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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I know how busy life can get, so I appreciate just how many of you took the time on Saturday to join me, Sen. Zeiger and Rep. Gildon at our town hall meeting in Puyallup. It was great to be able to provide an update on the first half of session and answer a lot of substantive questions on a wide range of legislative issues.
If you weren't able to join us, please know you can always send me an email or give me a call at (360) 786-7948 with any comments or questions you have. I always look forward to hearing from you!
Three of my bills approved by the House
This past Wednesday marked House of Origin cutoff. All bills that did not pass out of the chamber in which they were introduced by 5 p.m. on the 13th are now considered dead for the year. The only exception to this are bills deemed necessary to implement the budget, or NTIB.
I'm proud to report three of my bills were approved by the House before cutoff:
House Bill 2033 would establish three types of offenses for when mandatory reporters—professional school personnel, licensed nurses, psychologists, social service counselors, licensed child care providers, etc.—fail to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the authorities:
- A gross misdemeanor for obstructing the reporting of child abuse or neglect;
- A misdemeanor for intentionally failing to report child abuse or neglect; and
- A class 1 civil infraction for unintentional negligence that results in child abuse or neglect going unreported. Unlike the other two offenses, a civil infraction is not considered a criminal act.
While most mandatory reporters do an excellent job carrying out their statutory duties, some do not. It is those individuals we're aiming to hold accountable with this bill. HB 2033 is now in the Senate Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation Committee awaiting further action.
House Bill 1764 would update the storage requirements pertaining to lost and found items that are required to be stored by local governments—typically by local police departments. In my most recent video update, recorded earlier this month before House of Origin cutoff, I talked about this bill in depth. Take a look:
House Bill 1704 received near-unanimous support in the House, and swiftly made its way through the Senate Local Government Committee. It's now in the Senate Rules Committee, which means it could be brought to the Senate floor for a vote at any time.
House Bill 2050 would create a specialty Washington Wine license plate that would feature a scenic landscape of Washington wine country. The plate would cost $40, with proceeds going to support ongoing research efforts at WSU's wine science facility in the Tri-Cities.
Washington's wine industry produces more than 17 million cases of wine each year, which contributes $4.8 billion to our state's economy. We have not had a tourism marketing program since 2011, so this would be a creative way to promote one of our most important industries and some of the most beautiful wine country in the world, while also supporting our friends at WSU Tri-Cities.
Facts about Washington's wine industry (source):
- Number of wineries: 940+
- Number of wine grape growers: 350+
- Wine grape acreage: 55,000+ acres
- Wine production: Approx. 17.5 million cases
- Varieties produced: Nearly 70
- Total economic impact: $4.8 billion
House Bill 2050 now heads to the Senate for further consideration.
Spending a few minutes with TVW
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to sit down with TVW to record a short video for their 'Legislator Profiles' series. I hope you'll take a few minutes to learn a little bit more about me and my background:
Contacting me
As I mentioned above, please feel free to call or email me any time. My phone number is (360) 786-7948, and my email address is Kelly.Chambers@leg.wa.gov.
It is an honor to serve you.
Sincerely,
Kelly Chambers
