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Dear Friend:
I speak for everyone in our caucus when I say the 60-day legislative session is flying by. In fact, we just reached our first legislative deadline today: policy committee cutoff. This meant a lot of executive action in House committees this week. It will also mean several bills coming to the House floor later next week. Stay tuned!
Graham Hunt resigns
Our colleague Graham Hunt resigned from the Washington State House of Representatives Tuesday afternoon. You can find the statement he released here, which explains the circumstances.
This is an unfortunate situation. We wish Graham and his family well. We will also never forget his military service for our country and his public service for the people of the 2nd Legislative District. You can find the statement I sent out Tuesday evening here.
Washington National Guard Day
The House honored the Washington National Guard through House Resolution 4652 on Thursday. You can watch the ceremony here.
This is always a special day for our caucus. Reps. Brad Klippert and Elizabeth Scott provided our House floor speeches and did a great job. You can learn more below.
Twitter town hall
Please mark your calendars for Thursday, February 18. We will be holding a Twitter town hall that day from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. Reps. J.T. Wilcox and Matt Manweller will be answering questions and sharing our caucus views on issues.
Radio/audio
We conduct a lot of radio interviews and send out several audio reports each week. You can find all of these files in one convenient location online. If you haven't already, please consider bookmarking our SoundCloud page.
In your service,
Rep. Dan Kristiansen
House Republican Leader
39th District
 Recognizing the Washington National Guard, helping veterans
The House honored the Washington National Guard on Thursday morning. House Resolution 4652 recognized the 8,000 men and women of the Washington National Guard who protect American interests at home and abroad.
Rep. Brad Klippert (pictured left) provided one of our House floor speeches that day. He highlighted the story of fallen hero Staff Sgt. Matthew McClintock, who was killed in Afghanistan on January 5. You can learn more about Mr. McClintock's life and legacy in this article.
Mr. McClintock's widow, Alexandra (pictured center), and Maj. Gen. Bret Daugherty (pictured right), commander of the Washington National Guard, joined us in our caucus room following the House ceremony. We appreciated their time and remarks.
Any time the House honors the military and veterans, it means a lot to us. We have more veterans than any of the other three caucuses, not to mention spouses, children and parents of military members.
Here are a few veterans' bills we hope will pass this legislative session:
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House Bill 1213 would modify the definitions of "veteran" and "family" for the purposes of the Veterans' Assistance Fund.
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House Bill 2390 would require the Attorney General to take enforcement action to protect a state service member's employment rights after the Adjutant General has attempted to resolve the matter with the employer.
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House Bill 2534 would direct the Department of Veterans Affairs to initiate a pilot program to assist veterans in rural and remote areas with access to benefits and services. It's important we not only create this program, but commit to fully funding it.
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Safeguarding neighborhoods
One of our legislative priorities is to safeguard neighborhoods. While Gov. Inslee's Department of Corrections' early-release problem dominates the headlines, there are several public safety bills that deserve attention. Here are a few measures we have sponsored:
House Republicans in the news
Our members appeared in several news stories this week. You can find some of these articles below:
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