Warnick responds to governor's vetoes

OLYMPIA — One of the 27 bills Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed late Thursday night was one sponsored by Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake. The bill focuses on a relatively narrow issue, so Warnick said she was not surprised her bill made the list.

The bill action came after Inslee told lawmakers he would veto many of the bills that had been sent to him if a budget agreement was not made before the end of regular session on March 10.

“It was an effort by me to try to break this cycle of lack of discipline of getting budgets out,” said Inslee.

Warnick said she does not approve of the method.

“I’m disappointed he [vetoed] any bills for the reason he did,” Warnick said. The governor has vetoed one of her bills before, but it was because he disagreed with the substance of this bill, she said. Although she disagreed with him, she said she understood why he took that action.

“It didn’t have anything to do with the substance of the bills,” said Warnick about the recent vetoes.

The governor has also said that for the majority of the bills, he did not have any problems with the contents of the bills.

“The vast majority of these bills are worthy bills,” said Inslee shortly after vetoing them. “There are very few that I had substantive problems with.”

Warnick also believes the threat of vetoes did not have the governor’s desired effect on budget negotiations.

“My thought is try not to let outside influences pressure a budget negotiation,” she said. Warnick is on the Senate Ways and Means Committee and is one of the budget negotiators.

There is some discussion in the Legislature about overriding the vetoes, Warnick said.

“It’s going to take a lot of time and it’s expensive to run these bills through again if we don’t override them,” she said.

A two-thirds majority is required in both the House and the Senate to override a veto.

Many of the vetoed bills were passed unanimously or almost unanimously. Warnick’s bill passed in the House 46-0, one excused, and 97-0 in the Senate.

The bill would allow owners of self-service storage facilities to tow any vehicle, boat, trailer recreational vehicle, or camper if an occupant missed payments. The law currently only permits towing cars or boats.

“It’s a very simple little fix to a situation,” said Warnick about her bill.

She said she might consider bringing the bill up again during special session if the Legislature does not perform overrides. Caucus leadership will decide if bills not directly related to the budget will be brought up during the special session.

Warnick said she would only consider bringing up her bill again if it would only take a few days.

She said “I don’t want to be here 30 days, nobody wants to.”