Legislators laud Hood Canal “Puget Sound Champions”

Hood Canal

Yesterday, four honorees were singled out by the Puget Sound Partnership for their efforts in helping to restore our region’s major waterway to good health.  In a ceremony at the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal Center, PSP’s Executive Director Gerry O’Keefe and former King County Executive Ron Sims handed out awards to three coalitions and one individual.

The coalitions include local jurisdictions and tribes that have teamed up to protect habitat, identify pollution sources, and/or engage in clean-up efforts to improve water quality.  Additionally, Pat Pearson of the Jefferson County WSU Extension was honored for her 20-year career in education and outreach on water quality issues.

Legislators whose districts include the areas bordering Hood Canal had plenty of praise for the honorees and their ongoing efforts.  Representatives Steve Tharinger, Drew Hansen, Sherry Appleton, Fred Finn and Kathy Haigh all weighed in to offer their congratulations and underscore the importance of the work being done.  A clean and healthy Hood Canal – and Puget Sound – are vital to the economies and quality of life in their respective districts.  Of course, the health of Puget Sound impacts our entire state, which is why we should all tip our hats to the work these awardees are doing.

You can read the Puget Sound Partnership’s press release on yesterday’s ceremony here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Bipartisan tributes to Reps. Dickerson, Finn, and Gutièrrez Kenney

Three retiring members of the House Democratic Caucus were honored this morning with resolutions on the House floor.

Representatives Mary Lou Dickerson, Fred Finn, and Phyllis Gutièrrez Kenney are all retiring at the end of their terms this year.  As is the tradition in the House, the three were each called up individually to the rostrum as their resolution was read in full, after which House members from both sides of the aisle rose to say additional words of praise and share stories – and humorous anecdotes – about them.

Rep. Dickerson has served in the House since 1994, and currently chairs the Health & Human Services Appropriations & Oversight committee.  She represents Seattle’s 36^th Legislative District. In a floor tribute from Republican Rep. Norm Johnson, he mentioned Rep. Dickerson’s 2008 receipt of the “Smackdown Award” from Fuse for her efforts to keep toxic chemicals out of children’s toys and products. The resolution honoring Rep. Dickerson can be found here. 

Rep. Finn came to the House in 2009 to represent the 35^th Legislative District.  He serves as vice-chair of the Community & Economic Development & Housing committee.  His House colleagues were likely surprised to learn today that in the 1960’s and 70’s, Rep. Finn was a member of a rock-and-roll band called The Routemen.  The band even performed at the 1965 World’s Fair.  The resolution honoring Rep. Finn can be found here.

Rep. Gutièrrez Kenney first came to the House in 1997, and chairs the Community Development & Housing committee.  She represents Seattle’s 46^th Legislative District.  Fellow Seattle lawmaker Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos noted in her tribute this morning that Rep. Gutièrrez Kenney is a cancer survivor. A recent HDC Advance post about her retirement announcement can be read here, and the resolution honoring her can be read in full here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Service members' call of duty honored in flurry of legislative action

Talk about walking the talk.

The House of Representatives today got down to the serious business of standing up for citizens who’ve gone out of their way to stand up for their country. Military folks -- citizens who put their lives on hold, and all too often put their lives on the line -- shouldn't have to look over their shoulders and wonder what's going on with their parental, legal and education rights back home. That's the message hammered home this morning in a trio of measures among the very first bills to win House of Representatives approval in the 2012 legislative session.

House Bill 1050, prime-sponsored by state Rep. John McCoy, protects the rights of military parents. The legislation:

Courtesy www.mcchord.af.mil

* Allows a military parent to ask the court to delegate the parent's residential time with a child if the parent's military orders involve being more than one night away when the parent is scheduled to have time with a child.

* And provides that the delegation provision applies when establishing a parenting plan or court order, not just when modifying an existing plan or order.

