State senator, reps pushing bills forward

While school funding remains the dominant issue in Olympia, state lawmakers who represent Whidbey are pushing forward with bills that address a variety of other policy issues.

State Sen. Barbara Bailey (R-Oak Harbor), Rep. Dave Hayes (R-Camano) and Rep. Norma Smith (R-Clinton), have co-sponsored bills dealing with a wide range of topics, from heating aids to the condemnation of contaminated homeless housing.

The three elected representatives are holding one of two town hall meetings 9-10 a.m., Saturday, March 25, at WhidbeyHealth Medical Center in Coupeville.

They will discuss state legislative issues and the 2017 session. Participants may submit questions in advance by sending an email to Vicki.Angelini@leg.wa.gov.

BAILEY, THE Republican majority whip in the Senate, said she has focused on issues involving senior citizens. Her concerns, she said, originate from her experiences caring for her late mother.

She introduced two bills that deal with hearing.

“It’s one of the most difficult things for someone who is aging to deal with,” Bailey said, pointing out that studies have shown that hearing problems can accelerate dementia and other problems in older people.

The Senate unanimously approved Bailey’s Senate Bill 5179, which would require coverage for hearing instruments under public-employee and Medicaid programs.

Senate Bill 5177 required long-term care workers to be trained in recognizing the signs of hearing loss.

“Hopefully we can bring a little more awareness to this,” she said, “and in doing so, help people to live a better quality life and not give up.”

She also sponsored Senate Bill 5099, which would stiffen penalties for crimes committed against vulnerable adults.

These types of crimes — which range from fraud to assault — are a growing problem, according to Bailey.

IN RECENT years, Bailey has also focused on ways to make tuition affordable for college students. She was the leader in the Senate majority’s 2015 effort to create the historic, tuition-cutting College Affordability Program, according to her office.

This session she co-sponsored Senate Bill 5100, which directs colleges to make financial-literacy seminars available to students, and Senate Bill 5022, the Washington Student Loan Transparency Act.

The latter would require higher-education institutions to provide simple and concise information about the costs of borrowing when financial awards include loans, according to her office.

Both bills passed the Senate earlier this month and are in committee in the House.

IN THE House, Smith introduced a bill to address problems uncovered by an audit of Washington’s Regulatory Fairness Act, which mandates that state agencies calculate the impacts of newly proposed rules on small businesses, according to her office.

The audit by the State Auditor’s Office assessed the implementation and found state agencies were chronically non-compliant with its requirements.

House Bill 1120 includes a measure to curb ongoing compliance issues.

The bill passed the House and moved onto the Senate.

The House also passed Smith’s House Bill 1717, which prohibits state agencies — not including law enforcement — from obtaining a “biometric identifier” without first providing notice of the purpose and use of the identifier, as well as receiving consent from an individual.

Such identifiers include fingerprints, retina scans, voice prints and scans of hand or face geometry.

HAYES, A Snohomish County deputy, introduced House Bill 1757, which “would add transient accommodations to the list of properties subject to inspection, condemnation and decontamination when contaminated by certain hazardous chemicals,” his office reported.

The bill was approved in the House and moved on to the Senate.

The bill was prompted by a case in which the city of Burlington was unable to evict residents from a local motel that was severely contaminated by methamphetamine.

“There had been nearly 600 calls to local law enforcement about this motel. Of the 42 rooms, 40 were severely contaminated by meth,” Hayes said.

“Unfortunately, the city’s hands were tied by the law.”

“City officials wanted to move the people out, but they were told by the Skagit County prosecutor’s office they couldn’t legally do it based on the law’s current definition of hazardous chemicals.”

“That definition requires manufacture on site for officials to act, not just presence. This bill would fix that problem should it happen again.”

Hayes was also the prime sponsor of a bill that seeks to improve mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect, including sex crimes against children, and another to help veterans become eligible for hiring benefits immediately upon honorable discharge from the military.

Both cleared the House with unanimous votes.