Yesterday was CRC Project day at the Capitol

Sen. Annette Cleveland & Reps. Jim Moeller and Sharon Wylie
at the Columbia River Crossing Information Exhibit

Many lawmakers in both chambers, as well as the general public got a chance to get a better understanding of the Columbia River Crossing Project yesterday at the CRC Information Exhibit in the Columbia Room. The Columbia River Crossing Coalition organized the event and brought pictures, brochures, and CRC engineers to answer questions and provide information.

The section of I-5 just north and south of the Columbia River has major safety and congestion problems that, experts say, will only worsen unless something is done pronto. The solution put forth after ten years of considering other options is the Columbia River Crossing Project, which, according to its proponents, will reduce crashes, provide predictable travel times, add travel choices, prevent traffic backups, and benefit the economies of Oregon and Washington.

The CRC project could begin creating thousands of much needed jobs on both sides of the river as early as next year if the funding is secured. Oregon has already committed to its share ($450 million) in order for the CRC Project to get $850 million in federal dollars; if Washington doesn't do its part, those federal funds will go to other states.

Secretary of Transportation, Raymond H. "Ray" LaHood, who a year ago said that the CRC is a great project anyway you can describe it, and Federal Transit Administrator Peter M. Rogoff were also in Olympia yesterday. They met with House and Senate Transportation chairs and with Southwest Washington legislators to talk about the regional and national importance of the CRC project. The Columbian ran this story shortly after the meeting.

For more information on the CRC Project, please visit the CRC Website.

You can also get the handouts from the 49th Legislative District CRC Town Hall hosted by Reps. Jim Moeller and Sharon Wylie and Sen. Annette Cleveland on March 16 here.

Read the Columbia River Crossing "Factbook" released last week.

Read this story in Spanish.

49th LD town hall video available online

 If you missed Saturday's 49th Legislative District Town Hall Meeting, don't feel left out!

CVTV covered it from start to finish, so get in on the conversation with Reps. Sharon Wylie, Jim Moeller, and Senator-elect Annette Cleveland. It may take a little bit to load, so please be patient.

Read this story in Spanish here.

49th District Town Hall TOMORROW!

Representatives Sharon Wylie and Jim Moeller, and Senator-elect Annette Cleveland will hold a town hall meeting for 49th Legislative District residents this Saturday at the Community Library from 10 to noon. Check out the details in the e-flyer below. For more information, contact Megan Walsh at (360) 786-7924 or Megan.Walsh@leg.wa.gov

House Democrats continue to find ways to streamline government



Rep. Sharon Wylie

Why does everything always have to be so darn complicated?

Well, things just got a lot simpler thanks to House bill 2452, sponsored by Rep. Sharon Wylie from Vancouver, which consolidates the state’s procurement process of goods and services and allows state agencies to be more open and transparent.

Stipulations in this new law enable the state’s Department of Enterprise Services to streamline their purchasing practices.


DES announced yesterday they are reducing their standard product list from 60,000 items down to about 3,600. DES is also increasing the availability of environmentally, locally-made products, such as Georgia-Pacific paper manufactured in Camas, WA.

According to an article in the Olympian, the director of Enterprise Services said “the new procurement law brings all state laws and rules for more than $1 billion in state purchases into a single place, allowing standardization of practices.”

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

49th Legislative District Town Hall

Your 49th Legislative District lawmakers - Rep. Jim Moeller, Sen. Craig Pridemore, and Rep. Sharon Wylie - cordially invite you to a town hall meeting on:

Saturday, January 7, 2012
10 a.m. to noon.
Public Service Center 6th floor Hearing Room
1300 Franklin Street, Vancouver

Keep your lawmakers informed on the issues that are important to you and your community so they can better represent you in Olympia, and if you have questions, be sure to bring them along.

Get briefed on the actions taken during the December Special Session to close the budget gap and learn about the bills your lawmakers will be working on when the regular Legislative Session convenes on Jan. 9.

Let’s kick-off the New Year with the best foot forward by getting the conversation started!

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Save the date: Wylie's pre-session town hall is on Nov 22

Got questions? Wylie’s got answers

If you live in the Vancouver area, or even if you don’t live there but like to keep up with what happens in that part of the state, you have a chance to participate in an online chat with State Rep. Sharon Wylie this coming Friday, May 27 at 11:00 a.m. Follow this link to the story in yesterday’s Columbian for all the details on how to connect with the representative.

“I am very grateful for this opportunity; with things happening as quickly as they have these past few days in Olympia, I will have a wealth of information and concrete answers to my constituents’ questions,” Wylie said, stressing that she hopes the special session will be over by Friday so she can go home and get to work, as she put it: “where it really matters, with the people I represent.”

To read this blog post in Spanish, go here.

Oly greets Wylie

This morning the House of Representatives welcomed its newest member, Sharon Wylie, who was appointed to succeed Jim Jacks as a representative from the 49th Legislative District.

"I am humbled and excited to serve the people of Southwest Washington in the state legislature. I pledge to the families back home that I will work tirelessly to represent their interests, and that I will utilize my background and experience to serve the needs of our district. I am eager to begin working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to tackle the serious economic challenges facing our state,” said the Vancouver Democrat.

Wylie was recognized on the House floor by Speaker Pro Tempore Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, her fellow 49th District representative.

To read more, go here.

To read this blog post in Spanish, go here.

In the House Thursday

Members of the House will welcome their newest member this morning at 10:00 when Rep. Sharon Wylie from Vancouver is officially seated. After she is recognized, the concurrence process will resume. Floor action is expected to end around 3:15 today so the Transportation and Ways and Means committees can meet.

Here is what you can expect to see in committee today:
3:30 pm HHR A Ways and Means
Public Hearing:
1. HB 2068 - Setting law enforcement officers' and firefighters' plan 2 contribution rates for the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium at the actuarially required rates.
2. HB 2071 - Eliminating the September 30, 2011, transfer to the local public safety account and clarifying the method of funding previously adopted benefits.
3. SB 5806 - Authorizing a statewide raffle to benefit veterans and their families.
4. HB 1250 - Transferring funds from the budget stabilization account to the general fund.
5. Bills referred to committee.

Possible Executive Session:
1. HB 1354 - Changing the apportionment schedule to educational service districts and school districts for the 2010-11 school year.
2. SHB 1371 - Addressing boards and commissions.
3. SHB 1720 - Reorganizing and streamlining central service functions, powers, and duties of state government.
4. HB 1742 - Addressing the alternate early retirement provisions for new members in plan 2 and plan 3 of the public employees' retirement system, the teachers' retirement system, and the school employees' retirement system.
5. SHB 1795 - Enacting the higher education opportunity act.
6. HB 1796 - Concerning recreation access on state lands.
7. SHB 1841 - Addressing management and consolidation of state information technology.
8. HB 1981 - Addressing public employee postretirement employment and higher education employees' annuities and retirement income plans.
9. HB 2021 - Limiting the annual increase amounts in the public employees' retirement system plan 1 and the teachers' retirement system plan 1.
10. SB 5852 - Addressing the public employment of retirees from plan 1 of the teachers' retirement system and plan 1 of the public employees' retirement system.
11. Bills previously heard by committee.

3:30 pm HHR B Transportation
Executive Session:
1. ESSB 5742 - Providing funding and cost saving measures for the Washington state ferry system.
2. ESSB 5251 - Concerning electric vehicle license fees.
3. HB 2053 - Concerning additive transportation funding.

As always, you can find information about these bills here.