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Dear Friends,
We’re one week closer to the
end of the 2017 regular legislative session, but at this point it’s tough to
tell whether we’re closer to coming to agreement on a budget and associated
policy bills. There’s still quite a bit up in the air. That will be the case even after today’s
deadline for the House and Senate to pass the other chamber’s bills. While the policy bills for the year are now
set, it is yet to be seen if Democrats will actually vote for the massive taxes
that are needed to bring their over-inflated budget wish list into balance.
We are also waiting to see if the
governor will be constructive this year, or pull stunts like he has in the
past, when he vetoed important bills for no apparent reason.
I remain hopeful we’ll wrap up
our work within 105 days; however, we need to have all parties willing to
negotiate based on actual facts. We need
to get this done correctly. To me, getting it right means a sustainable budget
that makes investments in education without relying on job-killing tax
increases. That will continue to be my focus.
As always, if there
is anything I can do for you, please write, call or send me an e-mail. It is an
honor to serve you in Olympia.
Sincerely,
 Sharon Brown
State Senator
8th District
How does the state operating budget affect the
Tri-Cities?
By a vote of 98 to 0, the House of Representatives passed my
bill to advance research on renewable energy by improving the permitting
process for geothermal exploration.
It’s
about streamlining the process to make it easier to explore this new
clean-energy resource and create great jobs in this industry.
Geothermal
energy is a clean, renewable, environmentally-friendly resource that new
technology and research are making even more viable. I’m pleased to see the
House and the Senate come together to unanimously approve this important reform
bill that makes it easier to conduct geothermal exploration.
Businesses in Washington can soon expect a simpler process for
acquiring general business licenses now that the Legislature is close to passing a
measure to simplify an often confusing and time-consuming process.
When businesses operate in more than one city, even when
their only operation is making a single delivery in another jurisdiction, a
business license is often required for each municipality they enter. For some
businesses, that can be excessive and require hours of paperwork.
Under a proposal I introduced with Rep. Kristine Lytton
(D-Anacortes), businesses would be able to receive a license from the
Department of Revenue, increasing compliance and saving time. Cities would be
required to work with the Department of Revenue to administer the general
business licenses.
Having one go-to place for business licensing will help cut
the red tape, and allow our employers to focus their resources on growing their
business and hiring new employees.
On
Monday the House of Representatives passed my bill aimed at better integrating
mental and behavioral health services with pediatric primary-care services.
The Youth
Behavioral Health Protection Act, as the bill will be known once it becomes
law, passed by a vote of 94-3 in the House. The bill, passed unanimously March
1 by the Senate, is a way to streamline care and better identify the
mental-health needs of children, who often go untreated for serious and even
life-threatening behavioral conditions. By getting these children behavioral-health
services early, we can hopefully help prevent the tragic loss of life due to
suicide – an act becoming unfortunately more common among teens.
Miss Tri-Cities wows Olympia
Miss Tri-Cities 2016, Tayler Plunkett, visited Olympia this
week, and boy, she made quite an impression.
A student studying elementary education, Miss Plunkett
shares a lot in common with our Senate majority. She has a passion for
education, wants to become a pediatric speech pathologist specializing in
working with children with autism, and has a platform focused on making higher
education attainable.
The Richland native also happens to be a classically
trained vocalist – a skill that was on full display as she masterfully
entertained the Senate with her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
The
Miss Tri-Cities Scholarship Program is the one of the strongest community-based
scholarship competitions in Washington State, offering over $30,000 in
scholarships each year. In 2015, the Miss Tri-Cities Scholarship Program was
ranked number one in scholarships awarded among local programs. In 2017, the
organization will be celebrating its 57th year with the Miss America
Organization.
Making Washington More Appealing For Manufacturing
 April
6, 2017 | Mike Richards, The Lens
A Senate bill making its way through the
Washington State Legislature aims to attract more manufacturing companies to
move to the state and incentivize those and any existing businesses to remain
and build their projects within Washington. SB 5642 would offer tax deferrals
for eligible manufacturing projects to be reinvested into job training programs….
The prime sponsor is Senate Majority Deputy Leader Sharon Brown (R-8)…Brown
told members, “What I love about this bill is it gets the state out of the
business of picking winners and losers; it allows all of the manufacturers to
compete for these projects on a level playing field.”
“The pilot was so successful last year that it closed
within a couple months and we had projects, three of them on this side of the
state, two on the eastern side of the state and we were asked to bring the
project back because of its success,” she added.
Click
here to read the full story.
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