106 Newhouse Building ● P.O. Box 40404 ● Olympia WA 98504-0404

Report from Olympia |  August 12, 2015

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Late last week I received the sad news that a longtime friend and colleague, former Senator Bob Morton (pictured above, in the Senate chamber), had passed away at age 81.  Bob served the people of the 7th Legislative District from 1990 to 2012, first in the House of Representatives and then the Senate.

I had the pleasure of serving alongside Bob during our time in the House. He had a way of making everyone feel better just by being around him. When tensions would rise over this issue or that, he would always bring a sense of calm and steadiness that inspired all of us to share in the civility and the class which he epitomized.

As anyone who knew Bob can attest to, he was a man of great faith with a servant’s heart.

One of the things I always admired about Bob was his commitment to serving his community. According to his obituary he was actively involved in numerous organizations including the National Rifle Association, Joint Fire District 3 & 8, the Washington and Stevens County cattlemen’s associations and the Farm Bureau. He had compassion for the needs of his family, parish, community, county, state and country, and offered leadership by humble example.

He will surely be missed.

The funeral service for Senator Morton will begin at 11 a.m. on Friday, August 14, at the Grace Evangelical Free Church in Colville (851 S Miner Street, 509-684-5936). 

If there is anything I can do for you, or if you have questions about anything in this e-newsletter, please give me a call, send me an e-mail or come and meet with me. My 4th Legislative District office is in Suite 305 at 11707 East Sprague Avenue, in the Spokane Valley City Hall building. The phone number is 921-2460.

It’s my privilege to serve you in our state Senate.

Best Regards,

Senator Mike Padden

Meet our intern: Zachary Payseur

Zachary Payseur is excited to serve the people of the Fourth District as my district office intern. As a former University High School congressional debater, Zachary is accustomed to public concerns and hopes that his time serving at the district office will expand his experience in public service. He will attend Spokane Community College this fall to attain his AA degree then move on to the University of Washington to major in political science. While Zachary is helping out in our district office, we will soon be taking applications for Olympia interns. Every year, the Washington State Legislative Internship Program brings over 70 college students to Olympia for a one-of-a-kind educational and professional opportunity. During the internship, which takes place in the winter quarter or spring semester, interns work for members of the Washington State House of Representatives or Senate while earning academic credit from their schools. Paid, three-month internships are available to juniors and seniors of all majors at any college in the state. Applications are due annually in October. Click here to learn more.

AWB regional meeting discusses legislative year

Last week I attended the Association of Washington Business’ annual regional meeting in Spokane. Transportation, trade, taxation and education were just a few of the topics discussed at the meeting, which attracted record attendance levels.

In addition to hearing from many of AWB’s policy experts and state lawmakers like myself, attendees also had a chance to be briefed on events taking place in the other Washington by U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

You can learn about this event by clicking here.

Property-tax relief for our seniors and disabled veterans

This year the Legislature passed a bill to assist seniors, veterans and disabled individuals by increasing the income limit for calculating property-tax exemption qualification. Previously the income limit was $35,000; it has been increased to $40,000.

This is valuable tax relief for those Spokane County seniors and veterans. The $5,000 increase in the income threshold reflects the increased cost of health care, inflation and other expenses.

Giving seniors a break on their property taxes is long overdue and this legislation will help more than 100,000 of our seniors and disabled veterans stay in their homes.

If you think you may qualify now with the new income threshold, bring income information to the assessor’s office to begin the process. To receive an exemption for taxes due in 2016, your application must be submitted by Dec. 31.

Stop by the assessor’s office in the Spokane County Courthouse at 1116 West Broadway Ave., Spokane, WA 99260, or call 477-3698.

Office hours are:

Monday - Thursday: 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM,

Friday: 8:30 AM - 1 PM.

Appraisal staff will be available Wednesdays from 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM.

You can also visit the Exemption Program website by clicking here.

Senate report on remote testimony outlines next steps

On January 23rd the Senate approved a Remote Testimony Pilot Project, with the goal of improving citizen involvement with government and making it easier for lawmakers to receive public input from a variety of citizens from across the state.

Now that the legislative year has come to a close, lawmakers and staffers have begun to pour over the results of the pilot program in order to assess lessons learned and next steps moving forward.

The opportunity for, and experience with, videoconferencing has been well received by Senate committees. The Law and Justice Committee, which I chair, led the Senate with five meetings using remote testimony – three from WSU Riverpoint, and one each from Spokane Community College and Columbia Basin College.

According to the report, feedback from those testifying from remote locations has been very positive, and the level of cooperation from the State Board for Community & Technical Colleges and all of the remote locations has been impressive and allowed the Senate to offer remote testimony at no cost.

The numbers tell a very encouraging story:

• 19 video-conferences were facilitated during the 2015 session
• 6 standing committees utilized remote testimony service
• 44 people signed up to testify remotely
• 6 remote facilities were used in Spokane, Wenatchee and Pasco
• 24 bills had remote testimony at hearings and work sessions
• 170 staff hours were dedicated to the pilot project

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the technology did not always perform the way we had hoped. Due to technical limitations on our end, the image quality of video testimony has been less than desirable (grainy video and pixilation). One scheduled videoconference failed entirely and a teleconference backup had to be used to allow the remote testimony to continue.  

And while there was a significant amount of scheduled expert testimony, the report found that there has only been a small handful of unsolicited public testimony.

Many of the identified technical issues are being addressed this interim, and it is my hope that we will be able to come back bigger and better when the 2016 session convenes in January.

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