Dent to focus on water, rural mental health, aviation, child care

MOSES LAKE — Representative Tom Dent said water and water conservation, rural mental health and improving child care options will be among his top areas of focus during the 2025 Washington Legislative session. Dent is running for his sixth term as one of two representatives for the 13th District.

“Probably the biggest issue we have in the district is water,” Dent said.

The aquifer that supplies water to cities throughout the Columbia Basin is under pressure, in part from farm operations that can’t access the existing irrigation canal network and are drawing water from the aquifer.

“We’re on funding to get the farmers off the aquifer,” Dent said. “Is that going to happen in one more session? No. We’ve been working on it since I’ve been there. They were working on it before I got there, and we’ll keep working on it. That’s probably one of the biggest issues we have.”

Mental health has been a consistent area of interest for Dent since he entered the legislature, and one of his focuses for 2025 is the suicide rate in the agricultural sector. It’s the highest of any sector, he said.

“The scary part is that it’s three and a half times higher than the number two spot,” he said.

“It’s agriculture in general. Because when producers aren’t doing well, they hurt, and everybody else in the community hurts too,” he said. “It’s kind of a ripple effect.”

Dent was among the legislators who worked to put together a task force to look for solutions, he said.

“It’s something that I’m pretty passionate about, and I’ve been working on it for quite a long time, trying to make a difference, and we’re finally able to get a task force put together to work on it,” Dent said.

He’s still thinking about concrete policy proposals, he said.

The legislature also should address agriculture overtime rules, he said, and he plans to work on revisions.

“They put that agriculture overtime thing in there, it’s hurting the producers, it’s hurting the ag (workers) it’s kind of hurt everybody. What they did hasn’t worked. It kind of backfired,” he said.

As a rancher himself, Dent said he knows the farming sector is facing serious challenges.

“I get it – I know how hard it is,” he said. “We’ll see if we can’t reduce some of that pressure that’s upon them.”

Dent is part of a committee with the job of addressing child care, and it’s a statewide issue.

“We’re working with child care providers around the state, drafting some legislation to see if we can’t take some of the load off them so they can offer more child care,” he said. “The child care industry in Washington has well over 700 regulations they have to deal with, which is just crushing them.”

Dent is a pilot and aviation is among his areas of interest. He said he’s working on identifying funding sources to improve the aviation industry infrastructure that won’t require additional fees or taxes.

One of the challenges of the legislature is turnover, as legislators leave for whatever reason and are replaced with new people, he said.

“It’s a fluid place. It changes all the time,” he said. “I think the average stay in the House of Representatives is (about) six years.”

People have asked him how long he plans to stay, he said.

“Here’s what I tell people: No. 1, as long as my health is good; No. 2, as long as I’m effective, and No. 3, as long as you don’t fire me. I have to renegotiate every two years,” he said.