House Bill 1615, prime-sponsored by state Rep. Connie Ladenburg, safeguards the legal rights for all of our citizens called up to active duty. The measure makes sure National Guard members can count on the same legal protections when they are called up in response to a state emergency as they now receive when they are called to service by the president.

 House Bill 1221, prime-sponsored by state Rep. Fred Finn, will see to it that colleges and universities provide a chance for reservist students to make up any tests they miss if they're called to active duty or military training for a month or less. This legislation fills a gap in current state law that can adversely impact men and women who are either involved in military drills and training or are called to duty in response to natural disasters that might run less than 30 days.

The three military bills passed the House unanimously and will now receive further consideration in the Senate.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

A tale of two legislators

Rep. Fred Finn

Sen. Adam Kline

They graduated only one year apart, but state Rep. Fred Finn and state Sen. Adam Kline never met while they were both undergraduates at Johns Hopkins University in the 1960's.  It would take almost forty years for their paths to cross again, this time in the Washington State Legislature.

The two legislators - who now also count each other as friends - are featured in an article in the latest issue of Johns Hopkins' Arts & Sciences alumni magazine.  While their districts, constituencies and political philosophies differ, as well as the paths that brought them out west, both Rep. Finn and Sen. Kline agree that our state Legislature is a good place to build consensus.  In fact, we've done a pretty good job here of avoiding the gridlock that often paralyzes the other Washington.

The online version of the JHU article can be found here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Rep. Finn wraps up housing tour in Centralia

Rep. Fred Finn recently went on a tour of Housing Trust Fund facilities in and around the 35th Legislative District. These facilities, which included emergency shelters, low-income housing and farmworker housing, were all constructed with help from the Housing Trust Fund, which is part of the Capital Budget. The Trust Fund provides loans and grants for the acquisition, construction and rehabilitation of housing for low-income or at-risk populations. The facilities are often operated and managed by non-profit organizations.

On Tuesday, Rep. Finn visited two farmworker housing facilities in the city of Centralia. Although Centralia falls outside of his district, he met with affordable housing advocates at Villa los Milagros and Villa San Juan Bautista because he is also vice chair of the House Community Development & Housing committee. As part of his interim work on the committee, he is visiting various housing projects and listening to the needs and concerns of both those who run them and those who reside in them.

The availability of safe, affordable housing for farmworkers is vitally important for Washington's economy. Our state's multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry depends on the availability of labor to cultivate, harvest and process our crops and other products. Without an adequate supply of housing, farmworkers often end up living in crowded, unsafe conditons that pose health and safety risks to themselves and to the communities they live in.

But when workers have a safe place to live, everyone is better off. Besides the security and stability of the housing, activities like ESL courses and homeownership classes are often offered on site, helping residents better integrate into their communities and assisting them on the path to financial independence. Gina Morales, the property manager at Villa San Juan Bautista, said that when residents leave her facility, it's usually because they have been able to purchase their own home.

The current Capital Budget allocated $3 million over the next two years for farmworker housing within the Housing Trust Fund. In previous biennia, the Legislature has been able to set aside nearly three times as much. The Villa los Milagros project received a loan of about $1.5 million from the Trust Fund several years ago; Villa San Juan Bautista received about $1.8 million. It's easy to see that with just $3 million in the Trust Fund, it will be difficult to meet the continuing demand for affordable farmworker housing projects in our state over the next couple of years.

Photo: Rep. Finn talks with Rob van Tassell, VP of Housing and Community Development for Catholic Housing Services of Western Washington. CHS built and operates both Villa los Milagros and Villa San Juan Bautista.

To read this blog post in Spanish go here.

Four House Dems named to military committee

House Speaker Frank Chopp has newly appointed three members of the House Democratic Caucus to the Legislature's Joint Committee on Veterans' and Military Affairs.

Representatives Zack Hudgins and Tina Orwall, along with House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, are new to the committee this year. Speaker Chopp also reappointed Rep. Fred Finn, who already serves on the Executive Committee.

