The Current | January 24, 2014

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The Current

A update on your citizen Legislature • January 24, 2014


12 Man

Letter from Leadership

It was a great week in the Legislature. On Monday, we honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and celebrated children in the House of Representatives. Washington House Republicans also welcomed three new members to their team: Reps. Leonard Christian, Graham Hunt and Jesse Young (see below). And everyone was excited about the Seahawks' win, with the exception of a handful of disappointed 49er fans.  

Next week should be interesting. There will be hearings on gun-related measures, including I-591 and I-594, and bills to raise the minimum wage, improve the permitting process, and help homeless students -- to name just a few. Learn more here.

Have a nice weekend.

In your service,
Rep. Dan Kristiansen
39th District
House Republican Leader


Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Monday, the House of Representatives paused to honor the life, legacy and lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through House Resolution 4661.

Rep. Linda Kochmar and Rep. Dick Muri provided our Republican House floor speeches this day. You can watch the day's events here, including a beautiful rendition of God Bless America.


In the news

"But the unsettling feeling around town isn’t just that there might be some major engineering problem with the tunnel or with Bertha. It’s that the story keeps changing so much that the state has drilled a hole in its credibility."

—Danny Westneat, Seattle Times columnist, in a January 18 column.


Even liberal columnists are acknowledging the fact there are serious accountability problems at WSDOT. 

Not all of these problems reach our newspapers though. Here is a list of major design errors at WSDOT since 2003. 


Solutions videos

We spent our interim evaluating what happened during the 2013 legislative sessions and preparing for 2014. We also took time to create some videos that capture of our views on the important issues of jobs/economy, education, transportation and agriculture. You can find these solutions videos below:


March for Life

March for Life

Rep. Matt Shea, pictured above, talks to more than 4,500 people on the Capitol steps for the March for Life rally. In his speech, Shea said: "If we get the life issue wrong, we get every other issue wrong."

Learn more about the rally here


Rep. Jesse Young

Young gets to work in the House 

Rep. Jesse Young was chosen unanimously by the Kitsap County Commissioners and Pierce County Council Members on January 17 to fill the seat vacated by Jan Angel.

The 26th District lawmaker has wasted no time getting to work in the Legislature. On Monday, he delivered a Children's Day speech  that you can find here. Young and his wife, Jennie, have five children.

Learn more about Young, including where he went to high school and college, here.

Rep. Shelly Short

Fuel "intentions" 

In a January 16 letter to the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus, Governor Inslee lectured lawmakers for their comments about the potential cost to consumers for a low carbon fuel standard that could increase the price of gasoline by as much as $1.00 per gallon. In the letter, Inslee said: "That you say I have to 'come clean' implies I have in some way been hiding my intentions. This is offensive and untrue." The governor was talking about a carbon fuel tax.

As it turns out, the governor had been hiding his intentions with respect to climate change policies. Internal e-mails recently revealed the governor secretly negotiated the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy with other West Coast governors and the B.C. Premier. The e-mails showed that his staff debated on when and how to tell the Climate Legislative Executive Workgroup -- a bipartisan group that is studying the economic and environmental impacts of various carbon reduction policy proposals.

Learn more about the e-mails from this Washington Policy Center blog.

On January 8, the two Republican members of the CLEW, Rep. Shelly Short (pictured above) and Sen. Doug Ericksen, called for the workgroup to continue its important work.  


Rep. Norma Smith

Weekly meeting with the media

Washington House Republicans and the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus held a media availability event on Wednesday. You can watch it here. (Rep. Norma Smith pictured above)

Sen. Andy Hill, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, shared a plan to help people with developmental disabilities who are in need of state services. Learn more about the Vulnerable Individuals Priority Act here.


Rep. Dan Kristiansen

In case you missed it

Rep. Dan Kristiansen sat down with Austin Jenkins of TVW's Inside Olympia to discuss being House Republican Leader and the legislative session. You can find the interview here.


Washington House Republicans online