April 7, 2026 Online version here
Thanks for a great town hall meeting!
 Speaking at our town hall in Spokane Valley March 28. If you were not able to attend, I hope to see you next time!
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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Spend enough time in Olympia and you might get the idea Washington’s biggest problem is that we don’t have enough laws.
That’s why one of my favorite parts of a legislative session comes at the end, when members return to our home districts and we get to hear from the people we represent. All it takes is an hour at a town hall meeting to remind us you live in an entirely different world than the one we see in Olympia, grounded in reality rather than politics, where people struggle to support their families and want mainly for government to stay out of their way.
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That’s why I was delighted to meet with many of you at a town hall meeting at the CenterPlace Regional Event Center March 28. I wish I had better news to report. This year the biggest news is that our majority Democratic colleagues have decided to pass an income tax, likely to be expanded to all of us in a few short years. I am concerned as you are about its long-term effect on job creation and our state economic picture. Several people asked if the PowerPoint I presented was online. You can see it by clicking here.
If you weren’t able to make it to this town hall meeting, I hope you can come to the next one. We plan to schedule another town hall meeting in the district before we return to Olympia for the 2027 session. Meanwhile, during this interim between sessions, if you have business or a concern about state government, I want to hear from you. Please use the contact information below to send me a letter or an email, or to schedule an appointment. My most important duty is to serve you.
In the news --
Big risks in new sex offender policy, governor says
Ferguson signs bill, then offers directive designed to reduce inherent danger
 To see this interview with The Center Square, click here or on video above.
Many of us are feeling vindicated this week after Gov. Bob Ferguson signed one of the worst bills of the session – and promptly issued a directive designed to protect against the dangers we warned about on the Senate floor. You can read about it here.
House Bill 1390 proved to be one of the most controversial bills of the session. The bill eliminates the state’s “Community Protection Program,” which segregates developmentally disabled individuals with an inclination toward sexual violence away from other DD clients under the state’s care. Critics say that separating these dangerous individuals from the general DD population is somehow unfair to them and diminishes their quality of life. Meanwhile, the rest of us roll our eyes and wonder how we could reach a point where we could even be debating a policy that would turn our state’s most vulnerable populations into prey for some of our sickest.
I faced criticism this year for using language on the Senate floor that brought the issue into sharp focus. For better or worse, it appears this attention forced people to do a double take and wonder what on Earth this policy is trying to accomplish. Certainly it appears to have raised the governor’s awareness. Here are some of the new rules he has laid down:
- Each person to be transferred out of the Community Protection Program must receive an individual assessment, including a risk assessment.
- The Department of Social and Health Services must consider the safety of other clients and their communities when it considers new housing options.
- Case management must be done by specialized case managers with low client-to-manager ratios.
- DSHS must track and review outcomes for at least 18 months after Community Protection Program participants are transferred.
The craziest thing about this is that we offered many of these same ideas when this bill was debated on the Senate floor, but our Democratic colleagues shot down our amendments. I’m glad our governor came around and embraced many of the common-sense ideas we presented. But remember, we were trying to make a bad bill somewhat less bad. A better solution would have been for the governor to veto this hot mess of a bill and keep right on providing the segregation and separation that is warranted by the behavior of these individuals. Whatever the politics of the situation, a policy like this one is a tragedy waiting to happen.
Thanks for reading,
 Leonard Christian
4th Legislative District
Contact me!
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If you have a comment about state government, or a concern with a state agency, I hope you will reach out to my office. The session is over, but I serve you year-round.
Mailing address: Post Office Box 40404, Olympia, WA 98504
Email: Leonard.Christian@leg.wa.gov
Phone: (360) 786-7606
Leave a message on the Legislative Hotline: 1 (800) 562-6000
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