Stanford's knack for numbers upgrades Caseload Forecast Council

State Rep. Derek Stanford's flair for figures will be put to great use in his new work as a member of a pivotal government panel. The Bothell lawmaker has been appointed to the Caseload Forecast Council (CFC), which occupies a strategic, albeit all-too-often-unsung standing in the construction of marching orders for state-government operations.

 

Meeting several times a year, the six-member CFC is charged with putting two and two together -- and then some. The council estimates how many folks will be using public services afforded by state government. Those figures are used to help develop a redoubtable document called the Omnibus Biennial Appropriations Act, more commonly known as the state operating budget.

 

The council looks at numbers for everything:

* Student-enrollment in public schools, colleges and universities.

* Recipients of public assistance.

* Incarcerated persons in prison or on probation.

* Citizens receiving long-term care, medical assistance, foster care, and adoption support.

"I’m looking forward to joining the work of the Caseload Forecast Council," Stanford said, "because as a legislator, I respect the critical position the council's efforts occupy in the budgeting process. I believe that my background in statistics and predictive modeling will give me an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution."

Stanford, who is vice chair of the House Capital Budget Committee, earned a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Washington. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in mathematics, both earned from Harvey Mudd College, and has worked as director of analytics for a telecom company and in fraud-detection in the mortgage industry.

 

Stanford takes Capital position

A much larger, and more demanding, say-so in operating the state-government steering wheel is in the works for state Rep. Derek Stanford. The House Democratic Caucus recently selected Stanford to vice-chair the crucial House Capital Budget Committee. His new responsibilities commence with the Monday morning, Jan. 14, opening gavel of the 2013 legislative session.

"I'm looking forward to helping tackle fresh challenges facing our Capital Budget Committee, as well as other matters awaiting us in Olympia," said Stanford. "This committee manages significant investment-decisions for Washington's several-billion-dollar construction budget. As you can imagine, these decisions go a long way toward shaping job-creation and economic-development policies in our King and Snohomish county communities, and in other cities and towns all across our state."

Stanford, recently re-elected to serve his second term in office, said the Capital Budget Committee looks at money-saving strategies in the construction and repair of public buildings, as well as land-acquisitions and transfers. The committee also keeps a close eye on the state's public, capital-budget dollars that are given or lent to local governments or nonprofit organizations for infrastructure, housing, and cultural and heritage facilities.

He wasn't a member of the Capital Budget Committee in his first term of office. Still, Stanford did win committee-support last year for funding to assist with a substantial construction project in the 1st Legislative District - $800,000  to help pay the bill for building a new Scriber Creek Pedestrian Bridge in Brier. The old Scriber Creek Pedestrian Bridge was damaged in the December 2007 flood. 

According to Nicole Gaudette, city planning with the City of Brier, "rebuilding the Scriber Creek Bridge will protect salmon-bearing waters, critical infrastructure, and pedestrian pathway, and the public health.  The state's partnership in funding the project is crucial to its success."

New capital budget: Help is on the way for fixing up big component of Brier's infrastructure

In the nick of time. Yes, indeed, that was a close one.

Just before the ultimate, early-morning gavel FINALLY fell on the 2012 Legislature a few weeks back, the state's new supplemental 2011-2013 capital budget -- featuring a very significant item that, according to its main booster and prime proponent, "will go quite a long way toward helping rebuild a significant piece of Brier's infrastructure” -- captured the long-awaited legislative "Green Light" and flew off to a coveted spot on the governor's desk, needing only her tasty autograph to become the "Law of the State."

State Rep. Derek Stanford this past session rounded up support for an $800,000 appropriation in the capital budget to assist in paying for a new Scriber Creek Pedestrian Bridge. This updated construction budget won final legislative approval near, as your true and loyal HDC Advance Blogster might have noted a couple of lines back, the very end of the recent special session.

Stanford explained that the horrible flood in December 2007 battered the you-know-what out of the bridge and areas around the bridge -- "eroding the creek bank to such an extent that two of the four pilings supporting the bridge were exposed."

"I'd like to express my appreciation to Rep. Stanford and his staff for their efforts assisting the City of Brier to acquire the funding needed for this project," said Brier Mayor Bob Colinas. "The city will now be able to make the repairs ensuring the bridge, sewer line and the fragile ecosystem of Scriber Creek will be maintained."

