District 13 legislators hold virtual town hall

OLYMPIA - District 13 legislators held a virtual town hall Wednesday evening to answer constituents’ questions about the legislative session and bills introduced to the House and Senate.

Present on the webinar was Senator Judy Warnick (R-Moses Lake) and Representatives Tom Dent (R-Moses Lake) and Alex Ybarra (R-Quincy), along with Senior Public Information Officer Kurt Hammond as a moderator.

“I echo the senator’s remarks, it’s really good to be here and I'm looking forward to hearing from the folks and hearing their questions and hopefully we can give them some answers that they can sink their teeth into,” Dent said, referring to Warnick’s opening remark.

Some questions were submitted in advance to the meeting and some were taken live on the Zoom call.

The first topic of the meeting was SB 5082 which would abolish advisory votes and instead create a website for voters to find information.

“The advisory vote bill would eliminate the advisory votes that are in the voters pamphlet,” Warnick said. “Whenever we raise taxes, you voters in 2008 said you want to know about it so this advisory vote in the voters pamphlet tells us whether you approve or disapprove that vote. The majority party wanted to get rid of those advisory panels because they don’t like us legislators to know what the people are thinking, apparently. It was a party-line vote but there were some awful things that were said on the floor about the voters; (the voters) don’t know what they want; they don't understand. So like I said, it was the first real debate on bills that we had this session. We want the voters to be able to tell us what they think.”

Dent said he had received several emails from constituents on the subject concerned about why legislators would want to remove those votes. Dent then said he agreed with Warnick and added that the advisory votes are there for transparency and accountability and he didn’t see a problem with advisory votes being on the ballot.

A release by the Washington State Senate Democrats states that primary sponsor Senator Patty Kuderer, (D-Bellevue), believes that advisory votes are a form of voter suppression that discourages people from voting and is a waste of money.

“These non-binding, vote-imposters pollute our ballots with anti-tax propaganda specifically designed to instill distrust in government—and they do it on our most fundamental sanctuary of democracy, the ballot,” said Kuderer in the release. “They are fraudulent because they use loaded, misleading language, meant to push private interests and to influence rather than measure public opinion. We need real tools for making the Legislature’s work more transparent, not political rhetoric.”

The substitute bill passed the chamber with amendments with 30 yeas and 18 nays. There is a companion house bill that is still in committee.

Another topic touched on included a bipartisan riparian bill, HB 1720, that would establish a fully voluntary, regionally focused riparian grant program designed to improve the ecological functions of critical riparian management zones. A related bill, HB 1740, would go hand in hand with HB 1720, and deals with eligibility, enrollment and compensation of small forestland owners volunteering for participation in the forestry riparian easement program. Only HB 1740 has a companion Senate bill.

“I can talk about this all night, and I know you don't want me to do that, but to me this is historic legislation because if we can get this done if we can put together a program to restore our environment and it’s all voluntary, and is based on trust and relationships. I think that would be something that we could really be proud of,” said Dent.

HB 1720 is scheduled for executive session in the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on Feb. 17 at 10:30 a.m. HB 1740 is scheduled for executive session in the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on Feb. 15 at 8 a.m.

A few other topics discussed include cap and trade, the Climate Commitment Act and carbon emissions, veterans issues, and water resource mitigation, among others.

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.

Contact your legislator:

Tom Dent

437 John L. O'Brien Building

P.O. Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

tom.dent@leg.wa.gov

360-786-7932

Judy Warnick

103 Irv Newhouse Building

P.O. Box 40413

Olympia, WA 98501

Judith.Warnick@leg.wa.gov

360-786-7624

Alex Ybarra

470 John L. O'Brien Building

P.O. Box 40600

Olympia, WA 98504-0600

alex.ybarra@leg.wa.gov

360-786-7808