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January 4, 2018
Dear Friends and
Neighbors,
The
2018 legislative session begins this coming Monday. Our state constitution
limits sessions in even-numbered years to 60 days, meaning we will adjourn the
regular session March 8.
The
purpose of the “short” sessions (“long” sessions are 105 days in odd-numbered
years) is to address unfinished business, discuss emerging issues and make mid-course
adjustments to the two-year budgets adopted the previous year.
The
unfinished business includes a fix for the Supreme Court’s Hirst decision, which involves permit-exempt wells, and adopting the
capital budget for 2017-19, which funds public construction projects, land acquisitions and
other capital-related investments. The other two budgets for 2017-19, which pay
for state-government operations and for transportation projects and
maintenance, were approved during the 2017 legislative session.
Court response could mean adjustments to new school-funding
agreement
In
June the Legislature adopted historic school-funding reforms. These changes are
supported in the 2017-19 budget, which invested an additional $3.8 billion in K-12
education, including more funding for career and technical education, gifted
education, special education, and staff compensation. For the first time in
decades, over half of state spending (nearly 51 percent of the budget) is dedicated
to K-12 education.
By agreeing
on new policies that increase the state portion of the common-schools property
tax and reducing and capping local levy rates (local tax rates), the
Legislature returned state government to its constitutional role of providing for
basic education. At the same time, the changes mean significant additional
funding for our schools (see the chart below; click on it for a larger
version) and a more reliable and equitable educational funding system for
students regardless of their location.
I
hoped that our actions would provide closure to the landmark 2012 state Supreme
Court decision on education (the McCleary
case). The court responded in mid-November, basically agreeing with the changes
but not the timing. This
may result in some modifications during the 2018 session.
Change in control of Senate means new committee assignments
The Senate still has 12
policy committees and two budget committees,
yet many on our side of the political aisle will be serving on different
committees in 2018.
This is because voters
in east King County recently chose a Democrat to serve the year remaining in
the term of the late Senator Andy Hill, a Republican. That gave Democrats a one-seat
majority in our 49-member Senate (25 to 24), and the majority decides how the committees are structured – including how many seats go to which political party.
The 2018 committee structure gives our caucus 25 fewer slots than we had as the majority in
2017. That forced a major
reshuffling of assignments. Only
three Republican senators saw no change, while the remaining members, including me, are experiencing
significant changes.
For this session, I will be serving on three committees: Early
Learning and K-12 Education; Energy, Environment and Technology; and Higher
Education and Workforce Development. I’m excited to bring my 10 years of local
school board experience to the K-12 education issues and my 16 years of PUD
experience to energy,
environment, and technology issues. I will also serve as the “ranking member” of
the Higher Education Committee, which will present me with both more
opportunities and responsibilities in this important area. I’ll also continue in
my elected leadership position of Assistant Floor Leader, although this year it
means assisting the Minority Floor Leader because Republicans are in the
minority.
Thank you, tree fruit growers
The tree fruit industry is extremely important to the people of the 12th
District, so I was excited to be the Leadership
Luncheon speaker at the Washington State Tree Fruit Association's annual meeting.
Audience members wanted to know about the change in Senate leadership and the
issues likely to come before us this year, as well as my 2017 legislation
regarding the state Supreme Court's Sakuma decision.
When the luncheon ended the WSTFA presented me with its "Legislative Champion" award in recognition
of my work on the Sakuma issue. I was very
honored by this recognition, especially considering how tree fruit represents an economic cornerstone of our area and our state.
With West
Mathison of Stemilt Growers (at left) and CWU business students, led by
Professor Mark Pritchard (at right), after receiving the state Tree Fruit
Association’s Leadership Champion award.
Legislative offices exist to serve and represent citizens
back home, so please contact my office if you have any concerns or questions. Thank
you again for the opportunity to serve as your 12th District state senator.
Brad Hawkins
State Senator
Brad Hawkins
12th Legislative District
E-mail:
brad.hawkins@leg.wa.gov
Website: senatorbradhawkins.org
107 Newhouse Building
- P.O. Box 40412 | Olympia, WA 98504-0412
(360) 786-7622 or Toll-free: (800) 562-6000
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