Electronic Newsletter

Dear Neighbor,

Last week, we wrapped up the 105-day legislative session and I wanted to update you on key legislation we passed. We achieved major victories for Washington families in education, health care and the environment.

Simple majority

In November, Washingtonians will vote on a constitutional amendment to allow school levies to pass with a simple 50 percent plus one vote majority. Eastsiders and school advocates have been fighting for this for decades, and this session we finally passed a bill to let the voters decide. Currently, school levies must receive a 60 percent supermajority to pass, an outdated provision added to our state constitution during the Depression. While the 48th District routinely approves school levies with 70 to 80 percent majorities, the supermajority requirement means that levies in other districts can fail even if they earn 58 or 59 percent of the vote. These margins would be considered a landslide in any other election.

Helping students meet academic standards

Half of Washington’s high school students are struggling to pass the math WASL, and it’s obvious we need to improve both our assessment and curriculum systems. We need to reform our curriculum, standards and instruction methods to give our children the opportunity to meet standards and earn a meaningful diploma. We passed Senate Bill 6023 to delay the WASL graduation requirement for math and science until 2013, while maintaining our standards for reading and writing. SB 6023 also creates new alternative assessments for students who are capable of meeting standard but struggle to pass the WASL. Scores on relevant Advanced Placement, ACT and SAT exams can now be used as alternatives for all WASL subjects. Our efforts were geared toward moving the debate away from the test, and back toward the real issue: helping struggling students achieve standard through innovative remedial programs and tests that better gauge student weaknesses.

Rainy Day Fund

The Legislature also approved a bill to send voters a constitutional amendment to create the Rainy Day Fund. If approved in November, the fund would save one percent of state revenues each year. The money could be accessed only during a severe economic downturn or a governor-declared state of emergency. It would help stabilize our budget during economic downturns. Because we have no savings reserves, we face budget cuts in bad economic times, just when the need for government services is greatest. The Rainy Day Fund will help get us off that budget roller coaster.

Health care for all Washington children

The governor and Senate Democrats are committed to providing health coverage for all Washington children by 2010. This year, the Legislature made progress toward that goal by extending coverage to 39,000 more children.

Environmental Protection

This was a landmark year for environmental protection in Washington. We banned the use of PBDE, a toxic flame retardant used in many household items, and created a new task force to clean up Puget Sound and prevent future degradation. Washington also became a leader in the fight against global warming by passing a bill to reduce carbon emissions, encourage the use of biofuels and reduce our fossil fuel consumption.

Budget

Important projects to improve quality of life, education and public safety in the 48th District were included in the new two-year budget, including:

• $750,000 for Youth Eastside Services
• $750,000 for the NORCOM public safety center
• $1.5 million for the Mercer Slough Environmental Center
• $2 million for the Eastside Performing Arts Center
• $31 million for the Bellevue Community College Science & Technology Building

Overall, we made remarkable improvements to our health care and education systems this session by expanding coverage, embarking on new K-12 math and science initiatives, phasing in all-day kindergarten, and creating annual bonuses for national board-certified teachers, to attract and retain the best and brightest. I appreciated hearing your thoughts throughout the session, and hope you’ll contact me if you have any questions or comments. Thank you for the incredible privilege of representing you in Olympia as your State Senator.

Best of success,

Rodney

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