35th District trio aims for bipartisan support of bills

35th District Reps. Travis Couture and Dan Griffey, both Republicans from Allyn, and state Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, have sponsored bills this session in the Democratic-led legislature.

MacEwen sees hope for bipartisanship passage of some of those measures.

“The 2025 session began with what served as a farewell speech from outgoing Governor Jay Inslee, which portrayed Olympia as a shining example for the nation to follow – and conveniently ignored the host of challenges facing Washingtonians,” MacEwen said in a news release.

“To the surprise and delight of many of us in the Legislature, incoming Governor Bob Ferguson took a different approach. In his inaugural address, he highlighted the affordability crisis plaguing our families, called for additional resources to hire, train and support law enforcement, and discussed bipartisan, commonsense solutions he planned to support – even solutions sponsored by Republicans,” he said.

Senate committees are holding hearings on proposed legislation this week and policy committees have until Feb. 21 to consider Senate bills. Budget and transportation committees have until Feb. 28 and then the Senate will consider House bills.

On Jan. 23, a MacEwen-sponsored bill that would require refunds to consumers for early cancellation of term-based subscriptions to electronic media services, such as music streaming services, news, software and games, received a public hearing in the Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade Committee.

“Too many media services make it super easy to subscribe and then make you jump through 50 hoops to unsubscribe and get your money back. They are clearly banking on people giving up and letting the monthly charges just be siphoned out of their account each month,” MacEwen said in a statement about the proposed legislation.

Senate Bill 5207 would also require the services to disclose the cancellation and refund schedule prior to establishing a subscription, according to the bill.

MacEwen is the primary sponsor of seven other bills this session, including measures concerning cannabis retailer advertising, establishing a new clean energy fund program, amending candidate filing requirements, simplifying administration of wine and spirit sales, allowing single license plates for certain vehicles, an act related to funding the state transportation system using Climate Commitment Act revenues and a bill designating an overpass in Bremerton the Joe Mentor memorial overpass.

On Jan. 21, Couture and Griffey sponsored two bills that would reform the state’s sexually violent predator system, according to a joint news release from the representatives.

The bills attempt to balance protecting Washingtonians from sexually violent predators with the constitutional rights of the offenders, the release states.

Courts have ruled that sexually violent predators can’t be held indefinitely under civil commitment at McNeil Island and must be given a path to unconditional release.

“These proposals are the starting point to fixing this system. While not every stakeholder we have met with agrees on how to fix Washington’s SVP system, they all agree that it is broken,” Griffey said in the release.

“Our current system lacks vision and direction, having been piecemealed together following an array of court rulings over the past several decades. It is a big job to reform this system and balance protection from SVPs with SVP constitutional rights, but just because it is a big job does not mean we don’t do the work,” Couture said, according to the release.

House Bill 1451 would require the Department of Social and Health services to own, operate or contact out less restricted alternative group homes where sexually violent predators are placed, among other things.

House Bill 1457 would require sexually violent predators released into communities to wear advanced, tamper-proof ankle monitors and provide real time GPS data.

Both bills are bipartisan, yet neither has been scheduled for a hearing.

Griffey is the primary sponsor of eight other bills this session, including an act related to the purchase of pension service credit for authorized leaves of absence, strengthening penalties for automobile and retail theft, increasing penalties for scrap metal businesses who purchase stolen copper from telecommunication cables, drug task force funding, toxicology lab funding, changing conditions, policies, and programs to support specified law enforcement personnel and help in recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers, protection order hope cards and increasing opportunities for cities to utilize county resources for road construction and maintenance.

Couture is the primary sponsor of 12 bills this session, including bills dealing with child care local licensing, supervision credit for sexually violent predators, children and controlled substances, K-12 scholarship program, child welfare workers, reforming the budgeting process through requiring prioritized spending on essential state functions, promoting business development, juvenile justice prosecution, juvenile rehabilitation placement, improving the effectiveness of juvenile justice programs, special education funding and limiting assumed revenues to projected revenues by the economic and revenue forecast council.

Couture’s proposed House Bill 1245, which would make it easier to start a business in the state, received an initial public hearing Jan. 22, according to a news release.

The bipartisan bill will create an Office of Entrepreneurship that would “promote policies and programs for startups, collaborate with other organizations to support education and technical support, and expand access to other resources for entrepreneurs across the state. The office would also serve as the point of contact to help businesses navigate their interactions with state agencies and identify government regulations and fees that stymie new business growth in Washington,” according to the release.