Neighborhood Safe Streets bill moving forward

The Neighborhood Safe Streets bill passed the House Wednesday on a vote of 86-10, moving one step closer to saving cities and counties money by allowing them to use their common sense.

Right now, local governments must pay for an engineering report to raise – or lower – speed limits. It makes sense for raising the limit, to ensure a road can handle higher speeds.

But it's a waste of time and money for state law to require engineering reports to lower a speed limit. Any road or highway can always handle lower speeds.

The legislation by Rep. Cindy Ryu (D-Shoreline) cuts that red tape, which will save taxpayer dollars --and more importantly, save lives.

The Seattle Bike Blog does a great job explaining the bill:

"Speeds on such streets are most often 25 mph today. Studies show that a person struck by a car going 30 miles per hour has a 40 percent chance of dying. When the speed drops to 20 mph, the chance of dying drops to 5 percent. So while a few mph might seem like a small safety gain, it can actually be the difference between life and death."

This common-sense reform is now in the Senate, and you can track it by clicking here.

Read this story in Spanish.

Helping make dreams come true

From Point Roberts Dollars for Scholars to the Colton Education Foundation in Whitman County, business and community leaders across Washington have long supported Dollars for Scholars scholarships to help talented students pursue their college dreams.

Rep. Cindy Ryu knows how much Dollars for Scholars can mean to deserving students.  In addition to representing the 32nd District in the people’s House, Cindy is a past President and current board member of both the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce and Shoreline Dollars for Scholars. She recently joined other leaders of the Shoreline Chamber and Dollars for Scholars to award 11 new scholarships during a celebration at Shoreline Community College.

The Shoreline Dollars for Scholars program has awarded scholarships to more than 160 students over the past 9 years. That’s a lot of dreams come true!

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Legislators: With a lot of interim research to do, their work isn't done here!

Everyone who thinks the Legislature, having wrapped up its 2012 session work a few months ago, can sit back and rest easy until the 2013 legislative fun starts Monday morning, Jan. 14 -- go right ahead and take one step forward. Not so fast, there, you HDC Advance blogsters! There's a passel of research-and-development duties and assignments to cover between now and then.

Take the House Business & Financial Services Committee, just as one "for instance." Committee members and staff, as well as the hundreds and hundreds of stakeholders and other citizens concerned with such issues, have themselves a plenty-full plate. One issue in particular -- mileage-based auto insurance -- is very much on the radar screens of said committee members, staff, and other interested parties. The committee has reviewed related proposals in recent legislative sessions, including House Bill 2445, an idea that stalled in the 2012 session. Says the "Bill Report" for this thing, which might well be introduced again in some form next year:

"Mileage-based insurance" is defined as private passenger automobile insurance that:

•  Has rates expected to be on average at least 70 percent variable, according to actual miles driven and not on estimated miles driven.
• Is available in mileage bands of not more than 1,000 miles each.
• Discloses the variable portion of the premium in a conspicuous manner.

 The measure, about which you can read a good deal more if you will but click that jocund link listed above, is prime-sponsored by state Rep. Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, a member of the Business and Financial Services Committee. The lead co-sponsor is state Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, who chairs the committee. A work session on the bill is scheduled for the committee's November interim meeting.

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Keeping it short

Rep. Cindy Ryu measures a bit over five feet, one inch from head to toe, but she hoped to stand tall on the floor of the House in praise of a yet-more-diminutive colleague,Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney, who is retiring after 15 years in the Legislature.

Alas, Ryu was unable to rise in salute to Kenney, what with the crush of business at the session’s close.

But here’s what she planned to say in her not-long speech.

As a fellow member of the Short Caucus, I would like to talk about legs.

I know the saying, “If you want something done, you ask a short, busy woman,” is true because over the last year and half, I’ve seen and learned from Rep. Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney about:

setting goals, putting legs on them, and charging into whomever or whatever the challenges and barriers may be.

Rep. Gutiérrez Kenney is an embodiment of how we can achieve the American dream, one step at a time.

Phyllis, you are leaving large footprints to fill.  I will miss you.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Several legislative tele town halls happening this week

On the heels of last weekend’s live town halls in some districts, several legislators are hosting town halls via phone this week.

