Today (April 17) is the last day for the State House and Senate to consider opposite house bills.
Regular session is slated to end in just over two weeks on April 28.
After today, the main business left to accomplish is negotiating the state budget. Both the House and Senate have passed operating budgets (read President Young’s statement’s here and here).
For more analysis of both budget proposals and how they affect UW, read the OPB blog.
This is the fifth installment in our “Huskies on the Hill” series featuring UW Alumni serving in state government.
Today’s Q&A features State Representative Jessyn Farrell, B.A., History, ’96, who represents the 46th Legislative District.
Elected in 2012, Rep. Farrell previously worked as the Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition, an organization dedicated to expanding bus, rail, bicycle and pedestrian transportation options. As a mother of two young children, she is passionate about Washington’s education system.
Rep. Farrell serves on the Environment Committee, Early Learning and Human Services Committee, and Transportation Committee.
1. What motivated you to run for office?
I believe more moms need to be involved in the political process. We make major policy decisions on a daily basis that affect children and families. It’s important to have the perspective of those who are on the front lines of trying to make a living, taking care of kids, and giving them the very best. I ran for the state legislature to provide that voice and that perspective.
2. What are your legislative priorities this session?
In addition to meeting the Supreme Court mandate to fully funding K-12 education and keeping public university education more accessible, my own bills include efforts to: reform and improve the Working Connections Child Care Program that helps low-income families work or find work by subsidizing child care; provide local funding options to save King County Metro service; and make it easier to construct affordable housing and promote transit-oriented development.
3. What has been the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment for you so far this session?
The most significant surprise so far this session has been how cool it is to vote on all sorts of issues! There are policy areas that I’m very passionate about, and working to pass legislation on those issues has been very rewarding. It has also been fascinating to learn about all the other things that our legislature works on.
The biggest disappointment was the defeat of commonsense legislation to close gun background check loopholes. We have a lot of work to do in the coming months to move this legislation forward.
4. What do you think the long-term outlook is for Higher Education in our state?
Reinvesting in our higher education institutions is one of my top priorities as a legislator. When I attended the University of Washington, the state contribution to higher education was 70 percent, with families paying the remaining 30 percent. In the past few years those numbers have been flipped on their head, with the burden now falling heavily on students and parents. We need to reverse that trend.
I believe there is bipartisan consensus around the need to restore higher education funding and reinvigorate our universities. Agreeing on where that money will come from – particularly in the shadow of McCleary – will be challenging, and it may not happen this year. But I believe over the next few years we will see a renewed commitment in Olympia to funding higher education.
5. How do you spend your time when the legislature is not in session?
I spend my time with my two kids and husband, swimming in Lake Washington, hiking in the mountains and enjoying city parks – can you tell I’m looking forward to summer? I will also return to my regular work as an attorney and mediator.
In Olympia for meetings with state lawmakers today, President Michael K. Young also took time out to meet with UW students who are interning in the State Capitol.
PIC: @UW Pres. Michael K. Young meeting this afternoon w/ Huskies interning in the Wash. State Legislature #WALEG pic.twitter.com/7UcJlBeMec
— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) April 11, 2013
PIC: @UW Pres. Michael K. Young poses w/ #Huskies interning in the Wash. State Legislature #WALEG pic.twitter.com/WOEBjnwtcd
— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) April 11, 2013
PIC: DUBS UP! A group of @UW students interning in #Olympia show some #HuskyPride after meeting w/ Pres. Young #WALEG pic.twitter.com/Ok4wQxrv0W
— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) April 11, 2013
Learn more about the Legislative Internship Program.
“Today’s House budget proposal lacks significant, new state investment in public higher education. Washington ranks second to last in the nation — 49th — in higher education funding per student, with 25,000 jobs in high demand industries awaiting graduates we do not have the funding to educate. If we are to compete in the 21st century economy, we can and must do better.
“In the absence of significant, new state investment, we appreciate this budget allows for modest tuition increases, which will be necessary to preserve student access to a high quality education. If we want to keep tuition increases low, the state must adequately reinvest in our students and public higher education.
“There is much more work to be done as budget negotiations progress, and I look forward to working with the House, Senate, and Governor on getting this right.”
This is the fourth installment in our “Huskies on the Hill” series featuring UW Alumni serving in state government.
Today’s Q&A features State Representative Steve O’Ban, B.A., History, ’84, who represents the 28th Legislative District.
Rep. O’Ban and his wife, Laurie, a Tacoma Community College instructor, have two sons serving in the United States Army. After graduating from the University of Washington, he attended Seattle University School of Law.
1. What motivated you to run for office?
I believed that my 25 years as an attorney, and other leadership opportunities, could be of help to the legislative process. I have found that to be true and am very grateful for the opportunity to use this background and my professional skills to help make our state better.
2. What are your legislative priorities this session?
Increase job growth in the private sector, help veterans transitioning from military service to the private sector find living wage jobs, and bring transparency and accountability to state government so it spends taxpayers’ money more effectively.
3. What has been the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment for you so far this session?
My biggest, pleasant surprise is the higher degree of bi-partisanship than I expected and biggest disappointment is the number of good bills that die because of the lack of time or other, less worthy bills eat up precious legislative time.
4. What do you think the long-term outlook is for Higher Education in our state?
I believe policymakers of all parties are in agreement that higher education is too expensive and pricing the middle class and disadvantaged out of the opportunity to take part in the American dream. I hope that in this legislative session we spend the money and make the reforms to increase access to higher education.
5. How do you spend your time when the legislature is not in session?
I am an attorney in private practice in the firm Ellis, Li & McKinstry PLLC in Seattle and I volunteer at a legal clinic and serve on the boards and volunteer with the Rescue Mission and a nonprofit serving the Yakama Indian Reservation.
