'We accomplished much'

The Washington State Legislature has adjourned. Though there were some hiccups, we accomplished much of what we set out to do.

We passed supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets that make small adjustments to the two-year budgets we passed last session, as well as additional investments.

The Legislature also overrode the vetoes of 27 bills made by the governor. I was correct in predicting the only result of the vetoes would be to slow the process down. That’s exactly what happened, but I’m thankful we were able to act and save some good legislation.

Thanks to hard work from budget negotiators, a strong supplemental operating budget proposal was agreed on by both chambers. It does what supplemental budgets should do. It makes small adjustments to the 2015-17 budget, invests in some key areas, and pays for emergencies.

Here are the highlights:

$191 million increase in spending, or half-a-percent;

$40 million directed for mental-health programs and the state’s two mental hospitals;

$29 million for overtime of home health-care providers;

As much as $18 million appropriated for state need-grant college funding;

$8 million to help backfill costs to keep tuition reduced at state colleges and universities;

$7 million to recruit and retain K-12 staff and support for beginning teachers;

$190 million in budget reserves to pay for wildfire suppression.

Last week, Gov. Inslee signed two of my bills into law – House Bill 2413 and House Bill 2925.

House Bill 2413, which passed the House 98-0 and the Senate 45-1, will remove excessive penalties for past due aircraft registrations. When the law goes into effect in June, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will be required to levy a single $100 penalty, not $400, on individuals whose aircraft registrations are 60 days or more past due.

This change to current law is a much more reasonable approach and will be helpful to many in the aviation community. In addition to changing the penalty structure, my bill also redirects penalty revenue from the general fund to the aeronautics account.

House Bill 2925 will give more autonomy to our ranchers. The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will now be required to allow citizens access to public lands for the purposes of saving livestock as long as they do not interfere with fire responders.

Ranchers like myself know that good animal husbandry requires looking after the health and safety of our animals at all times, so it simply makes sense for DNR to afford citizens the opportunity to rescue their animals.

Additionally, the law creates civil liability immunity for the state if a livestock owner accesses public lands to retrieve livestock during a fire response and is injured or killed. This bill passed the House 97-1 and the Senate 47-0 before being signed into law by the governor.

This interim, I am planning on hosting 11 town halls – four in Lincoln County, five in Grant County, and two more in Kittitas County. The Grant County town halls will be at Mattawa, Royal City, Quincy, Ephrata and Moses Lake.

Please continue to contact me with any comments, questions or concerns. My email address is tom.dent@leg.wa.gov and my phone number is (509) 766-6682 at my district office in Moses Lake.