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March 27, 2009
Dear friends and neighbors,
Only one month remains of the scheduled
105-day legislative session in Olympia. Between now and
April 26, which is the last day of the regular session,
we must approve three budgets for the next two years:
operating, capital and transportation.
The operating budget is the one you hear
most about which has a projected $9 billion deficit. It
covers the daily operations of the state of Washington.
The capital budget pays for public buildings and
infrastructure. The transportation budget, of course,
funds our state's highways and ferries.
This week, the Senate Transportation
Committee unveiled its proposed transportation budget. I
have several concerns about this spending plan, which is
outlined below.
Also this week, I came very close to
making further progress on reorganizing the Department
of Social and Health Services.
I welcome your comments on these and
other legislative issues.
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Thank you for the honor of allowing me
to serve you!
Sincerely,
P.S. - When e-mailing me, please do not hit
reply to this e-mail as I will not receive the
response. Instead, I invite you to
click here and e-mail me. Thank
you!
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One
more try at reorganizing DSHS
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Although my bill (House Bill 2197)
to break up the Department of Social and
Health Services (DSHS) into four smaller, more
manageable agencies died in committee, a new
opportunity presented itself this week. During
floor debate Monday, I tried to amend the
proposal to another DSHS reorganization bill.
Unfortunately, the amendment was ruled out of
order. However, I think had it been allowed, the
amendment would have received bipartisan
support. (Read
my press release)
There's a lot of frustration with DSHS,
especially with upper management, and how the
bureaucracy of this $20 billion agency is
getting in the way of delivering services and
protecting our state's most vulnerable
population, including children. |
On Tuesday, the state and three other parties
agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit
brought on behalf of a boy who was intentionally
starved by his father and the man's girlfriend.
Under the settlement, DSHS has agreed to pay $5
million, with the remainder to be split between
a state-contracted therapist and two
social-service agencies that hired him. The suit
stems from the case of Shayne Abegg, who weighed
only 22 pounds at age 4 when authorities rescued
him on March 7, 2007, from his Everett home.
This is not the first time DSHS has settled
in cases involving children who were harmed or
died under this agency's watch. I've listed
other settlements below, all of which loudly
underscores why we need to reform DSHS. My
greatest concern is not the money -- it is how
these children's lives are affected.
I was interviewed this week by Dori Monson on
KIRO Radio about this issue. I invite you to
click here to listen to the interview.
Please allow time for the file to download.
RECENT DSHS
SETTLEMENTS
- December 2008:
$320,000 in the death of Robley Carr Jr. in
foster care. Carr had received part of a $4
million settlement in 2003.
- June 2007: $6.2
million to four foster children for failing
to detect or prevent over five years of
physical and sexual abuse.
- April 2005: $1.52
million to two brothers who were molested by
their foster father for three years in
Bellingham.
- December 2003:
$180,000 to the family of a 3-year-old
Tacoma girl who was beaten to death in May
2000 after state social workers returned the
child to her mother's care.
- November 2003:
$8.8 million to Aba Sheikh, finding that
negligence by state social workers
contributed to a savage assault by a gang of
teens living in a West Seattle foster home.
- November 2003: $4
million to three siblings who were abused in
a Seattle foster home.
- February 2003: $4
million to four neglected children who were
repeatedly beaten at a foster home on the
Nooksack Indian reservation near Bellingham.
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Senate transportation budget breaks promise with
citizens
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| In 2005 when
citizens voted against the repeal of the 9 1/2
cent state gas tax increase, they were told that
by retaining that tax increase, local projects
would be funded across Washington.
This week, the Senate unveiled its proposed
transportation budget. Money is provided for the
so-called "mega projects" in Seattle, including
the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the 520 floating
bridge project. However, the budget plan cuts
off funding for highway projects scheduled for
construction after 2015. It's another broken
promise to the citizens of Washington.
Once again, Seattle gets the money and the rest
of the state is left out, unless taxes are
increased again. |
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Fortunately, I saw this coming a couple years
back and worked to bring our North Central
Washington highway projects to the top of the
funding list. However, we need to remind
Seattle-area lawmakers that the border of the
state of Washington extends farther than
Seattle's city limits. As a member of the House
Transportation Committee, I have some real
concerns with this budget as it is now proposed.
Hopefully, we can make changes that uphold the
highway funding promises to the rest of the
state. |
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East
Wenatchee students serve as pages |
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Nicole Reeves |
It was my pleasure this week to sponsor two
Eastmont Junior High School students who served
as legislative pages in the House of
Representatives.Nicole Reeves and
Mayle Garcia, both 16 from East Wenatchee,
helped to deliver messages and bills to
lawmakers’ offices and to the House floor. They
also spend time in the Legislative Page School
learning about state government. |
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Our page program
is a great way
to meet many people and to see all the
inner-workings of government. Plus, pages also
are paid for their work.
Mayle is the daughter of Pedro
and Eli Ramirez. Nicole is the daughter of Teri
Ayla of East Wenatchee.
Junior high and high school students between the
ages of 14 and 16 who are interested in the
program can get more information by visiting:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/PageInternProgram.
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Mayle Garcia |
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