Frost covers the sundial in front of the Legislative Building at the Capitol in Olympia on Thursday. The 2017 session of the Legislature is scheduled to open on Monday. (Ted S. Warren/AP)Photo Gallery
The 2017 Washington state legislative session is likely to be dominated by education funding as lawmakers struggle to meet a pressing deadline to fully fund the state’s public schools.
Southwest Washington lawmakers, particularly Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, and Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, will play key roles in solving the school funding crisis. But the region’s legislators have a long list of additional priorities they intend to accomplish this session, including curbing the number of distracted drivers on the road and designating replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge as a project of statewide significance.
And for the first time in years, the crew representing the region in Olympia plans to regularly meet as a delegation. In previous sessions, the delegation struggled with a lack of trust and personality conflicts, which contributed to a difficulty in delivering the region’s top priorities.
Not anymore.
“We’re going to meet every week while in session,” Harris said. “We’ll take a hot topic, like the bridge or capital budget issues, and prioritize and … consider what’s best for the region and what will best serve all people in Southwest Washington.”
Here’s a look at what the Southwest Washington delegation hopes to accomplish during the 2017 legislative session, which starts Monday.
Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center
A member of the Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee, Rivers will be at the center of the state’s efforts to solve the school funding crisis.
It’s a complex problem, which Rivers boiled down into two steps. First, the state needs to determine the size of the box, she said, or how much money the Legislature needs to pour into the state’s public school system to adequately fund public schools. Second, they need to pay for the box.
The Legislature must satisfy the McCleary case this legislative session to meet a deadline set by the state’s Supreme Court.
“It’s about meeting our constitutional mandate (to fully fund education). That’s going to be my primary focus,” Rivers said.
It sounds straightforward enough, but lawmakers have continued to struggle to agree on the dollar amount. Democrats have called for raising taxes, while Republican have said there still isn’t enough information. Democrats have proposed spending $7 billion over the next four years to move toward ending the chronic underfunding of schools. But task force members scheduled to give recommendations to the Legislature admitted they were stymied by political gridlock.
The second-term senator also will chair her first committee this session, the Senate Health Care Committee. Her overarching goal on the committee, she said, will be to expand access and ensure medical providers are being reimbursed fairly for Medicaid patients. She also plans to introduce legislation to help curb the opioid crisis and ensure health care providers aren’t overprescribing by increasing education and limiting the allowable amount that can be prescribed.
She has a long list of other to-do items as well: ensuring law enforcement personnel are trained to test rape kits and have the necessary funding to do so, and prohibiting people from distracted driving, or picking up their phones while driving.
Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver
With the city of Vancouver and other cities and towns across the state still facing an affordable housing crisis, Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, plans to spend the 2017 legislative session focusing, in part, on affordable housing issues. Cleveland will introduce a measure requiring more notice for renters given a no-cause eviction.
Under state law a tenant can be evicted with 20 days’ notice, but Cleveland hopes to extend it to 30 days. The Vancouver City Council has passed an ordinance to ensure 60 days’ notice for no-cause evictions.
Cleveland, who is serving her second four-year term, will once again champion the Equal Pay Opportunity Act to ensure equal pay for equal work. The measure would offer more protections for employees who aren’t being paid fairly. It also would prohibit retaliation against employees who discuss their wages. Nationwide, women make 79 cents for every dollar paid to men. In some states, including Washington, the disparity is even greater and changes depending on the ethnicity of the employee.
Cleveland will serve as her party’s ranking member on the Senate Health Care Committee, and will likely work with Rivers to expand health care access and adjust to any statewide changes that could result from changes in federal health care policy.
Morning Briefing Newsletter
Get a rundown of the latest local and regional news every Mon-Fri morning.
Finally, she plans to team up with the rest of the delegation to designate the Interstate 5 Bridge project as one of statewide significance.
Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver
Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, will take the spot of retiring Republican Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, in the upper chamber this session. In some ways, the first-term senator’s philosophical values align with Benton’s: both legislators believe in reducing government regulations and lowering taxes.
But Wilson also plans to introduce a measure this session to dedicate the current sales tax from the purchase of feminine hygiene products to create an account to help victims of domestic violence.
The former state representative also plans to champion an effort to protect members of the Washington National Guard. She plans to push a measure carving out funds to provide security guards at military recruiting centers in the state soft body armor and other protective gear. Wilson was initially inspired to act after a gunman killed four U.S. Marines and a Navy sailor at a military recruiting station in Tennessee.
