23rd-District Legislative E-News: Week 8
Dear friends and neighbors,
Mar. 4, 2021 -- Greetings from Virtual Olympia. The Legislature entered a new chapter of the session last week. February 22 was the final day for non-fiscal bills to be approved by policy committees and forwarded to the Rules Committee for possible floor votes. And vote we are! From now through March 9, the House will be debating and voting on policy bills from early morning throughout the day and into the evening.
Among those bills . . .
I’m pleased to say that three of my bills passed off the House floor in the last few days. They still need to be fortunate enough to make it through the Senate before they can become law, but I’m feeling optimistic about their chances.
My first bill, HB 1078, will restore the voting rights of persons who are no longer under the full custody of the state Department of Corrections. This bill, which was endorsed by prosecutors and victims’ rights groups alike, is an important civil-rights measure that has been proven in other states to reduce recidivism by giving recently released persons a foothold in society. That feeling of belonging, combined with a new sense of civic duty, can be a powerful motivator at exactly the time when motivation is so important.
HB 1086 creates the state Office of Behavioral Health Consumer Advocacy to set rules, standards, and procedures for behavioral health advocates throughout the state. This vital function – sadly more vital now than ever – has been handled in the past by 10 different regional ombuds. Decentralization is effective in many endeavors, but consistency is crucial in the administration and delivery of behavioral health services.
I introduced HB 1411 to help eliminate the shortage of home care workers, especially in cases where one family member is willing and fully qualified to be the paid caregiver for a relative but is automatically deemed ineligible because of a past criminal record. That denial eliminates about one in three adults from one of the most thankless but most essential jobs imaginable. Certainly, not every individual with a criminal record should be in a position of caring for a vulnerable person. But neither should everyone who doesn’t have a criminal record. There are other, more reliable ways of making that call, and my bill, which passed the House with a bipartisan majority, recognizes this.
Building the budgets
Not everything in the Legislature requires a formal, numbered bill. All three budgets – operating, capital, and transportation – are currently being written, and I’ve been working to ensure that Kitsap communities can benefit from the spending plans. The capital budget has received much of my focus, because this is the budget of acquisition and construction.
Here is an example: Through its Trust Lands Transfer program, the state has the chance this year to preserve a cherished piece of Kitsap County recreation land for future generations. I’m advocating for our capital budget, which is currently being written, to include $6.5 million to compensate the Department of Natural Resources for 640 acres the department currently owns near Eglon. Without this transfer, the department could one day log the property or sell it to developers to help fund its responsibilities, including school construction. That’s an important function, but the Eglon property, with its fragile wetlands, hike and bike trails, and irreplaceable stands of 130-year-old trees, should remain in the public’s hands, for public enjoyment. In return, the department will receive money to deposit into its school-construction account and to purchase more practical revenue-producing properties. The term “win-win” is overused, but in this case it fits, and this is one of my top agenda items for the capital budget.
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Last week, House members voted to ban private prisons in Washington, a decision I support. Even if this sort of facility were an effective corrections tool, it is wrong to profit off the misfortune of others. But the private-prison industry – and that’s what it is: an industry subsisting solely on taxes – is not effective. Corporate prisons cannot boast of reduced recidivism numbers, they are not cost savers when compared to facilities run by the Department of Corrections, and reports of abuse and poor conditions are rampant. There is currently only one private prison in Washington, the controversial, problem-dogged Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Under the terms of HB 1090, which I was proud to cosponsor, the center’s current contract will be allowed to run out, but it will not be renewed, and no other private prisons will be allowed to open in Washington.
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange opened a special enrollment period on Feb. 15. This aligns with President Biden’s executive order to re-open the federal health insurance marketplace, giving additional time to Americans still seeking health coverage during the pandemic. The special enrollment will run for 90 days, ending May 15. During this time, those currently uninsured, seeking coverage, or enrolled in off-Exchange health insurance (such as health sharing ministries, short-term limited duration plans, or COBRA) can enroll. Current Exchange enrollees will not be eligible for this special enrollment. Visit the Washington Healthplanfinder here for more information
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“Wildfire Destroys 80% of Town of Malden” . . . “It is Apocalyptic. Fear and Destruction” . . . “Everything Around Me is Gone.” These are real headlines from the waning days of last summer – that hot, dry time of year we’ve sadly come to know as “wildfire season” here in Washington and throughout the western United States. Every year Washington wildfires take out pastureland and prairies, forests, homes, and businesses. They kill people, wild and domestic animals, and entire ecosystems. And over time they cost our economy billions of dollars.
 The destructiveness of these annual fires, and the fact that many of them could be minimized or prevented, are behind my support of legislation to improve the way the state thinks about and deals with wildfires. HB 1168, sponsored by Rep. Larry Springer, is a bipartisan plan endorsed by firefighters, business owners, cities and counties, environmentalists, farmers and ranchers, unions, tribes, and Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, under whose direction much of the newly prescribed work would take place. HB 1168 was recommended for passage by the House Rural Development, Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee and the House Appropriations Committee concurred. It’s now been placed on the House floor calendar and it could come up for a vote of the full House by the time you read this.
Masks and social distancing will likely be with us for a while, but as more people are vaccinated we should start to see life returning to something more like we’re accustomed to. The key to that future, though, is the vaccine. And I’m pleased that our Kitsap Public Health District is vaccinating as many as they can, as quickly as supplies allow. Here’s a snapshot from the District’s Monday, March 1, vaccine report. For more data as well as portals to reserve your vaccine, you can visit the District’s website here.
Thank you for reading this far. I hope you find these updates helpful, and I'd appreciate knowing if there is something that would add to their value. I know that everyone's time is precious, and I'd like to help you make the most of yours. Please be in touch, and above all please stay healthy and safe.
Sincerely,
 Rep. Tarra Simmons
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