Welcoming a wide variety of visitors to the 2013 Legislature

​Legislators are always happy to welcome visitors from neighborhoods and communities all across Washington. Private citizens, students and teachers, businesspeople, local-government and civic officials, specific-interest stakeholders -- you name it, folks from all over our Evergreen State come by every day to give Olympia a piece of their mind. And rightly so!

A young gentleman named Daniel Gronvold, for instance, dropped in recently for a very good conversation with State Rep. Jake Fey. Daniel is a client at Trillium Employment Services and talked with Rep. Fey about legislation being considered this year that involves the School-to-Work transition program. The legislative proposal, which is contained in Senate Bill 5706 and House Bill 1753, directs the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to set up some important interagency agreements involving the Department of Social and Health Services, the Department of Services for the Blind, and other state agencies whose mission embraces transition services for high-school students with disabilities.

Trillium, according to their website, helps businesses recruit, train and retain employees with disabilities, and currently serves King, Kitsap, Pierce and Clark Counties.

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"House Majority Report" joins "Capitol Ideas" in HDC podcast lineup

​We’re happy to announce that a new feature has joined the HDC audio lineup. The House Majority Report is a weekly, bite-sized (three-to-five minutes) conversation with a member of House Democratic Caucus leadership about current legislative issues. Look for it here every Friday during session, or subscribe to our RSS feed. The Report is also available on iTunes; just search for Washington State House Majority Report. (While you’re at it, give a listen to Capitol Ideas, our long-running podcast series featuring longer-form interviews with Democratic lawmakers talking about a wide range of subjects.)

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Just a sunny Saturday in Olympia.......

The South Puget Sound got a lovely break in the weather today, but many of your legislators won't be taking advantage of that -- the Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government has a lengthy agenda to get through before they go home this evening. 

The 2013 Legislative session is scheduled to be 105 days long, and that includes weekends. While the chambers haven't held weekend floor sessions yet this year, committee work - both public and behind-the-scenes - is a common weekend occurance.

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House approves Reproductive Parity Act

​“We moved this legislation forward to continue Washington state’s proud history of staying out of people’s personal lives.” –Rep. Dean Takko on the passage of the Reproductive Parity Act

War on women? Not here in Washington.

While state legislatures across the country are turning back the clock on women’s health, House Democrats are moving Washington state forward as a leader in reproductive freedom.

Today, nearly every single insurance plan in Washington covers both maternity services and abortion services. However, the Affordable Care Act could inadvertently limit these reproductive choices by requiring additional administrative red-tape for abortion services.

This change would interfere with a woman’s ability to make the best decisions for her family and her health.

Enter the Reproductive Parity Act—which would require insurance companies to continue their current policy of covering a full range of reproductive choices. Introduced by House Health Care and Wellness Chair Eileen Cody, the bill ensures fairness and protects freedom in a woman’s health care decisions.

This morning a diverse group of lawmakers from across the state spoke in favor of the measure on the House floor.

Rep. Steve Tharinger spoke of growing up in a home with five sisters.

"These are independent, intelligent women," said Rep. Tharinger. "They do not want some bureaucrat in an insurance company, some politician, or even their brother telling them what to do with their health care."

Washington has long led the nation on this important issue. Two years before the U.S. Supreme Court made their landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, Washingtonians approved Referendum 20. R-20 legalized abortion in the early stages of pregnancy.

Then again in 1991, when it looked like Roe could be overturned, voters approved Initiative 120. I-120 protected a women’s right to make a private choice with her doctor in this state- no matter what occurred at the federal level.

When given the opportunity to weigh-in, the voters of this state have always came down on the side of reproductive choice and privacy. By advancing the Reproductive Parity Act, House Democrats are working to ensure that the law in our state reflects this fact.

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Legislators put their couches to the test

Would you like some toxic chemicals with your couch?
Photo by L. Barnfather

Rep. Kevin Van De Wege and Sen. Sharon Nelson are sponsoring legislation to ban certain toxic chemicals from children's products and upholstered furniture.

Nicknamed the "Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act," the companion measures were making their way through the House and Senate, at least until this morning.

But keep hope alive:  tomorrow, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government will have a hearing on Van De Wege's bill, and if eventually voted out of that committee it will be just a step away from going to a vote before the full House.

In the meantime, the two legislators wanted to show just how prevalent these toxic chemicals are in upholstered furniture like couches. They authorized testing to be conducted on the couches in both of their legislative offices, and the results were revealed to KING 5's Gary Chittim in a recent special report.

During the KING 5 interview, Sen. Nelson held up a glass jar containing half a pound of sugar (see photo), representing the amount of the toxic chemical chlorinated Tris that is present in most residential couches. The chemical, a known carcinogen, ends up in household dust, where it is inhaled or ingested most often by babies and young children. It also poses a risk to firefighters, who are exposed to toxic fumes produced by these chemcials when responding to house fires.

As if that wasn't bad enough, independent testing commissioned by the Washington Toxics Coalition reveals these same toxic chemicals are prevalent in children's nap mats, which are often used in preschools and day care centers.

It doesn't have to be this way. The Toxic-Free Kids and Families Act gets our state off the toxic treadmill by taking these harmful chemicals out of furniture and children's products, and prohibiting equally toxic chemicals from being substituted in their place. 

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DREAM Act passes committee, heads to vote in full House of Reps

The DREAM Act (House Bill 1817) passed the Higher Education Committee yesterday on a 14-4 vote.

The bipartisan bill – authored by Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-Tukwila) and Rep. Bruce Chandler (R-Granger) – brought a full house of students and citizens on the day of its public hearing, with 110 people signed in to testify in favor of the reform and zero people signed up to testify against it.

Here's the video of Hudgins and Chandler testifying together and, below that, highlights of their remarks.

Parts of Rep. Bruce Chandler's testimony:

"I just want to say that, first of all, these are kids that have grown up in our communities, that have grown up in mine, have gone through our school system."

"I absolutely believe that every student who graduates from a Washington high school should be given the same opportunity."

Parts of Rep. Hudgins' testimony:

"As a kid, you just get uprooted with your parents, you don't have a lot of say in it. We're talking about kids who've chosen to go to college … who've worked hard."

"This really isn't a big deal. … We are simply leveling the playing field. These kids are on a path to citizenship. This is a small incremental step from a policy standpoint."

"For the students this affects, this is a big deal. … It makes college possible."

"I don't think you should underestimate that Rep. Chandler and I are sitting here together. This is not a partisan issue. It's a policy about our economic future. If we want to continue to sell apples and airplanes and software to the world, we need the best talent. It's good for the kids in Washington state … and good for our economic future. These are the kids who'll sell Washington to the world."

And here's Ben Crowther with the Washington Student Association, speaking on behalf of more than 120,000 college students in the state, during the public hearing on the bill:

Related post:

A Dreamer named Francisco tells his story

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Improving the system for adopted children

Do you remember the horrific story of Hana Williams, an adopted Ethiopian girl living in Sedro-Woolley? A couple of years ago her adoptive parents starved her, abused her, beat her repeatedly and left her outside on a cold night, which ultimately killed her.

What is wrong with the system and how do we fix it to ensure the safety and well-being of adopted children in our state?

Rep. Mary Helen Roberts believes we can do better, so she's sponsoring a bill to do things right before adoptions go through to ensure children are going to safe and caring homes.

Watch the powerful testimony at the bill's hearing in the Judiciary Committee yesterday:

 

Read the press release here.

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