Another top priority, Wilson said, will be giving local governments the ability to protest rule-making that might negatively impact them. It would require the Joint Administrative Rules Review Committee to review rules or agency actions under certain circumstances.
“It adds another layer of accountability to agencies,” Wilson said.
Wilson will serve as chairwoman of the Higher Education Committee, and will focus on how prepared the state’s workforce is and ensure that tax dollars are being well-spent, she said.
Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver
Harris will serve as a ranking member on the House Education Committee and play a crucial role in tackling the school funding crisis.
“We have a lot of work,” Harris said. “We have to figure it out, how to fund education. It’s that simple and that complicated.”
Harris also plans to push a measure to raise the smoking age to 21 years old. He also will team with a Democratic lawmaker to limit opioid use, in part by restricting the number of days doctors can prescribe the drug. For a dentist, that would go from a 30-day prescription down to a three- or seven-day limit.
“We have to get this under control and start the dialogue,” Harris said.
Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver
This legislative session, Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, will serve as a vice chairwoman on the House Transportation Committee.
“My focus will be trying to make meaningful progress on a bipartisan solution to the Interstate 5 Bridge,” Wylie said.
She also plans to push for local money to help with the next phase of funding the Bridgeview project. The nonprofit hopes to start construction on a new education and employment resource center.
Wylie, who also sits on the House Finance Committee, said she hopes to scrutinize the state’s tax code and possibly make some changes to what the state levies sales tax on.
“For instance, why should adult and baby diapers and tampons be taxed but not sugary soft drinks?” Wylie said.
Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida
Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida, will hold a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee this legislative session. This committee is charged with drafting the budget. He also will continue to serve on the Business and Financial Services Committee and the Commerce and Gaming Committee.
He said he will try once again to pass a bill dubbed “right to try,” which would allow terminally ill patients the option of using experimental drugs not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“The language itself is very simple,” Vick said. “But the idea is big.”
He also hopes to craft a framework allowing entrepreneurs to sell equity stakes in their business through crowdfunding websites. Vick said he also plans to push for streamlining business licensing and permitting and for lowering property and casualty insurance costs.
Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas
Ahead of this legislative session, Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, vowed to work toward creating “affordable, new transportation infrastructure between Southwest Washington and Portland, Ore., to improve freight mobility and ease traffic congestion.” Pike has championed the idea of adding an additional bridge across the Columbia River and said that all options should be on the table.
Pike also plans to revive efforts to curb fatalities among teenage drivers by strengthening driver education programs. She is pushing legislation to increase the six-month driving permit for teenagers to a 12-month probationary period. “Practice makes perfect,” she said.
She also plans to push for a moratorium on all new state agency rule-making that isn’t first approved by the Legislature. Another priority for her this session will be identifying more industrial land that could be used to create manufacturing jobs.
Pike also will push to prioritize recreational fishing seasons over commercial gill-netting seasons. Recreational anglers pay the lion’s share of the fees, Pike said, yet the commercial gill-netters mop up most of the fish.
Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver
Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, will be back in Olympia this session representing the 49th Legislative District. Stonier served in the 17th Legislative District before moving to the 49th. She will take the seat held by longtime Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, who stepped down last year.
Stonier, who is a former middle school teacher and currently an instructional coach at Pacific Middle School, said she will focus her efforts on ensuring public schools are fully funded and she’s working on a measure to eliminate ProTeach requirements for public school teachers. Stonier said the assessment is a costly and redundant professional certificate and a barrier to retaining qualified teachers.
She is working on a measure to create clear standards for college loan officers so students have a better sense of the options available to them. Stonier said she’s also working with local community members to identify ways to improve care for those struggling with mental health issues.
And Stonier said she will be part of the Working Families caucus, a group of lawmakers that works to promote the labor community.
Rep. Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver
Freshman Rep. Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver, will replace Lynda Wilson in the House. Kraft said she philosophically aligns with Wilson. Her priorities, she said, are to approve accountability and reduce taxes.
“I would also ideally like to see education funded first in the budget,” Kraft said.
She declined to mention any specific legislation, but added that she’s working on some measures and also will be learning the ropes in Olympia.
Kraft will serve as the House assistant whip this session. She also has a seat on the House Capital Budget Committee, which means she could play a role in what capital improvement projects are funded in Southwest Washington.
Morning Briefing Newsletter
Get a rundown of the latest local and regional news every Mon-Fri morning.
