Legislators give session wrap-up

35th District Reps. Travis Couture and Dan Griffey, both Republicans from Allyn, and state Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, discussed the legislative session that ended March 7 at a breakfast hosted by the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce.

At the April 5 event, at the Shelton Civic Center, Chamber President and CEO Diedre Peterson thanked the representatives for being “cognizant of the needs of our businesses and our communities.”

MacEwen opened the wrap-up, saying it was a “contentious” session.

The passage of HB 1589 “will affect the future of our state,” he said.

The bill prohibits large gas companies from providing natural gas service to any commercial or residential location that doesn’t already have it. It doesn’t ban natural gas — yet, MacEwen said.

“It starts the process of removing natural gas as an energy source,” he said.

“It will affect working families.”

Natural gas burns 20% cleaner than other combustible fuels, MacEwen said.

“Why would we take that away?” he asked.

MacEwen said we must be able to generate and transmit power and we can’t do that right now if we take away natural gas.

“We can’t continue to force things down taxpayers’ throats that aren’t working. This will have dire consequences across the state,” MacEwen said.

The senator was happy with some aspects of the session.

“It’s the first budget in a long time that didn’t have a tax increase,” he said.

Griffey, who is a ranking member of the House Community Safety, Justice, & Reentry Committee, said the past four to six years have been “scary” and a “failed experiment” regarding the reduction in law enforcement.

He said a “major win” in the past session was the passage of a citizen initiative that lifts restrictions, imposed by the Legislature in 2021, on police pursuits.

He said criminals should be held accountable.

“We’ve been going the wrong way.”

He said even some Democrats “heard” and worked to make the initiative a law.

Additional funding to purchase land for the Belfair Bypass project was also a win, Griffey said.

“I believe we’re going to build the thing now,” he said, getting laughter from the audience.

The 6.5-mile corridor will provide an alternative for highway users to travel around, and not through, Belfair, and has been in planning stages since 1998.

The need for a better and safer way to travel between Shelton, Belfair and Bremerton was identified back in 1966 in the state Department of Transportation’s Reconnaissance Study.

Griffey said the Legislature “didn’t make enough movement” in helping domestic violence victims.

“I’m always looking for ways to help domestic violence survivors survive the criminal justice system,” Griffey said.

Couture said the revised budget provided “record amounts of investments into our communities.”

He said a highlight for him was helping bring House Speaker Laurie Jinkins on a tour of the Sierra Pacific Sawmill in Shelton.

“It’s hard to bridge that gap with people who don’t believe in our way of life,” he said.

Jinkins talked favorably about the tour at the past session, Couture said.

“It humanized people who worked in the mill,” he said, and showed the importance of family-wage jobs.

“We didn’t have any bad timber bills this year,” he said.

Couture said the Legislature has to do more regarding drug overdose deaths, calling 3,000 overdose deaths in the state “unacceptable.”

Griffey agreed, saying it’s easier to get drugs into Washington than it is to get a package from Amazon.

“It’s affecting every Washingtonian,” Griffey said.

“We have to do more. It’s not a problem that just harms the individual,” Couture said.

It’s also hurting downtown businesses in Shelton, he said.

Couture said he’d like to see lawmakers tackle child care for rural communities suffering from child care deserts.

“Child care subsidies go out of your pocket into King County,” he said.

He encouraged residents who are affected to go speak at a hearing.

“We need more of those stories. It matters when you’re trying to pass a bill.”

Couture was also disappointed a $200 million funding proposal he supported for indigent defense didn’t get a hearing.

“You need defense attorneys,” he said. “If someone commits a crime and the court can’t provide an attorney, guess what? They get released.”