Under a new law, volunteer firefighters will see additional workplace protections. State Sen. Judy Warnick sponsored Senate Bill 5384, which was signed by the governor late last week and makes a small but significant change to how these public servants are defined in the Industrial Welfare Act. Warnick said lessons...

On Thursday, the state Senate approved its version of a nearly $60 billion operating budget for the next two years. Crafted by majority Democrats, Senate Bill 5092 was passed along party lines after numerous amendments offered by Senate Republicans failed to be passed, including efforts to curb emergency executive powers...

In an early-Saturday evening vote, the state Senate Democratic majority approved Senate Bill 5096, which would create a capital gains income tax in Washington state, by a vote of 25-24. State Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, offered an amendment that was not adopted that would have explicitly protected certain agricultural...

As the COVID-19 outbreak spread in Washington, toilet paper wasn’t the only commodity in short supply. Consumers may recall that the butcher’s block was increasingly scarce, and prices were climbing. Estimates are that meat production, particularly of beef and pork, dropped by 30 percent. To protect the state’s food supply...

Addressing housing supply and costs continues to be a focal point for the Legislature. Although high-profile policies, such as reforms to housing provider-tenant law have recently been approved, there is still work needed to fix disparities between rural and urban development. State Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, has sponsored bipartisan...

Beginning today, large parts of the Central Puget Sound region will enter “Phase 2” of Governor Inslee’s latest reopening plan, the “Roadmap to Recovery.” State Sen. Judy Warnick, Rep. Tom Dent and Rep. Alex Ybarra have spent the past year pushing back on the governor’s COVID-related actions that fail to...

In an effort to console eastern Washington communities devastated by wildfires, Gov. Jay Inslee recently stopped for a public event in the town of Malden. During his remarks, Inslee offered words of encouragement and a seemingly benign gift – a box of apples picked from his own yard. However, the...

Washingtonians continue to cope with the COVID-19 impacts often made worse by unclear, inconsistent and hastily drafted executive orders. The most recent victims of such rushed rules were agritourism businesses. Late last week, the governor’s office issued rules that essentially shut down the industry, while letting other similar activities take...

Ranking member on the state Senate’s agriculture-related committee, Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, welcomed news from federal partners that more commodities are eligible for aid for Washington’s farmers and ranchers impacted by coronavirus restrictions. The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) began in April for a limited number of hardest-hit products,...