Feb. 9, 2007

Anyone who has lived around Wenatchee may remember my friend, Evelyn. In her younger years, she was an intelligent, professional business woman. However, later in her life, she became afflicted with a mental illness. People in Wenatchee would recognize her as she stood on street corners and shouted at cars. Or she would attend city commission meetings and talk in the background. Evelyn was harmless and many people, including myself, used to give her car rides around town. A couple of months ago, Evelyn passed away. Much of the town came to her funeral to celebrate her life. She was part of Wenatchee.

Evelyn and others like her come to mind when I think of legislation under discussion in the Senate. Senate Bill 5533 would decriminalize mental health.

How is mental health criminalized in our state? Here's an example: If someone with mental health issues is wandering in a mall and becoming bothersome, the only resort authorities have is to arrest and put that person in jail with charges of loitering or disturbing the peace.

We should all recognize that mental health problems should be addressed just like any other physical ailment. People should not be thrown in jail just because they have a mental illness. Instead the needs of individuals with mental illness and the public safety needs of society are better served when we provide treatment and support. Senate Bill 5533 would allow prosecutors to refer individuals with mental illness who have been arrested to mental health treatment. That's a much better way to help good people, like my friend Evelyn, who are harmless, but suffer from mental illness.
 

I have some real concerns about legislation moving forward that puts more attention and favor on felons at the expense of crime victims and their families. 

House Bill 1473 would restore a felon's voting rights immediately upon release from prison, even if they haven't paid their monetary penalties or restitution. I serve as a member of the committee where this bill was heard and the testimony from victims was heart-wrenching. If you have high-speed internet, you might want to download the audio testimony from crime victim Yvonne Roberts and from Cindy Baij of Keep Lakewood and Steilacoom Safe. I felt very badly for Ms. Roberts when the chair of the committee attempted to cut her off. This testimony was too important to strike out, yet that seems to be the way the majority party decided to handle this. I have real concerns about this legislation and I'm doing my best to stop it.

My Republican colleagues and I are also moving forward on legislation to hold the Department of Corrections accountable for its poor management of felons who are finishing their sentences outside of prison, on "community supervision." during a "Families BEFORE Felons" rally with crime victim advocates, we announced our solution, House Bill 2084, and compared it to the Democrat legislation (House Bill 1874) that would put even more felons into the overloaded and failing community supervision system.
 

In 2003, the state set aside money to purchase several Eastern Washington short-line railroads to help farmers transport their products from the farm to market. One of those rail lines that was supposed to be purchased was a 108-mile stretch from Coulee City to Cheney. Unfortunately, the Department of Transportation never got the deal put together.

In the meantime, the owner of the CW Branch rail line, Watco Companies Inc., decided since the steel prices were so high, they could get more money out of scrapping it than operating it. That would have left our wheat farmers high and dry.

Our local farmers needed that line badly to transport grain, so they came to me in December of 2005 asking for help. I called Senator Bob Morton, Senator Mark Schoesler and Representative David Buri to get their help. We've been working since that time to negotiate an agreement.

I'm very pleased to report that the governor signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday between the rail owner and the state, which sets forth the process for the state to purchase this line.

During the signing, I was joined by officials from the Central Washington Grain Growers, including Kevin Whitehall, Tony Viebrock of Waterville, and Bob Bandy of Wilbur.

It's a huge victory for our farmers to keep these lines open. We estimate that there'll be 4,000 carloads of wheat from that plateau each year. It also allows growers a way to haul in their fertilizer. The other victory is for the county road department. It keeps those heavy trucks off those roads that would otherwise do a lot of damage.