Rep. Finn, a United States Army veteran, was the House sponsor this year of a bill that directs the state Lottery Commission to conduct a raffle once a year to benefit the Veterans Innovations Program (VIP). VIP provides crisis and emergency relief, education, training and employment assistance to Washington state veterans and their families. State budget cutbacks have hit VIP as well, but the yearly raffle should bring in the necessary additional funds to continue helping Washington's veterans in need. Over 1800 veterans have been helped through the VIP program since it began in 2006.

The raffle won't compete with ongoing state lottery games because it is limited to the period between Labor Day (September) and Veteran's Day (November). Drawings will be held each year on Veteran's Day, beginning this year.

Photo: Members of Washington's National Guard are recognized in the House Gallery on National Guard Day, 2011. Photo courtesy of House of Representatives.

To read this blog post in Spanish, go here.

New state law emphasizes ‘top-notch Puget Sound science’

When it comes to restoring the health of Puget Sound, what it really all comes down to ensuring sound science.

“We want to emphasize accountability and top-notch Puget Sound science in our work toward restoring and maintaining the health of this great natural resource,” state Rep. Fred Finn said today in noting that his House Bill 1997 will become the law of the state of Washington on July 26.

The measure requires that the Puget Sound Science Panel must create and implement a selective, top-quality scientific process for peer review of monitoring and research. The science panel provides advice to the Puget Sound Partnership, the agency responsible for restoring the Sound.

The legislation limits expenditures from the Puget Sound Scientific Research Account to research programs and projects selected through a process that has been developed and supervised by the panel. Finn explained that the bipartisan measure, which was unanimously passed by both legislative chambers, seeks to align use of the research account with the priorities of the panel.

David Dicks, executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership, said that the new state law “addresses accountability and science – both fundamental to our mission to restore and protect the Sound. This legislation puts the review of science where it belongs – in the hands of scientists – and confirms that the research process must be independent and rigorous. It also establishes a process for accountability for the Science Panel, whose members provide critical advice to the Partnership on recovering Puget Sound.”

WWDD?

According to our parliamentarian brethren across the pond, the word, “Whip” is a hunting term from the 18th century, referring to the hunter’s assistant tasked with rounding up the stray hunting dogs...

Blah, blah, blah. All I know is, here in America, when a problem comes along, we ask ourselves, “WWDD (What Would Devo Do)?” The answer: You Must Whip It.

These days, this task falls to a few newly elected members of the state House Democratic Caucus who must round up our stray colleagues when it’s time to vote. And with so many goings-on here under the dome, that task can sometimes be more difficult than it seems.

The HDC yesterday elected three new Assistant Majority Whips; Reps. Reuven Carlyle, Scott White, and Fred Finn. They’ll play a vital role working with Democratic leadership to organize and coordinate caucus members on the House Floor, ultimately passing an agenda that reflects our philosophy of One Washington.

Here are Reps. Carlyle, Finn, and White on their new leadership role:

Rep. Reuven Carlyle:

“I’m deeply honored to have been asked by leadership and elected by my peers to join the team and work to actively push bold legislation as we tackle the real deal issues facing our state. As we strive to breathe new life into our public service at the state and national levels, I hope this position helps me to play a modest role here in the House to move forward with a 21st Century agenda.”

Rep. Fred Finn:

“It’s an honor to be elected Assistant Majority Whip for the House of Representatives this session. We have a great deal of work to do in the state capital this year, and I look forward to helping keep my colleagues moving in a productive direction.”

Rep. Scott White:

"It is a great honor to be selected by my Democratic colleagues to serve as Assistant Whip. We will face many difficult challenges this legislative session and I am committed to working with Representatives from throughout our great state to find solutions."

And we in the HDC are honored that they will now whip it into shape. Shape it up. Get straight. Go Forward. Move ahead...