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Dear Friends,
We have now wrapped up 31 days
of the legislative session, or nearly a third of the 105 days allowed. The full
Senate met during this fifth week to approve several non-controversial bills,
and this morning, we met in a joint session with the House for a memorial
service to honor former legislators who recently passed away.
The majority of our time,
however, is still focused on working legislation at the committee level. The
first committee-voting deadline is less than two weeks away, so the pace of
work has noticeably increased.
Tomorrow will be a big day for legislation
important to our district. The Senate Energy, Environment and Telecommunication
Committee will hold public hearings on three of my bills to better incorporate
nuclear energy into the state’s energy strategy. You can learn more about these
bills by watching this week’s video update below.
I hope you will contact my
office when you have questions or concerns about state agencies or what the
Legislature is doing during our session. Your feedback helps me better
represent you and our district in Olympia.
Sincerely,
 Sharon Brown
State Senator
8th District
Energy bills to receive hearings on Tri-Cities Day
 Click to watch this week's video update!
Testimony
begins on Hirst decision bills
by Rebecca White, Columbian Basin Herald
Two bills, which are aimed at solving well water and building permit issues caused by a controversial Washington State Supreme Court decision last year, were testified on in committee…
The goal of the first bill is to reestablish the working relationship between county governments and the Department of Ecology when it comes to managing water resources. The second goal is to reestablish the expectation of exemption of small household wells from the state permitting process.
The second bill… would allow counties to establish a mitigation program and committee which would look at the impacts wells would have on water sources. It would also require people who are applying for building permits to show evidence of available water.
…Deputy Leader of the Republican-led Senate majority, Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, said that she believes an altered version of one of these bills will eventually be voted on, but right now they both still need work.
“I believe there is room in there for us to extrapolate both bills and come up with the best bill,” Brown said.
Click here to read more.
It’s always great to see friends from back home in the
district here in Olympia – especially when they are here to work on behalf of
people we all care so much about.
Last week, Sharon Adolphsen, coordinator of the Benton
Franklin Parent Coalition, came to Olympia to meet with legislators from the
8th, 9th and 16th districts about some of the challenges faced by those living
with developmental disabilities and their support staff.
Sharon was joined by Tami LaDoux, who discussed supported living;
Scott Shinsato, who focused on employment issues; and other members of the Benton
Franklin DD community.
As we continue to
work on the new two-year state budget, it is important that we keep this
community in mind, and remember our responsibility to look out for the state’s
most vulnerable populations.
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