes a much-needed correction to our current law and supports physical therapist training. It will allow licensed physical therapist assistants to supervise physical therapist assistants who are in education programs. 

Senate Bill 5666 improves the quality of care in our health care system and improves clinical outcomes. Health care facilities must be able to critically self-examine their actions and their health care providers in order to identify areas where they can improve.

Lastly, we were fortunate to have another outstanding local student page in the Senate this week. Michael Isaksen, from Rogers High School, supported us throughout this critical cutoff week!

Thank you for joining me for another weekly update!
Sincerely,

Bruce

Senate Bill 5105 outlines the conditions to which the state Department of Corrections must adhere when issuing housing vouchers to offenders, such as maintaining a list of approved housing providers, requiring transitional support, working with communities for siting, and allowing communities to request ineffective or unresponsive providers be removed from the program. A companion bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Zeiger and Morrell on the House side.

“I count this bill as a victory – not only for the good people of the 25th District, but for the entire state of Washington,” said Dammeier, R-Puyallup. “The measure will increase transparency, require community input and support local jurisdictions – and was backed with the support of the entire 25th District delegation and many from our community.”

“The safety of our children should never be a partisan issue,” said Rep. Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup. “I was proud to work with Senator Dammeier and Representative Zeiger to turn input from my neighbors into a common-sense reform that will help to ensure the safety of not only our community – but communities across our state.”

“This bill will give Puyallup more options for keeping our neighborhoods safe,” said Rep. Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup. “I am grateful for people from the Shaw Road neighborhood who made this bill a reality. We couldn’t have done it without Julie Door – the most effective citizen lobbyist I have known.”

“I am glad the members of the House recognized the need for Senate Bill 5197, and I especially appreciate the work Representatives Dave Hayes and Monica Stonier put into fine-tuning the measure,” said Sen. Bruce Dammeier, sponsor of the bill. “Increasing the safety of our schools is a critical priority, and yesterday’s tragic attack at the Boston Marathon was another reminder of how volatile the world we live in can be.”

Dammeier said SB 5197, which passed the Senate in mid-February, presents the framework for schools to make it more difficult for someone with ill will to get to our students and to help our law enforcement respond more quickly and effectively.

The measure is backed by a $10 million appropriation in the Senate capital-budget proposal.