There are “tele town halls” slated for tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings.  If you live in the 40th, 32nd, or 28th Legislative Districts, here’s what you need to know:

On Tuesday, February 21,Rep. Jeff Morris is hosting a one hour tele town hall beginning around 6:00 p.m. Last month his seatmate, Rep. Kristine Lytton, also hosted a tele town hall that drew almost 9,000 participants. If you missed out on that one, didn’t get an opportunity to ask your question, of if you’d like to hear from your other 40th District legislator, be sure to pick up the phone when it rings around 6:00 o'clock in the evening.

On Wednesday, February 22, Reps. Ruth Kagi and Cindy Ryu will host a joint tele town hall beginning at about 6:00 p.m.  This is the first joint tele town hall for the two seatmates, although Rep. Kagi hosted one back in 2010.  The two legislators look forward to jointly hosting Wednesday’s event and being able to speak directly with constituents of the 32nd district.

Finally, on Thursday, February 23, Rep. Tami Green will host a tele town hall that will start at 6:00 p.m. Rep. Green previously hosted a tele town hall last May with several thousand participants.

If you are a constituent in any of these districts, and you do not receive a call to join the event, you can still participate by calling toll-free 1-877-229-8493, and entering ID Code 18646 when prompted.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Cindy’s “Reaching for the American Dream” video reaches White House top 20

The term "American Dream" was coined by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book The Epic of America. He defined it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement... It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

Eight decades later, people from all walks of life—and even from distant places in the globe, continue finding that America is, indeed, the land of opportunity. 

When the White House asked Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to tell their stories in a nationwide video challenge, state Rep. Cindy Ryu, a Korean-American, decided to share her journey in pursuit of the American Dream.

The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders recently announced that Ryu’s “Reaching for the American Dream” video has been selected as one of only 20 semi-finalists in the national “What’s your story?” challenge, which gathered hundreds of videos from across the United States.

Ryu said that her experiences in Shoreline and the 32nd Legislative District show that America is still the land of opportunity, “I think it is important for people, especially young people, to appreciate the blessings we enjoy as Americans, because we must all work together to preserve the American Dream for future generations.”

A group of judges will review the top 20 videos and select 10 that will appear on the White House website. The public will then be invited to vote for their favorite videos, and the top winners will be invited to share their stories in person at the White House.

Read the full press release here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

House votes to help immigrants do the right thing the right way

Last night the House unanimously passed HB 5023, a measure to crack down on quasi-legal assistants who swindle hard working men and women out of hundreds or thousands of dollars with the promise of fixing their immigration papers.

This consumer protection bill solves the problem of people using misleading labels, such as “registered immigration assistant” and “notario publico,” a term that is the equivalent to attorney in some Latin American countries. With these titles they deceive vulnerable immigrants about their authority, qualifications, competency and ability to provide professional services.

The deceptions that have taken place as a result of this practice have caused serious harm to immigrants and prevented them from getting the legal advice and services they do need.

By eliminating the current state registry of “immigration assistants,” the bill stresses that only lawyers are authorized to provide legal advice on immigration matters. Under this measure assistants to lawyers can still translate, transcribe and provide other helpful services to immigrants that do not constitute the practice of law.

Watch the video below to see freshman Rep. Cindy Ryu, a naturalized citizen, as her moving remarks remind everyone in the chamber what being an American is all about:


The measure has the support of immigrants, immigrant organizations, and other groups that work directly with immigrants, such as One America, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the American Civil Liberties Union.

“This is really a good consumer protection bill,” said Rep. Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney, who sponsored the House companion to the Senate measure that passed. “Too many people wanting to do the right thing are instead seeing their lives ruined from having trusted these individuals who masquerade as attorneys.”

SB 5023 now goes back to the Senate for concurrence and then to Governor Gregoire for her signature.

History made in the Legislature today

History was made in Olympia on Jan. 10 when Sen. Paull Shin, representing the 21st District, welcomed newly-elected state Rep. Cindy Ryu, representing the 32nd District, to the Washington State Legislature.

Ryu is the first Korean-American woman ever elected to the Legislature. Shin was the first Korean-American to be elected to the Legislature. He became a state representative in 1992 and a senator in 1998.

This is the second time Ryu has set a political milestone. In 2006, she became the first female Korean-American mayor in the United States when she was elected mayor of Shoreline, Washington.