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March 1, 2018
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
With the 2018 session set to end March 8, the budgets are taking center stage.
There are three budgets for state government – one for day-to-day operations,
one for capital investments, and one for transportation projects and programs. They
cover two years and are adopted in odd-numbered years, when the session is 105
days instead of 60 like 2018.
In even-numbered years our budget work involves making adjustments to the
budgets passed the previous year. These are usually made in response to issues
or situations that could not have been foreseen when the budgets were
originally passed. Changes in school enrollment or unexpected wildfire
costs are examples. These adjustments are made through what are called
“supplemental” budgets.
Late last week the Senate adopted its three supplemental budget proposals. I
could not support the supplemental operating budget, mainly because it doesn’t
offer enough tax relief to property owners and our state’s non-aerospace
manufacturers at a time when the state treasury can afford it. Hopefully the
final operating budget negotiated between Senate and House leaders will address
my concerns, so I can vote for it.
I was glad to vote for the capital and transportation budget proposals and
will focus this newsletter on two 12th District appropriations
in the Senate’s supplemental capital budget. The House of Representatives
approved its supplemental capital budget last night, and now the two chambers
will work together toward a final version. Click here for more information about the
capital budget.
Support for Saddle Rock trail improvements
My 12th District listening tour in October included
meeting with representatives from the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust. They shared
with me that their organization had raised the funds necessary to improve
trails at Saddle Rock, the iconic Wenatchee landmark that is such a popular
outdoor recreation site for our area. However, there is an obstacle: trail
enhancements, including the creation of an emergency access path, will mean
disturbing the soil. The City of Wenatchee cannot authorize trail improvements until
certain hazardous substances left in the soil from long-ago mining activities
are cleaned up.
Wenatchee, which obtained Saddle Rock from the state in 2011, is not in a
position to fund the soil cleanup, and the mining companies no longer exist to
help pay the bill. At our meeting in October, I told the Chelan-Douglas Land
Trust that I would seek state funding for the project, and went
to work. A meeting I arranged in January with Senator David Frockt (46th
District, Seattle), the Senate’s capital budget leader, and Curt Soper, executive
director of the CDLT, was key in moving my budget request forward. I also
worked closely with Wenatchee Mayor Frank Kuntz and 12th District Rep. Mike Steele to line up support for
the Saddle Rock funding (officially known as the Gold Knobs Prospects Project).
This collaboration resulted in a $900,000 appropriation in both the Senate
and House supplemental capital budgets. It would be in the form of
remedial-action grant money routed through the Department of Ecology, generated
from a voter-approved tax on hazardous substances.
Special thanks are due to Curt Soper, Frank Kuntz and Representative Steele for their efforts on this project. Their advocacy was a key factor to its
inclusion in the budget.
In
January my family took part in the 2018 Family Snowshoe Outing at Saddle Rock
Park, hosted by the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust – with Hillary Clark, membership
and education coordinator, and executive director Curt Soper serving as guides.
This was just days after Curt had joined me for a meeting at the Capitol to
support my Saddle Rock capital budget request.
Answering a Chelan County
water question
One of the first actions the Legislature took during the 2018 session was to
adopt a policy that addresses water-access concerns caused by the state Supreme
Court’s Hirst decision. However, that
legislation (Senate Bill 6091) did not completely resolve a different water concern in
Chelan County stemming from the high court’s less-publicized Foster case.
In response to this issue, I worked closely with county officials and Senate
staff to secure a $350,000 appropriation in the Senate’s supplemental capital
budget to fund a pilot project in Wenatchee WRIA 45 (WRIA stands for “water
resource inventory area”). This project looks at water storage efforts as a way
to prepare now for population growth over the long term, while protecting water
quality and fish habitat.
Chelan County Commissioner Keith
Goehner and Mike Kaputa, Chelan County natural resources director, joined
me in January to meet with Senate capital budget staff and discuss
my request for funding a water project important to the county.
For more information about the
budgets and other issues before the Senate:
Thank you again for the opportunity to serve as
your 12th District state senator.
Sincerely,
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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