60-day legislative session adjourns, statewide school closures

Sen. Brad Hawkins sent this bulletin at 03/13/2020 02:55 PM PDT

March 13, 2020

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your state senator.

The Legislature recently completed its session in Olympia. It was a busy time for me, as I continued in my elected leadership position as assistant floor leader for our caucus. I also once again served as the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee’s ranking member, which is the top-ranking Republican member of the committee. In this role, I worked closely with the chair on policy issues brought to the committee, including ongoing communications about school closures resulting from the COVID-19 virus.

State budgets approved, COVID-19 response funding, statewide school closures thru April 24

The 60-day session ended on schedule, with the Legislature approving all three supplemental budgets for the remainder of the 2019-21 biennium and a COVID-19 emergency authorization bill. The operating budget ($53.5 billion), capital budget ($5 billion), transportation budget ($10.5 billion), and COVID-19 response bill ($200 million) were authorized on the final day of session after many negotiations. I voted for the transportation budget, capital budget, and COVID-19 emergency authorization bill, but I voted against the final operating budget. I could not support the broad scope of spending in the operating budget, especially during a time when the state is responding to the ongoing COVID-19 virus. There are many uncertainties with this crisis, and I am afraid it will have significant impacts on our overall economy and the state revenues we are projected to receive in the coming months. Today, the Governor issued K-12 school closures statewide through at least April 24. For more information, click school closure announcement.

The 2020 Legislature concluded its 60-day session at the Capitol last night.

Building bipartisan relationships for our district

Despite some of my differences with my colleagues, I continue to work hard on building positive, long-lasting, and bipartisan relationships at the Capitol to produce meaningful results for our district. Like past years, I am very proud of my hardworking office staff who assist me in responding to you – the people I am elected to represent. My legislative assistant Justus Phelps, session aide Austin Quinn, intern Edith Miguel Santiago, and public information officer Brian Zylstra have worked very hard to support me so that I could do my best to help you. Serving constituents of the 12th District has been and always will be the top priority for my office.

Special thanks to my 12th District seatmates

The legislative arena is highly competitive. Often regions advocate for their priorities and compete against other areas for limited resources, but the districts that enjoy the most success and have the most influence include those where their three legislators (two House members and one senator) function as a team. Despite our separate schedules and limited time together during session, our current 12^th District team has worked very well together, the best that I have experienced since elected to the Legislature in 2012. Representative Steele is becoming well-known and respected as a statewide thought leader on housing and other issues. He also holds high-ranking positions on key committees, including the House Appropriations, Education, and Capital Budget committees. Representative Goehner, with his 16 years as a Chelan County commissioner, brings an extraordinary amount of local government experience to Olympia and has a level of knowledge about agriculture, land-use planning, and water rights that is comparable or better than some of our most experienced legislators. Our region is fortunate to have Representatives Steele and Goehner working for us. I am very thankful to have them as my 12^th District colleagues.

Apple officials with 12th District team at Apple Day

During the recent “Washington Apple Day,” industry officials Jennifer Witherbee (left) of the Washington Apple Education Foundation and Toni Lynn Adams (right) of the Washington Apple Commission met with our legislative team. I am very proud of our work to promote the 12^th District.

Thank you for working alongside me

As our state senator, a key part of my legislative strategy for any issue is to bring stakeholders together across party lines to achieve outcomes that may not have otherwise seemed possible. Over the four years of my first term, we have been very successful in our coalition building and strategic advocacy. This collaborative approach has produced many positive results for our region’s natural resources, transportation issues, outdoor recreation, public schools, infrastructure projects, and more. Thank you for your support in working alongside me to accomplish many things in recent years, including:

Prime-sponsored bills passed:

Budget items approved/other:

I appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

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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