“Today’s Senate Majority Coalition Caucus budget proposal comes up woefully short for the UW and higher education. Of the $100 million in ‘new’ funding for higher education, the majority is derived from a 20 percent tax on our international students that we believe will price students out of their education and result in a loss of high-quality talent for our state. Even with this tax on international students, the caucus budget and its 3 percent tuition reduction provides less funding per student in the next biennium and several hundred dollars less than what was provided over two decades ago. Washington already ranks second to last in the nation – 49th – in funding per student in higher education. A budget like this will not allow us to maintain the excellence of the UW and meet the needs of our students, especially in building capacity for more graduates in STEM areas – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – and supplying our state’s critical industries with skilled and qualified workers. We can and must do better.”
State Representative Larry Seaquist (D-Gig Harbor) explains how the legislative budget process works in this white board video from the Washington House Democrats:
This is the third installment in our “Huskies on the Hill” series featuring UW Alumni serving in state government.
Today’s Q&A features State Representative Steve Bergquist B.A., History, ’02; B.A., Political Science, ’02, who represents the 11th Legislative District.
Representative Bergquist is serving his first term in the Washington State Legislature. He is a public school teacher, union member and small business owner from Renton.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in political science and history, he attended Western Washington University for his master’s degree in education and social studies. His wife, Avanti, is a faculty physician at the UW and Seattle Children’s Hospital.
1. What motivated you to run for office?
The opportunity, as an active teacher and community leader, to support our students from pre-K through higher ed and to be a strong voice for the great constituents of the 11th district.
2. What are your legislative priorities this session?
Fully funding our basic public education system and keeping tuition from skyrocketing – while protecting our safety net for those in need.
3. What has been the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment for you so far this session?
My biggest surprise is the amount of time that it takes to be an effective legislator. This is truly a full-time job. My biggest disappointment is the lack of ability to find a plan, thus far, to fund our education and transportation needs.
4. What do you think the long-term outlook is for Higher Education in our state?
I am optimistic over the next decade that we can get tuition increases under control, fully fund our state need grants and college bound scholarship qualifiers and maintain and grow our GET program.
5. How do you spend your time when the legislature is not in session?
I am a public high school social studies teacher and tennis coach at Lindbergh High School in Renton.
(Cross-Posted from the President’s Blog)
President Young stressed the importance of early learning and called the UW’s new online bachelor’s completion program “a good thing for all of us” during remarks to the Alliance for Education in Seattle this week.
“As long as I’m president,” he told the group Thursday, “improving early learning and K-12 will be a major priority for the University of Washington.”
He said the just-announced online-only degree in early childhood and family studies is “a great example of how we are breaking boundaries and challenging conventional thinking when it comes to teacher preparation.”
“It’s a good thing for our early childhood educators, it’s a good thing for our littlest learners who will be learning from these well-trained teachers and it’s a good thing for all of us.”
This is the second installment in our “Huskies on the Hill” series featuring UW Alumni serving in state government.
Today’s Q&A features State Senator Nathan Schlicher, J.D., ’02; M.D, ’06 who represents the 26th Legislative District.
Prior to earning his medical degree, Sen. Schlicher earned a law degree from the University of Washington, and as an undergraduate studied political science and biology at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. He met his wife, Jessica, on their first day of classes at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Sen. Schlicher was appointed to the State Senate earlier this year, filling the vacancy left by now U.S. Congressman Derek Kilmer.
1. What motivated you to run for office?
In my daily life, I am an ER doctor at an urban emergency department and see people suffering from so many ills. Our broken health care system with 50 million uninsured unable to get care was troubling. I saw so many patients struggling with homelessness, addiction, poverty, and searching for work. I believe that we must do more to help our fellow citizens and not forget about them. My hope is to bring their stories to the legislature and remind politicians that at the end of the pen are people that are affected by changes in service.
2. What are your legislative priorities this session?
My priorities are diverse. Getting our economy moving forward and people back to work is critical. We also need to support small business that provide a large majority of jobs in our communities and make sure that they can compete by streamlining the regulatory process. Fully funding education as required by the Supreme Court in the McCleary decision must begin this year if we are to reach our 2018 target. We must also fully implement the medicaid expansion and ensure that we get to the point where we have universal coverage so that people can get the health care they need.
3. What has been the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment for you so far this session?
As a citizen who joined the legislature, I am not a career politician. I believe that we should all be working for the good of our constituents, regardless of party, and help be better stewards of the dollars entrusted to us. It was surprising and disappointing to find career politicians that put their political success above the needs of my constituents. As a result, I believe now more than ever that we need more citizen legislators and less career politicians so that we can get away from these partisan games.
4. What do you think the long-term outlook is for Higher Education in our state?
We are blessed in Washington State to have an amazing higher education system. Unfortunately the system is under immense pressure due to the state financial challenges. I am supportive of tuition freezes through adequate funding this year and beginning the process of reversing the erosion of funding for higher education. I also want to be clear that GET should not be changed by the legislature. There is a less than 1% chance of insolvency despite the media hype. There is no reason to close the program at this time.
5. How do you spend your time when the legislature is not in session?
When I am not in session I work in the Emergency Department at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington and as the associate director for a national Patient Safety Organization at TeamHealth. My family is also my passion, including my wife Dr. Jessica Kennedy-Schlicher (2006 UWSOM grad), son David (4), daughter Juliette (2), and soon our third child in June. When time allows around all of that, I enjoy getting out in our community in Gig Harbor, visiting my family in Bremerton, and enjoying the great outdoors we have here in the state.