The Scriber Creek Pedestrian Bridge not only provides a major trail link in Brier, it also carries a sewer pipe over Scriber Creek, which is a salmon-bearing waterway.

Stanford said the prime directives in the capital budget, which this year is also called the "Jobs Now! Act," emphasize repairs for schools and other public buildings, as well as new-construction projects that will put many thousands of Washington men and women to work in communities all across the state. This budget will help leverage federal, local and private funding, and it also helps preserve and maintain state facilities.

He also noted that the capital budget “is primarily funded by the sale of bonds, and doesn’t do anything to add to the serious shortfall currently confronting our state’s biennial operating budget.”

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

From wood waste to jet fuel - Stanford bill gets gubernatorial approval

A bill “to emphasize important new policy both for the environment and for the aerospace industry” is now the law of the state. Prime sponsored by state Rep. Derek Stanford, House Bill 1422 was recently signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

The measure sets up a biomass pilot project to create jet fuel from wood waste. Stanford’s idea builds on last year’s Forest Biomass Initiative. Says the Washington State of Department Natural Resources: “The goal of the biomass initiative is to fill a void in assembling people to forge public-private partnerships among forest biomass suppliers, biomass purchasers, energy producers, communities and state agencies to utilize biomass materials for renewable energy generation.”

What we’re talking about here, folks, is nothing less than the making of jet fuel out of wood waste. No, it’s not some wild storybook alchemy. It’s not someone’s fantastical pipe dream. It’s a cutting-edge new idea that simply makes plain-old common sense – whether you look at it from an economic-development perspective or from another decisive viewpoint that goes by the three-word name of green-energy expansion.

“A biomass-to-fuel emphasis will spur investment in new technology for renewable energy. And this is exactly what we need to generate new green jobs and to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” Stanford emphasized. “This work is critical for our energy security and for the environment – a great win-win for Washington people with no cost to their state budget.”

Stanford also pointed out that “this legislation is good for the environment and the aerospace industry – two areas of immense importance to every Washingtonian.”

Finally, Stanford stated that manufacturing jet fuel more economically and environmentally correct is the right thing to do in view of the fact that its consumption has grown so much over the past quarter-century:

• Every year 2.2 billion people fly, with passenger traffic actually growing the last 10 years by 45 percent.
• Every year airplanes transport 35 percent of all international trade in goods.
• The aviation industry is responsible for two percent of global anthropogenic GHG emissions.
• Bio-derived fuels offer the prospect of significantly lower CO2 emissions, when one looks at this equation from a lifecycle perspective compared to a fossil-based jet-fuel perspective.

(Photo: from DNR blog)

Stanford’s consumer-protection measure feels unanimous legislative love

In these growling economic times dogged by reports of monetary mange, how about a pound of good consumer-protection news?

One of state Rep. Derek Stanford’s consumer-protection bills, House Bill 1694, has passed both legislative chambers unanimously. The legislation awaits only the gubernatorial ink of approval to become the law of the state. Stanford’s bill brings Washington into compliance with the federal Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. What we’re talking about here is updating and streamlining many of our state’s insurance regulations, specifically rules regarding surplus-lines insurance.

What the heck, you demand to know, are “surplus lines”? Glad you asked. This type of coverage must be purchased from a company that isn’t licensed here because it isn’t available through licensed companies. Make sense? For example, surplus lines might be used when unusual coverage is needed, or for a particularly complicated policy that insurers licensed here are not able to cover.

This bill will also make sure Washington doesn’t miss out on revenue as other states switch to the new system. Tax provisions in the legislation change the basis of taxation for some types of insurance coverage. Washington state will be able to tax certain out-of-state risks. Although the amount of money is hard to calculate, the current estimate is about $100,000 a month in revenue. The surplus-lines brokers have monitored implementation of the federal law. Many of these brokers worked with the state Insurance Commissioner’s office in helping develop this bill.

Stanford’s diligent work on the legislation earned praise from state Rep. Steve Kirby, who chairs the House Business & Financial Services Committee of which Stanford is a member. Kirby said Stanford did a great job helping make sure the measure was steered properly through the legislative labyrinth.