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Olympia Office:
426-A
Legislative Bldg.
P.O. Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504-0600
Phone: (360) 786-7832
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Toll-Free Legislative Hotline
1-800-562-6000
Website
www.houserepublicans.wa.gov/Armstrong |
Committees:
Appropriations Subcommittee on General Gov't and Audit Review
(Ranking)
Rules (Alternate)
State Government and Tribal Affairs
Transportation |
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Jan. 23, 2007
Dear friends and
neighbors,
As we begin our
third week of the 2007 legislative session, I
wanted to take a moment to provide a brief
update of the latest issues here at the Capitol
that may affect the folks back home.
As always, if you
have any questions about these or other issues,
please contact my office using the information
above or hitting "reply" to this e-mail.
It is an honor to
serve you!
Sincerely,
Mike Armstrong
State Representative
12th Legislative District |
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Armstrong
talks local issues with Gov. Gregoire
This past week, I had an
opportunity to meet with Gov. Christine Gregoire
for about 45 minutes where we discussed several
of the following issues relating to the 12th
Legislative District.
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Monitor Water
Crisis
The citizens of Monitor are quickly running out
water. Domestic water in Monitor is currently
obtained through several small public systems
and a number of private wells. However, some
wells are drying up and others have been
contaminated by septic tanks. In some
cases, users have to haul water or use bottled
water.In addition, the
lack of water presents a public safety crisis.
Despite the presence of fruit warehouses and
commercial businesses, there are no flows for
fire protection in Monitor.
Residents in Monitor are
hard-working people raising families and some
who are retired. The average median household
income is $35,000. At that level, the community
itself cannot afford to pay for extension of
water services on its own. So I shared these
concerns with the governor. It's my hope that we
can find some solutions this session that will
help to provide water to this community.
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Migrant Farm Worker Housing in East Wenatchee |
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I also spoke with
the governor about a migrant farm worker housing
project that has many of our citizens in East
Wenatchee very concerned.
The proposal is to
build migrant housing on state-owned land down
at the bottom of 19th Street near the Columbia
River. This is not a good location for the
specified-type of housing and it does not fit
well into the other nearby residential
neighborhoods.
Many people,
including myself, believe a more suitable
location would be north of the city near the
orchards where the farm workers work. |
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Governor to sign agreement for purchase of wheat
rail line
For more than a year, I've been working on a
project to save our local roads and continue
access for farmers to transport their grain to
market. That project involves the purchase of
the PC Rail Line, a short-line railroad
that runs between Coulee City and Spokane.
The Legislature has
allocated about $9 million for the purchase. As
soon as this week, the governor is expected to
sign a "memorandum of understanding" which gives
assurance to the private owner that the state
will move forward with the purchase.
While other
private short rail lines in the state have been
ripped up by the owner and sold for scrap, I
want to ensure that we can renovate this line
and keep it running for the wheat farmers in
Douglas County.
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Local visitors come to state Capitol
I am
always honored to host local guests to the State
Capitol. And it is a special honor to sponsor
young people from the 12th District to serve as
legislative pages. Hannah Hassinger, a
freshman at Cascade High School in Leavenworth,
served as my page for the first week of session.
Chelan County
Sheriff Mike Harum also came to the Capitol.
We visited about several issues, including the
recent windstorm which caused several millions
of dollars in damage to homes and property
around Chelan and Douglas counties. |
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Hannah is the 14-year-old
daughter of Mark and T. Kelly Hassinger, Leavenworth.
Find out more about the page program at
http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/PageInternProgram |
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Chelan County Sheriff Mike Harum and Rep.
Mike Armstrong discuss local public safety
issues at the state Capitol. |
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For more
news and information, visit my website at
www.houserepublicans.wa.gov/Armstrong
If you would rather not
receive legislative e-mail updates, please
click here and send me an e-mail.
In the subject line, please include the words UNSUBSCRIBE ME. |
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