Rep. Condotta’s 2015 legislative session update, March 18

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,

We recently wrapped up some long days debating and voting on bills. We sent a number of good House bills that made it through the House committee process over to the Senate.

Click: "Rep. Condotta's Video Update" to get a review of House floor action and an overview of what is happening in the House Appropriations Committee.

As my video pointed out there seems to be a lot of legislation going through that we really don't need, but at the same time House Republicans were able to stop a lot of bad legislation up to this point. We are beginning the public hearing process for the Senate bills sent to us in the House.

Operating Budget

We should see the first budget from House Democrats next week. Then the negotiating games will begin. That will tell us a lot about how long we may be here. I want to reiterate, there is no reason we should not adjourn on time, which is scheduled to be April 26.

Oregon situation in Washington?

The last few months we watched a very interesting situation unfold in Oregon. The green-energy scandal in Oregon that led to Gov. John Kitzhaber's resignation has me concerned this is hitting so close to home.

Information from Oregon has generated questions about the role of billionaire Tom Steyer in climate-change policies. Steyer, who used to invest in coal-mining companies, has tried to influence Washington elections.

Gov. Inslee released a statement on Kitzhaber's resignation, emphasizing his leadership on health care. It should be noted Oregon's Obamacare website, Cover Oregon, was a major failure. An independent report was highly critical of the state's leadership on the project.

We have seen some of the same "green-energy" trends, monies and strategies that we saw in Oregon right here in Washington. There is a big difference between environmental policies and green-energy politics. We will be keeping a close eye on our governor and his proposals.
Visitors from District

One of the highlights of the legislative session is visitors from the 12th District. This week I had the honor of visiting with Mariachi Huenachi. They also performed in the rotunda in honor of Latino Legislative Day. It was a great performance, as usual, and it is always a pleasure to visit with them.

Sincerely,