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Report from Olympia | April 3, 2018
Dear
Friends and Neighbors,
A week ago I traveled to Olympia for the signing of two
bills I sponsored. One bill concerned the use of body cameras for law
enforcement and the other dealt with pretrial release conditions that trial
court judges may impose. There are additional details about both bills later in
this e-newsletter.
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 or send me an e-mail. Also, my legislative office is open
in our district until the 2019 legislative session begins in January. It’s at 408
N. Mullan Rd., Suite 106, and our number is 509-921-2460. My legislative
assistant, Janet, will be here Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We are
here to serve!
Sincerely,
Senator
Mike Padden
 Left to Right: Kelly Fukai of Schweitzer Engineering, Sen. Padden and Katherine Morgan, formerly of the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce.
On March 27, the cities of Liberty
Lake and Spokane Valley approved a joint
proclamation honoring Katherine Morgan, outgoing president and CEO of the Spokane Valley
Chamber of Commerce, for her dedication and leadership to our community.
As the proclamation points out, “Katherine
joined the Chamber in September 2014 and went right to work in regard to
building community partnerships and expanding Chamber membership. Thanks to her
energy, enthusiasm, marketing expertise and visionary leadership, the Chamber
is currently 750-members strong and growing by the day.”
Katherine stepped down from the chamber
last month to accept a position as senior vice president and local market
manager for Spokane/Boise with Bank of America.
Chamber Board Chair Erica Young
announced the move in a letter to chamber members. In it, she wrote: “Katherine
has taken this organization to new heights and inspired many community members
and leaders to their next level of capabilities, all to the elevation of this
business community and greater Spokane Valley as a whole.”
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing
Katherine and her family for quite a while, and I have to agree. She is hard-working,
intelligent and a persistent advocate for our local businesses and region. It
has been great to work with her over the past four years.
We wish her all the best in this
new role.
Click
here to read watch video of the proclamation reading.
As seen on
Facebook
 Click here to watch my video on protecting your right of initiative.
The people’s right to make their own
laws by passing initiatives is guaranteed by the state constitution. But this
right is under attack in the Legislature. In this video I explain the threat
and what we are doing about it.
 Central Valley coach Freddie Rehkow holds the GEICO Nationals championship trophy after the Bears’ 66-61 win over Hamilton Heights on Saturday at Christ the King HS in New York (via screencap). (Dave Nichols / The Spokesman-Review)
By
Dave Nichols, in The Spokesman-Review | March 31, 2018
Following a rough third quarter which saw a 10-point halftime lead evaporate, Lexie Hull scored 13 of her 26 points in the fourth and Central Valley beat Hamilton Heights of Tennessee 66-61 to win the GEICO Nationals title game at Christ the King HS in New York on Saturday.
...Central Valley had a rough trip just getting to New York for the tournament with scheduling and travel delays. Once at the hotel, they heard some comments in the lobby about the little team from the West Coast.
“It lit a fire under our girls to pull it together and bring it home,” Rehkow said. “Winning was validation against such strong national competition.”
Click here to read the full story.
Last Tuesday I attended a ceremony at the
Capitol where two of my measures were signed by the governor.
Senate Bill 6408 clarifies the rules
surrounding the use of police body cameras. The new law will make permanent the
existing requirements and Public Records Act provisions governing body-worn
cameras and apply them to all law-enforcement and corrections agencies
deploying body-worn cameras. It also strengthens privacy protections for
intimate images in such recordings, and clarifies record-retention requirements
for body-worn camera recordings.
The Governor also signed Senate Bill 5987, which will restore
authority to trial court judges to impose on defendants, charged with driving
while impaired, pretrial conditions such as random drug and alcohol testing.
The measure is a product of a legislative
work session that included judges and prosecutors. Both the Washington District
and Municipal Court Judges' Association and the Washington State Superior Court
Judges' Association testified in support of the bill.
