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Rep. Deb Wallace, serving the 17th District Serving a portion of Clark County. |
Welcome to my BLOG! I have decided to begin this as another way to reach out to the 17th legislative district in Washington State. I hope to reach people who may not otherwise read or hear about what is happening in our state government. I will also listen to you, learn about your issues and concerns, and be able to respond.
March 16, 2009
Thank
you to everyone who attended our Town Hall meeting on Saturday! I wanted to
share this great photo
from our meeting.
Courtne (14-year-old freshman at MVHS) and guide-dog-in-training, Corbin, are members of the Sightseers 4H Club. The entire club commits itself to a 24-7-365 service project. Each member and their family hosts a dog for 16 - 20 months, then the dogs go to "Academy" where they receive specialized training before being paired with the person who needs them.
It was great to meet Courtne, learn about the great work she and her organization are doing, AND see a young face in the crowd.
February 9, 2009
One
of the most important things I do as a legislator is to work and talk to
students. They are our future and
they need to know that legislators are like everyone else; we are parents,
professionals and people that have decided to dedicate their time and skill
to making our state a better place to live. We
need our students of today to be the leaders of tomorrow! I
want them to hear about the experience firsthand.
It was great meeting with students from the Evergreen School District on Gifted Education Day!
January 26, 2009
Third week of session! I chair the Higher Education committee and I have been asked to again work with members of the education funding committee to write the first draft of the Higher Education budget. I did the same thing two years ago and again last year. It was easier to do so when you have money to work with. This year Higher Education is going to take a share of the cuts to the budget.
The challenge is how to continue to maintain student access to job training and education skills while reducing the budget. On one hand, college and universities want flexibility to make the cuts themselves given a lower level of funding. The legislature must at a minimum set criteria and accountability measures for the type of reductions they consider. I am working with members and organizations to develop scenarios to get the most from each of our tax dollars while allowing the greatest student access and maintain quality programs.
Until next time, Deb Wallace
January 22, 2009
A week and
a half into the 2009 session; a budget deficit now estimated to be
in the neighborhood of $7 billion. I’m holding meetings every 15
minutes with citizen’s from Vancouver asking for funding for the
homeless; funding for affordable housing; funding for salaries;
funding for parks; funding for every state program and service that
our State now offers; few requests for new programs however.
I’m
working the bills that I have been developing during the last year
such as the one the Clark/Skamania Drug Task Force have been working
on with me to further eliminate home cooked meth labs. Another bill
would provide homeless youth the ability to consent to their own
non-surgical medical procedures or check-ups as they are now often
turned away. A 17 year old from Vancouver brought this bill to me as
he and other kids have suffered from this very situation.
This is a year for collaboration, and streamlined ways of doing
business. I have made a number of suggestions to cut costs as we
will develop a budget to live within our means rather than raising
taxes. With the news that 90,000 more of our neighbors in WA State
just filed for unemployment in December it brings home the need to
live with the revenue we have.
There are bright spots and
opportunity to make good decisions in this difficult time. I would
like to ask you as you read this to consider the opportunities to
make positive changes to realign how the State investments in public
services and programs. I’ll share with you the feedback I receive.
More later and thank you for reading!!