April 13, 2007
Dear
friends and neighbors,
Things in Olympia are running on the fast track
now that we’re about to start the last week of
session, and I am pleased with the progress
we’ve made on key legislation.
Simple Majority update
For many years there has been an effort to let
voters decide if we should amend our state's
Constitution to allow school levies to pass with
a simple majority of 50% + 1. It looks like this
November voters will finally get that chance.
This week, the Legislature approved
HJR 4204, a measure to allow voters
to decide whether school levies will require a
super or simple majority. In 1944, a 60%
supermajority requirement for school levies was
written into our state Constitution. This means
that for a school levy to pass, it must receive
at least 60% voter approval. The simple
majority measure needed to pass by a 2/3 vote in
both the House and Senate because such a change
requires a Constitutional amendment; and also
requires a majority of Washington voters approve
of the change. So the final decision is up
to you.
This summer you'll probably start to hear and
see a lot about the simple majority ballot
measure. I encourage you to learn more about the
issue so you can make an informed decision this
November.
This session we have been looking at the costs
and barriers to affordable health care. You may
recall that the Governor convened a Blue Ribbon
commission this interim. The legislature is
considering several key bills that address many
of the commission’s recommendations.
SB 5930 Blue Ribbon Commission
We won't get a handle on health care costs until
we improve our health care system. The bill's
goals are to:
·
Build prevention and health promotion into our
health care system.
With the right check-ups, good nutrition and
physical activity, we can prevent chronic
illnesses like diabetes and heart disease. We
need to pay family doctors to provide these
important preventive health services to their
patients, and we need to reward them financially
for good results.
·
Build better chronic care management into our
system.
When folks do develop chronic illnesses like
diabetes and heart disease, they need help to
manage their illness so they don't end up in the
ER or the hospital. A nurse calling in to
check up on whether they've taken their meds and
how they're eating can help a patient manage
their diabetes.
·
Move us forward on implementation of electronic
medical records.
If our doctor's know what tests have already
been done and what medications we're taking, we
can avoid unnecessary testing and medical
mistakes. We can also do a better job of
coordinating care for folks with more than one
illness.
·
Strengthen our public health system.
Local public health departments pay a critical
role in keeping our food and water clean and
safe, responding to epidemics and other public
health emergencies, and promoting healthy
habits. These are major tasks that it takes
resources to accomplish. SB 5930 will focus new
funding on core public health activities that
should be available across the state -- viruses
and bacteria don't respect county boundaries.
But, it will also ask local health departments
to make measurable improvement in their
performance in important areas, like fighting
infectious disease, increasing childhood
immunization and decreasing obesity.
We are still hammering out some of the details
with the Senate and the Governor but I am
confident that we will be able to reach an
agreement before session ends.
Before closing, I do want to inform you that I
was successful in amending
SB5470 with language from a bill I sponsored
last year (HB2979) that requires a judge in
dissolution proceedings to consider cultural
upbringing when developing parenting plans.
This was a priority bill for the API community
last year but was killed by the senate.
SB5470, which was the vehicle for passing my
amendment described above, is a bill sponsored
by Sen. Hargrove that makes important
modifications to the dissolution process,
including protections such as safe exchange
places and supervised visitation, for courts to
address domestic violence and child abuse
issues. SB5470 is strongly supported by
domestic violence victims’ advocacy groups.
I have to go for now, but please remember you
can track the progress of all the bills we’re
passing by going to:
www.leg.wa.gov.
Also, feel free to call or e-mail me with your
questions or concerns anytime. Hearing from you
helps me do my job better.
Sincerely,
Bob Hasegawa
