Dear friend,
I hope you've
had a good summer. As we turn towards fall, I continue
to work on issues that are important to our families and
communities. Below is a snapshot of a few of those
issues that may interest you.
-
Transforming health
care: sharing solutions
-
Be aware of new $5 fee
for state parks when renewing your vehicle
registration
-
Traveling around our
community: An update on local transportation
projects
If you have any questions or if I can
ever be of assistance,
please contact me. And if you missed my last
e-newsletter on health care, please click
here.
Sincerely,
Jaime Herrera
State Representative
(360)
687-0489
P.S. -- If you know of anyone who would like to sign up
for my e-newsletter, please let them know they can do so
by visiting this
link. Thanks!
Transforming health care:
sharing solutions
The Columbian
newspaper contacted me yesterday for a response to
President Obama's health care speech to Congress and the
American people. Below are excerpts from the story that
ran today:
Herrera said the President and Congress could accomplish
much of what they seek by empowering states to broaden
the health insurance options available to their
residents. For example, she said, if people could buy
policies that are not currently available in their own
states, that would increase competition among private
insurers and drive down costs, something the President
said is needed.
In Washington, "We have the
ability to fix costs and affordability issues right now,
without raising taxes," Herrera said.
To read the entire story, please click
here. I
also again invite you to view my last
e-newsletter on health care solutions.
Be aware of new $5 fee for
state parks when renewing your vehicle registration
As you know, we are required to
renew our vehicle registration each year. In the past,
we had the option of donating $5 or more to
state parks, and any amount to organ/tissue donation,
when paying our vehicle registration fee. It's important
to allow citizens to choose to give contributions where
they see fit. It has been a good way to support our
state parks, which we can all enjoy.
However, the governor and Democratic leaders in Olympia
changed this process from an "opt-in" donation to an
"opt-out" donation.
When totaling our
vehicle registration fee now, a $5 state park fee is
automatically added. If we do not want to pay this new
fee, we must "opt-out" by checking the
No
Donation box. The process for organ/tissue
donation remains the same.
Though I support
state parks and organ donation, I didn't support this
"opt-out" process because:
- The "opt-out" process is confusing and
hidden, which leads to people paying the fee
unknowingly.
- The new process could be in violation of our
state’s Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits
unfair or deceptive acts.
I did support a solution to fund our state parks by
prioritizing $70 million toward maintaining the parks we
already have, such as Battle Ground Lake State Park.
This solution was side-stepped and the money was instead
used to purchase additional public lands, rather than to
take care of the lands the state currently owns.
The bottom line is it should be your choice
to "opt-in" to help fund state parks when renewing your
vehicle registration.
For an illustration of
what I have explained above, please see the graphic
below.
Traveling around our
community: An update on local transportation projects
As a member of the
House Transportation Committee, I have worked to
secure funding for critical infrastructure needs in
Southwest Washington. For example, when the governor's
proposed transportation budget would have delayed or
effectively eliminated funding for three vital projects
in our area, I sent a
letter to House Transportation Committee Chair Judy
Clibborn to ensure funding was restored. These projects
include:
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