Paging combines public service with education in government

When the Legislature is in session each year, about 50 teens, ages 14 to 16, come to Olympia each week to learn about the legislative process as pages. It’s a both a privilege and a pleasure to sponsor the young men and women who spend a week as pages. These students not only provide a valuable public service, they make themselves more effective citizens by learning how our state government works. Among other things, pages deliver Capitol Campus mail, attend page school and participate in a simulated committee hearing where they debate and vote on their own mock bills.

I’d like to take a moment to introduce this year’s pages so far.

• Darby Hoss, a 15-year-old sophomore at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane and the son of Glenn and Mary Ann Hoss, is a wide receiver on Gonzaga Prep’s football team and a sprinter on the track team.
• Joe Koeske, son of Tom and Linda Koeske, is an eighth grader at The Oaks Classical Christian Academy. He plays football, basketball and track and is on the school honor roll with a 3.8 GPA.
• Brian Green, son of Eric and Janet Green, is a sophomore at North Central High School. He plays basketball and golf for his school team, the Indians, and is a member of the National Honor Society and his church youth group.
• Matt Prentice, son of Dawn Prentice and Rick Prentice, is a freshman at Cheney High School. He enjoys playing soccer and skateboarding.

Information on becoming a Senate page is available at: http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Administration/PageProgram/.

So far, so good — community hospitals a step closer to important protections

Senate Bill 5398, my measure to level the playing field between community hospitals and specialty hospitals, continues to move through the House of Representatives. Barring any surprises, I expect it to pass the House and go to Gov. Chris Gregoire for her signature. This bill is vital to the continued health of the community hospitals that provide the wide range of treatment, surgeries and emergency room care on which we all rely.

Many of you may not be familiar with specialty hospitals, since they are a relatively new type of facility and their proliferation has been stalled by a temporary federal moratorium. The threat posed by specialty hospitals is simple: Physicians would be able to refer patients to specialty hospitals, which typically don’t cover Medicaid, Medicare or uninsured patients. The reason they would do this is simple — specialty hospitals are facilities in which physicians have a financial interest — and the results would be disastrous. Physicians would be able to “cherrypick” and send only the most profitable patients to their specialty hospitals, leaving our community hospitals with the patients whose costs aren’t fully covered. Our community hospitals would face collapse, as would our general health care system.

My measure guards against that by requiring specialty hospitals to:

• satisfy minimum participation rates for providing services to Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries;
• provide a percentage of the charity care provided by a general hospital in the same health service area;
• provide emergency services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or otherwise accommodate patients who need emergency services through a transfer agreement with a general hospital; and
• accept the transfer of a patient from a general hospital who requires a category of care provided by the specialty hospital.

These important safeguards will ensure that we maintain a level — and fair — playing field between our all-purpose community hospitals and any new specialty hospitals that are established when the federal moratorium expires.

New veterans cemetery for Spokane area awaits governor’s signature

Even closer to becoming law is my proposal for a state veterans cemetery in the Spokane area comparable to Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent. This legislation has passed both the House and Senate, and is expected to be signed soon by Gov. Gregoire. This long-sought facility will serve the nearly 140,000 veterans and their families living in Eastern Washington, including 53,000 in Spokane County.

While the veteran population in the Spokane area is too small to meet requirements for a federal cemetery of its own, my proposal taps primarily federal funds to build the state veterans cemetery. Except for $450,000 to purchase land, all construction funds for the cemetery will be reimbursed by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs since the VA provides grants to build veterans cemeteries within 100 miles of major metropolitan areas. The cemetery will be maintained through a combination of state, federal and local funds, including proceeds from the sale of armed forces license plates.

The Washington Department of Veterans Affairs is evaluating two sites for the new cemetery: McFarland Road near Fairchild Air Force Base and Salnave Road off Interstate 90 near Medical Lake.

Call or write anytime

I hope you find this update helpful. Please don’t hesitate to contact my office with questions or concerns, whether they involve bills before the Legislature or topics you feel are being overlooked. If you have a concern, I want to hear it. You can reach me by e-mail at marr.chris@leg.wa.gov or by phone at 360-786-7610.

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