Chances for legislative cooperation slowly improving, legislators say

EPHRATA — Making progress in the Washington Legislature requires cooperation between Democrats and Republicans, and there some signs that more legislators are getting more interested in cooperating. That was one of the conclusions when Senator Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and Representatives Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, and Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, talking to Ephrata City Council members Wednesday 

Answering a question from Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim, Warnick said that’s what her constituents expect.  

“I don’t know too many people that don’t want me talking to the other side to try and work out (issues). That's our job, to try and work out differences,” she said. 

Dent said Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck has set up a panel, divided equally between the two parties, to work on improving cooperation. Dent said it has the potential to make an impact. 

“I’m excited about this civics health committee,” Dent said. “Denny’s pretty focused on doing this, and we have some good folks on it that are willing to sit down and say, ‘Let’s start making headway here. How do we do that?’ I think we can do that. It just doesn’t happen overnight – it just doesn’t. It takes some time.” 

Ybarra said gaining credibility is one of the keys to promoting cooperation, and cited his experience working on energy issues. He’s a former longtime employee of the Grant County PUD, but at first some of his colleagues dismissed his experience. 

“At the beginning, they were (saying), ‘You’re just going to vote no on our bills because you’re a Republican.’ And I’d (say), ‘No, no, I’m an energy guy.’ I took four or five years, but after that, they (would say), ‘Tell me again about this bill. Do you like my bill?’ And they were asking about their bills,” Ybarra said.  

Once other legislators realized his earlier concerns were proving to be justified, he said, they started recognizing his experience in the field.  

“I can see the energy (and) environment world is changing, because they can’t meet (some of the goals) they want to – you just can’t do it. I think that’s really going to change a lot,” Ybarra said. 

There’s a lot going on behind the scenes, Dent said, including cooperation. 

“You don’t see it, but we kill bills (that) those people help us kill – some of those bad (ideas), we need help so it never gets to the floor,” he said. “It’s stopped before it ever gets out of their caucus, or their committee. They’re there. There are people that would like to do more, actually, but they have to face their caucus, too.” 

A lot of legislative cooperation is built between individuals, he said. 

“It’s all about relationships. Relationships you can build, not only with members of your caucus, but members of the other caucus. The credibility that you have with them is all-important,” Dent said. “I’ve got friends on the other side, and they help me a lot. They help me do things. Give me a heads-up, or give me ideas about how we can stop something as long as I don’t tell where (the ideas) came from. And that’s fair.”

Warnick cited her friendship with the Senate Democratic caucus leader, who elected to the legislature the same year. 

“His policy, his bills – there are very few of them I can support. He's from downtown Seattle and his constituents are very different from mine,” Warnick said. “But we have developed a relationship over the years to be able to talk to each other.” 

The two had a meeting last week to talk about the 2026 legislative session, legislative proposals they will and won’t support and what they’re hearing from their constituents, she said.  

“We do have to be willing to talk to each other, walk across that aisle, walk across the floor of the House and Senate and talk to people,” Warnick said. “I think that’s what Lieutenant Governor Heck wants. We all do.”