The laws created by these two bills, which
passed the Legislature with near-unanimous support, will go into effect June 7.
Click here to read more.
Also this past Tuesday (March 27), Governor
Inslee signed into law this year’s updates to the operating, transportation and capital budgets.
I voted against the supplemental operating budget because of
its misplaced priorities and the total amount of money spent.
The new legislative majority ignored the advice of our State
Treasurer, by raiding money that was supposed to go into our state’s saving
account. That money was used to pay for additional spending in the supplemental operating budget and
to give some meager property tax relief.
School-safety funding
in operating budget
Although I am disappointed with the budget in general, we were able to secure a
few significant wins, including a proviso to fund my school-safety proposal.
Senate Bill 6410 would have required first responders to notify both public and
private schools to any situation that could require an evacuation or lockdown.
The bill would have also established one school-safety center for each side of
the state.
While the bill itself stalled in the House
after passing unanimously in the Senate, I was able to accomplish the same
policies through the budget process.
Capital budget
contains major wins for the 4th District
The $4.2 billion capital budget adopted back
in January provides nearly $38.65 million in funding for several 4th District
priorities, including:
- $816,00 for the HUB Sports Center Capital
Campaign;
- $556,000 for the Appleway Trail Amenities;
- $100,000 for the Honor Point Military and
Aerospace Museum;
- $581,000 for CHAS Health Spokane Valley
Dental Clinic;
- $2.18 million for Mount Spokane - Maintenance
Facility Relocation from Harms Way; and
- $83,000 for the Pinecroft Natural Area
Aridland Forest Restoration.
There is also more than $30 million for new
school construction in the Central Valley School District.
In the supplemental capital budget adopted
last month, we were able to secure an additional $309,000 for improvements to
the Mt. Spokane Guest Services Center and another $106,000 for the
relocation of the Mt. Spokane maintenance facility from Harms Way.
Supplemental transportation
budget funds district priorities
The supplemental transportation budget that
was signed into law last month reauthorizes nearly $1.5 billion for projects in
our region. It has money to widen the Interstate 90 corridor in the Spokane
area, begin replacing the East Trent Bridge over the Spokane River and add a
passing lane on U.S. Highway 195. The I-90/Barker to Harvard Road project will
receive $500,000 in funding to advance the construction schedule.
Two local middle-school students are slated to participate in Washington’s
state-level National Geographic Bee, having won out in their school bees and
the qualifying test that followed. Eighth-grader Kevin Hill from Centennial
Middle School and seventh-grader Zach Thompson from St. Mary’s Catholic School
will be competing against students from all over the state at the Washington State Bee, which
will take place at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma this Friday.
The state champion will receive $100 and
an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to represent our state in the
national championship: the 30th annual National Geographic Bee, which will be
at National Geographic Society headquarters from May 20-23. The national winner
will receive a $50,000 college scholarship. Good luck Kevin and Zach!
Click
here to learn more.
In run-up to the 2020 Census, research shows growing popularity of
Washington
As mandated by the
U.S. Constitution, America gets just one chance each decade to count its
population. The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States. It is
mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and takes place every 10
years. The data collected by the decennial census determine the number of seats
each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives (a process called
apportionment) and is also used to distribute billions in federal funds to
local communities.
The next Census in 2020
will require counting a growing population of around 330 million people in more
than 140 million households. To get an accurate count, the Census Bureau is
currently conducting research.
One of the emerging
stories is Washington’s remarkable population growth.
According to the
Census Bureau, last year Washington:
- Ranked 4th in overall
population change, growing by just shy of 125,000 people (trailing just Texas,
Florida, and California);
- Added more people than
the entire Northeast states combined; and
- Also ranked 4th in
domestic net migration, which measures U.S. residents’ moves from one state to
another, growing by 65,000 (trailing just Florida, Texas, and North Carolina).
By comparison,
California lost 138,000 people, as people left the Golden State for other
states. New York and Illinois also lost more than 100,000 each.
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