Kenney is the prime sponsor of this year’s legislation, and she also chairs the House Community and Economic Development and Trade Committee, where the bill to restructure the department had a hearing this morning.
This “begins the process of shaping the new department,” Kenney said. Kenney laid out that this bill will be a conversation to help the department as they evaluate which programs should stay, and which should be moved into other agencies.
Department of Commerce Director Rogers Weed testified and boiled it all down to “focus.” Weed laid out the unemployment and economic problems facing the state and described the department’s role in helping the state recover.The department currently holds many programs, not just economic development. One of the areas they work on is housing. Nick Federici, on behalf of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, testified that the process to evaluate what programs should be in the Department of Commerce has been great. Their request is that housing programs “stay together, wherever that is.”
