February 18, 2022

E-Newsletter: Why more taxes when it’s raining money?

[[VIEW_THIS]]  Feb.18, 2022 Hello Friends and Neighbors, In the same week that state government’s budget surplus hit the $15 BILLION mark, the state Senate rushed a bill through that would mean triple-digit increases in certain costs for Washington drivers and has our neighboring states accusing ours of trying to tax...
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February 16, 2022

New revenue forecast means more reason for tax relief in 2022

OLYMPIA… The budget leader for Senate Republicans says the case for providing tax relief this year is even stronger after seeing 2022’s first quarterly forecast of state-government revenue. Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, serves on the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. The forecast she and other council members adopted today...
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February 15, 2022

Senate passes emergency-powers bill without Republican improvements

OLYMPIA… Senate Republican Leader John Braun and Sen. Lynda Wilson, prime sponsor of two bipartisan bills to reform Washington’s emergency-powers law, offered this statement today following the passage of Senate Bill 5909. The measure received a 29-20 vote, after amendments offered by Wilson, R-Vancouver, and Braun, R-Centralia, were turned down...
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February 11, 2022

E-Newsletter: A win, a loss and… another win

[[VIEW_THIS]]  Feb.11, 2022 Hello Friends and Neighbors, Both chambers of the Legislature are in the middle of an eight-day stretch of floor action. This is when, with few exceptions, we spend the entire day at our desks on the floor of the Senate chamber and take action on bills forwarded...
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February 08, 2022

Accountability measures from Wilson clear state Senate

OLYMPIA… The state Senate today unanimously supported legislation from Sen. Lynda Wilson that would do more to hold the state Health Care Authority accountable for Medicaid-related spending, and its oversight of managed-care organizations. “Senate Bill 5620 sends a clear message: The Health Care Authority has to keep a better handle...
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February 04, 2022

E-Newsletter: Your response to my survey

Feb. 4, 2022 Hello Friends and Neighbors, We’re at a point in the 2022 session when bills begin to stall – or “die,” as some put it – because there isn’t enough support to move them forward. This can happen for several reasons. For instance, a bill may need more...
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February 01, 2022

Republicans offer long-term plan to rescue family and medical leave program without rate hike

OLYMPIA… Republican senators have introduced a plan to rescue the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave insurance program and put it on stable footing through 2028, without increasing the premiums paid by Washington workers. “It was a shock to learn this enormously popular, pro-family program is in such dire financial...
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January 28, 2022

E-Newsletter: It’s a new record!

Jan. 28, 2022 Hello Friends and Neighbors, If you had asked me Monday morning, I would have said the 11 bills I’d filed during the first two weeks of our session – the latest being an updated version of my emergency-powers reform – would be it. But after seeing the...
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January 26, 2022

Majority should listen to bipartisan ideas for reforming emergency-powers law

OLYMPIA… A second bipartisan bill to reform Washington’s emergency-powers law has received the same icy reception from the Senate’s Democratic majority as the first proposal, according to Sen. Lynda Wilson, prime sponsor of both measures. Neither Senate Bill 5039 nor the BALANCE Act, SB 5943, will be considered Friday by...
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January 21, 2022

Republican budget leaders welcome proposed sales-tax cut to discussion of tax relief

OLYMPIA… The list of major tax-relief proposals before the Legislature this year no longer belongs solely to Republicans, now that a member of the Senate’s Democratic majority is proposing a one-point drop in the state sales tax. Sen. Lynda Wilson, Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and...
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