Latest from Lekanoff | Welcome to 2022 legislative session

||| FROM THE OFFICE OF REP. DEBRA LEKANOFF |||

Welcome to the 2022 Legislative Session

Just like last session, we’ll be doing most of our work virtually to help keep the public, staff, and lawmakers safe. There are also some guidelines we’ll be following to help protect the health of our communities from COVID-19, including that legislators and staff will be required to show proof of vaccination if they want to be on the House floor. Also, members of the public will need to provide vaccine verification or a negative test taken within 72 hours to access House galleries.   

Any meetings that were public during in-person session will still be available remotely. All committee meetings and floor sessions will be streamed live at tvw.org and remote testimony — which was such a success last session and allowed greater participation in the lawmaking process — is here to stay!

Stay connected this session!

This will be a short, 60-day session, and it will go fast. Below you’ll find multiple options for staying connected with your Legislature and staying updated on the policies that affect your friends, families, and community. 

There are new ways that you can get informed and involved during the 2022 session of the Legislature.

• Learn—The whole legislative process, from start to finish, is explained at leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/Overview.aspx 
• Watch—Go to TVW.org for broadcasts of debates, votes, committee meetings, and other events in the House and Senate. There’s also an extensive archive of past events, if you couldn’t watch it live. I can’t recommend enough TVW’s “Legislative Review” – a 15-minute overview (30-minute on Fridays) of what happened each day of session. It’s a quick and easy way to learn how the legislature works and you can stream or download it on your mobile device!
• Research—To look up legislation by lawmaker or topic, visit app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/ 
• Testify—The 2021 Legislative Session proved that remote testimony is a great way for everyone to have a chance to share their voice. The remote committee testimony system will continue to be in use for all testimony for all bills. 

A more comprehensive guide is available on the legislative website. 

Booster now recommended for kids 12 and older 

Great news for families and schools! The state Department of Health expanded eligibility for the COVID-19 booster to everyone 12 and older. That means it’s recommended that young people ages 12 to 17 get a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least five months after finishing their primary vaccination series. For help finding a vaccine appointment, visit vaccinelocator.doh.wa.gov. 

I’m so glad to have recently gotten my booster to have even better protection from the potentially scary complications of a COVID-19 infection. With the 2022 legislative session just beginning, I don’t have time to be sidelined by serious illness – and I want to protect my loved ones and neighbors who are immune-compromised or at even greater risk of complications from COVID. 

A special thank you to the Nisqually Tribe for taking care of their tribal members, employees, and community members during the COVID-19 crisis. I was honored to have them supply my booster shot at their new state of the art Nisqually Tribal Health Center.

The Nisqually Tribal Health Center

My priorities for the 2022 Session

Throughout session, I’ll be sharing with you updates on various pieces of legislation and budget items that are of interest to our district and that I’m passionate about. Here’s a brief overview of the bills I’ve introduced this session:

• House Bill 1640, which establishes the Joint Legislative Tribal-State Relations Committee to serve as a forum for effective government-to-government communications on issues of mutual concern to the state and federally recognized tribes and facilitating the resolution of issues between tribes and the state.
• House Bill 1725, which creates a statewide alert for missing Indigenous people in Washington state. It will operate similarly to the ‘silver alert’ established for missing vulnerable adults. The program is of particular importance as it will help our state to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. Learn more in this recent KING 5 article. 
• House Bill 1753, which establishes tribal consultation as a part of the process when allocating funding from certain Climate Commitment Act accounts.
• HJR 4209, also known as the Washington Green Amendment, which amends Article I of the Washington State Constitution to recognize the rights of every Washingtonian to a clean and healthy environment, including pure water, clean air, healthy ecosystems, and a stable climate, for both present and future generations. I believe this amendment is a foundation that generations of lawmakers can build upon to ensure we make decisions that reflect a prosperous economy and a healthy environment; and 
• Two new bills on salmon restoration. House Bill 1653, which ensures state agencies share in and support the mission of recovering and protecting salmon by incorporating that goal into each agency’s mission, and designating the governor’s salmon recovery office as a venue through which state agencies and tribes can come together to review overall progress towards salmon recovery, and House Bill 1838, also known as the Lorraine Loomis Act, which establishes and implements a comprehensive program to protect and restore riparian habitat upon which salmon and other aquatic species depend.

I’m also continuing to advocate for two bills I introduced last session:

• House Bill 1172, which repeals a part of Washington law in direct conflict with the judicially-affirmed and treaty-reserved fishing rights of Northwest tribes. By repealing this section, we can avoid any legal confusion with state-tribal cooperative agreements in the management of salmon, trout, and steelhead resources; and
• House Bill 1117, which integrates salmon recovery into the Growth Management Act (GMA) and sets a standard for net ecological gain in community development. Through these policies, we can protect our environment and mitigate the impacts of climate change as we continue to grow.

The 2022 State of the State

Earlier this week, Governor Inslee gave his 2022 State of the State speech to the Legislature. He laid out his priorities as we begin the crucial work of the 60-day legislative session, urging us to take action on critical issues such as homelessness and housing, climate change and protection for salmon. It was that last point that resonated with me well after the conclusion of his remarks, as I have been an advocate for salmon restoration since before coming to the Legislature. Salmon are an indicator species, intertwined with the economy, cultures, and values of our state. As the governor said in his speech, “as the future of salmon goes, so does the future of our State.” The Legislature along with our co-decision makers, the Washington Treaty Tribes, must work together to ensure we restore critical salmon habitat and help achieve a healthier environment for current and future generations. Read the full remarks of the 2022 State of the State.

Tell us how to change Washington state’s tax code! 

For the last few years, the Tax Structure Work Group (TSWG) has aimed to identify options to make the Washington State tax code more fair, adequate, stable, and transparent for both individuals and businesses. After conducting extensive analyses of Washington’s current tax structure, as well as modeling many possible scenarios for updating the code, the TSWG wants to hear your thoughts! 

Learn more about the Work Group and the work they do in this 2 minute introductory video.  

Provide your feedback on ideas for changing Washington’s taxes by completing the TSWG survey before the January 31 deadline. The proposals are just ideas at this point – the Work Group has not developed policies or bills yet. Depending on how much time you have, I encourage you to fill out either the short version of the survey (takes approximately 5 minutes) or long version of the survey (takes approximately 30 minutes) . There are also multilingual surveys available in Spanish (Español), Vietnamese (tiếng Việt), Korean (한국어), Traditional Chinese (正體字), Simplified Chinese (简化字) and Russian (русский). Thank you in advance for helping to shape the future of taxes in our state. 

Thank you all for taking to the time to read this week’s Fantastic Friday, and for taking an interest in our progress at the House of Representatives. I will be sending out a Fantastic Friday letter each week throughout the legislative session. 

Please feel free to reach out to me using the information below, with any questions, inquiries, or concerns you may have.

I am here for you!