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April 17, 2009
Dear friends and
neighbors,
We are into the final
week-and-a-half of the 2009 legislative session which
began Jan. 12. Some important deadlines are coming up to
help us finish our business on time.
Today is the last day for
Senate bills to be passed from the House – and House
bills to be passed from the Senate. After 5 p.m. today,
those bills that have not received approval from the
opposite body (House/Senate) are considered dead for the
session. Bills that involve the budget are exempt from
the deadline.
After today, we move to a
“concurrence calendar.” That means we concur with
Senate amendments on a bill, and then send that
legislation to the governor. Or we dispute the
amendments, at which time the bill is sent to a
conference committee to work out the disagreements for
final passage.
Still remaining on the
calendar are final passage of the operating, capital and
transportation budgets. Last Friday, we passed the
House version of the transportation budget, but now
negotiations are under way to provide a final
transportation spending plan to send to the governor.
Unfortunately, we have not yet voted on either the
operating or capital budgets. Only nine days remain to
take that action.
In this e-newsletter, I'd
like to review the issues of jobs, the economy, taxes,
and bipartisanship.
I welcome your comments/questions on these and
other legislative issues.
Please feel free to share this e-newsletter
with your friends and family. If any of them would like
to receive regular e-newsletter updates from my office,
have them go to this link and sign up:
Click here.
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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WHAT HAS THE
LEGISLATURE DONE TO HELP JOBS, THE ECONOMY?
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Here's the simple answer – NOTHING!
More than 344,000
Washingtonians are jobless and looking for
work. Statewide unemployment is the highest
since 1982. Chelan and Douglas counties now have
double-digit unemployment – and it looks to get
worse.
The highest priorities of the
Legislature should have been jobs and the
economy. Instead, it went the opposite
direction. Out of more than 3,000 bills
introduced, few, if any, would have helped
employers create jobs.
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What were the priorities of the
majority party? Here's a sample of what they
passed:
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Senate Bill 5599 -
Popular vote: This measure bypasses the
Electoral College system of voting for the
president and diminishes state sovereignty
by entering Washington into a pact that
gives our electoral power to other states.
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Senate Bill 5688 -
Domestic partnership: This measure gives
same-sex domestic partners all the legal
rights and benefits of married heterosexual
couples.
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Senate Bill 5735 -
Climate change: This bill sets
Washington on a course of hefty
environmental regulations that will hurt
business owners, discourage companies from
growing or locating here, and threaten good
family-wage jobs.
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Senate Bill 5963 -
Unemployment insurance rates: This bill
increases payroll taxes businesses must pay
on unemployment insurance and allows
employees to quit their jobs and still
receive unemployment benefits.
I
voted against these bills because they are not
in the best interest of our state -- and none of
them would help our economy or help employers
create new jobs in Washington. |
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TAXED
ENOUGH
ALREADY |
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Rep. Mike Armstrong (in back) stands with
protesting taxpayers at the state Capitol.
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On April 15, tax day, I stood with more
than 5,000 people who gathered at the state
Capitol in Olympia in a "Tax Tea Party." TEA
stands for "Taxed Enough Already"
They came to the Capitol steps
to protest higher taxes, such as several income
tax proposals introduced this year. It was the
second largest rally in Olympia in the last
decade, and coincided with other tax revolt
demonstrations throughout Washington, including
one in Wenatchee.
What was the majority party's
response? On the same day, they introduced
several new bills to increase your taxes.
Unbelievable!
Here's a list of the Democrats' new tax
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House Bill 2377 would increase the state
sales tax from 6.5 percent to 6.8 percent
for three years. It's expected this will
extract an additional $1 billion from
taxpayers. It also redistributes some of the
tax money collected to low-income families
under a state "working family tax credit"
program approved last year.
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House Bill 2354 would create a new tax
on "intangible" property, such as stocks and
bonds, interests in corporations, gold or
other precious metals, mutual funds, money
market funds and other personal investments.
The tax would be levied as $1 for every $100
dollars of intangible property for every
resident in Washington.
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House Bill 2378 would increase the
maximum school levy percentages to
retroactively collect money above the
current levy lids previously
approved by voters.
Winston Churchill once noted,
"For a nation to try to tax itself into
prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket
and trying to lift himself up by the handle."
I will continue to oppose these and other tax-increase proposals. |
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A FRANK
DISCUSSION ABOUT WORKING ACROSS PARTY LINES |
My fellow 12th District seatmates and I
participate every Friday morning in radio
interviews on KPQ, KOHO, and KOZI. A listener
recently sent me the following e-mail after
hearing our program:
“After listening to the radio
interview on April 10, I believe that I have
heard enough. You (and your seatmate) spent most
of the time yelling about how bad the governor
and the other Democrats in power positions are
and that they are selling the state down the
river. You spent very little time talking about
some of the serious problems that are facing the
people that placed you in office. I think that a
more constructive approach would be to try to
work together on both sides of the aisle and to
come to some consensus of opinion that would
work for all of the people of the state.”
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I appreciate all e-mails, phone
calls and contacts to my office. To date, I have
responded to 3,711 e-mails sent during this
legislative session. I'd like to
publicly address the concern of
this constituent.
We do work across the aisle on
many issues that affect the citizens of our
state. In fact, many bills we vote on have
bipartisan support and often gain a 98-0 vote.
However, we have substantial differences on some
very key issues – including the budget. We have
offered repeatedly to work across the aisle with
the other party to find common ground on these
issues – especially on the budget.
Unfortunately, being in the
minority, they don’t need our vote – and we are
often shut out. It certainly is not for a lack
of trying. We’re fighting in the best interests
of all our constituents – and I believe you
should know the truth and the direction the
majority party is intent on sending our state.
That's why I'm not silent on our differences,
and it is also why I am constantly discussing
our commitment to find solutions to the issues
that face all Washington citizens.
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