Tag Archives: 13th Legislative District

Bill curbing tax dollars on union activities passes committee

Sen. Judy Warnick’s legislation to curb the use of public funds for non-public purposes, Senate Bill 5602, moved out of the Senate Commerce & Labor Committee Wednesday. The bill prohibits public employers from having employment contracts that require public resources to support private activities, such as a collective bargaining representative.

“This bill is about transparency and fairness for the employers, employees and ultimately the public,” said Warnick, R- Moses Lake. “It isn’t fair that the taxpayers must pay for the salary of a person that does not necessarily have their best interests in mind, especially when unions are already collecting significant dues from members to advance their goals.”

A recent article points out that despite collecting nearly a million dollars in dues annually to fund union activities, the Yakima Education Association requires local taxpayers to fund the majority of the union president’s salary who has 100 percent release time to work on union activities.

“The case in Yakima is somewhat unique, although there was a similar issue with the police union in Seattle.” Warnick said. “I want to be sure that we create a clear distinction in how public funds are used. The Washington State Constitution addresses the gifting of public funds and I believe the drafters of our constitution were pretty plain in their intent to prohibit this practice.

The bill addresses a specific issue where union representatives are given no work duties, only representing the unions at taxpayer expense, known as “release time.”

13th District lawmakers ask President Obama to intervene to bring West Coast port labor dispute to an end

With thousands of jobs and billions of dollars on the line for Washington state, lawmakers representing the 13th District say the time for the president to act is now.

The three lawmakers signed a letter to President Obama this week, asking him to intervene in the West Coast port labor dispute. In the letter, Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg and Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, cite the “devastating effect” the slowdown is having on Washington state employers, employees and the state’s economic stability.

The slowdown is currently costing U.S. agriculture millions of dollars, as representatives from the Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union have not come to an agreement on a new contract for dockworkers.

“If a resolution is not reached quickly, not only will the national economy suffer, [but] our state’s operating budget could be well short of the tax collections expected from our trade and manufacturing sectors,” wrote the lawmakers.

Washington is the most trade-dependent state in the nation, and exports $15.1 billion annually in food and agriculture products through Puget Sound ports.

“We need immediate action if we are to salvage what remains of our market share for trade around the globe and to ensure our manufacturers can continue to produce high-demand products.”

To read the lawmakers’ complete letter, click here.

Washington Lawmaker Seeks To Ban E-Cigarette Sales To Minors

By Ruby de Luna

This week a state senate committee will hear a proposal that would make it illegal to sell e-cigarettes and vapes to minors.

Last fall Sen. Judy Warnick got a tip from a police officer from her district in Moses Lake. He noted that students were buying e-cigarettes easily. “They were modifying them so they could use marijuana in those cigarettes,” Warnick said.

Warnick said there wasn’t much the officer could do about it. There are no rules that prohibit selling e-cigarettes to minors. “He had no recourse,” she said, “he could not charge the store owner for selling.”

Selling cigarettes to minors is illegal. Warnick’s bill would put e-cigarettes and vapes in the same category.

She worries that kids starting with these products will wind up with a bigger habit. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that in 2013 more than a quarter million students in middle and high school who had never smoked cigarettes used e-cigarettes. They’re almost twice as likely to switch to conventional cigarettes, the report said.

In Seattle’s University District Marina Westendorf manages E-Cig and Vape on Northeast 45th Street. She says she has no problem with Warnick’s proposed regulation. There’s a sign at the entrance that says no one under 18 is allowed. And she cards people before she even lets them try samples.

“I wouldn’t sell alcohol to someone under 21,” Westendorf said. “I wouldn’t sell cigarettes to someone under 18. Nicotine is addictive, regardless of what form you get it in.”

Other stores like Westendorf’s do self-regulate. But Warnick said her bill would make that practice consistent — no matter where kids try to buy e-cigarettes.

https://kuow.org/post/washington-lawmaker-seeks-ban-e-cigarette-sales-minors