Though polls and pundits are predicting nationwide doom for Democrats in this fall’s elections, leaders of the Washington Legislature’s majority party don’t seem worried.
In separate talks with the Yakima Herald-Republic’s editorial board last week, Democratic leaders of the House and Senate say they’re focused on governing, not politicking. And coming off an ambitious 2022 session, they can point to a stack of legislation that backs up their story.
They can also point to the fact that much of what they accomplished in the jam-packed 60-day session came with bipartisan support.
“We always try to be bipartisan,” Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig of Spokane told us Wednesday, “that’s the first choice.”
With a 29-20 Democratic majority in the Senate and a 57-41 advantage in the House, however, they don’t really have to be.
Still, with Ds in the driver’s seat and bipartisan commitment to a number of overarching state goals — including efficient transportation, quality education and public safety — lawmakers can rightly take credit for a list of accomplishments that many of them are calling “historic.”
The list is long, but Democrats are particularly proud of a few that have already generated a great deal of public discussion:
- Expanding by $5 billion the state’s revised budget to $64.1 billion. Among other things, that helps extend state much-needed resources to school districts around the state for nurses, counselors and other non-teaching help.
- A sweeping 16-year, $17 billion transportation package will pay for building, repairing and roads and bridges — including several big-ticket projects in the Yakima Valley. It also includes money for improving rail service, public transit, and numerous bike and pedestrian projects.
- The Legislature also revised earlier police reforms to address the concerns of law enforcement leaders who claimed those efforts to safeguard citizens’ civil rights had brought confusion and unacceptable risks to keeping the peace. New legislation seeks to balance the concerns of police and social activists.
“I think we did all right by folks,” House Whip Marcus Riccelli of Spokane said during Tuesday’s session with the YH-R editorial board.
Given the political leanings on this side of the state, though, we suspect a lot of voters might be skeptical of Riccelli’s assessment. While many folks around here are grateful for the state’s help with schools, roads and other necessities, others recoil at new rules for gun safety, higher fees instead of lower taxes and an emphasis on greener energy that some see as excessive.
Therein lies the dilemma of being an elected official these days: How to persuade the public that your party — that either party, for that matter — has the public’s best interests at heart? And that strict party-line voting probably isn’t in anyone’s best interests in the long run?
We think Sen. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, is on the right track. No matter what party gets the credit, he said during Wednesday’s talk, public trust in the state is the most important objective.
“I want people to know that their state government is there,” he said. “I want people to know: We’re focused on making progress.”
You might not like everything the Legislature accomplished this session — we’re not sure we do, either — but we’re encouraged whenever we see governing win out over politicking.
From where we sit, it looks like a lot of governing got done this time around.
"Opinion" - Google News
April 03, 2022 at 03:00PM
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Opinion: State Democrats' focus on governing pays off - Yakima Herald-Republic
"Opinion" - Google News
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