Tag Archives: Senat Republicans

Warnick garners additional Senate duties, outlines legislative priorities

The 2017 legislative session began last week with Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, continuing to lead the Senate committee that addresses agricultural, water and economic-development issues. She also has been promoted to the position of vice chair of the Senate’s majority caucus.

Before legislators returned to the Capitol for their scheduled 105-day session, Warnick’s Republican-led Majority Coalition Caucus merged the committee she headed the past two years, which covered agriculture, water and rural economic development, with the committee that dealt with trade and economic development. The larger panel that resulted, dubbed by some as the “supercommittee,” is now known as the Senate Agriculture, Water, Trade and Economic Development Committee.

 

In addition, Warnick will act as a negotiator for the state’s capital budget.

“Communities around our state have benefited from wise investments through the capital budget,” Warnick said. “I spent years working on the capital budget in the House of Representatives, and look forward to continuing this valuable work.”

As the MCC vice chair, Warnick will help preside at internal meetings and coordinate committee activities as liaison between leadership and committee chairs.

“I am also excited to work with my Senate colleagues in this new leadership role,” Warnick added. “I am a consensus builder and hope I can lend my skills to move the conversation on policies we are considering.”

“This session there is a lot of focus on education – it is our state’s paramount duty,” said Warnick. “I am committed to making sure our state provides a quality education to all students. There are also other priorities that I hope to address such as the recent state Supreme Court ruling – the Hirst decision – that will impact rural home building and access to water. I will also be looking at local land-use planning as it relates to marijuana-growing operations and the work I did over the interim on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Children and Families.”

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Senate capital budget good for schools, jobs and community says Warnick

The state Senate released a bipartisan capital-budget proposal today for 2015-17 which builds over 2,100 classrooms, devotes $60 million to local-government infrastructure projects statewide and maintains and preserves parks and trails. The $3.9 billion plan would fund the construction and maintenance of capital assets across Washington – such as schools and projects with economic-development value.

“The capital budget is an important component for economic development statewide,” said Warnick- R Moses Lake. “This budget puts money toward building schools and make grants available to local governments to boost their economies. I’m glad to support a strong bipartisan proposal that puts our state’s future on the right track.”

With $254 million more directed to public schools than the House proposal, the Senate plan seeks to support student-achievement efforts by building additional classrooms, the largest chunk being aimed at kindergarten through third grade.

“We demonstrated in the operating budget that our kids come first. The capital budget does the same thing. We put nearly half of the funds toward educational projects like investing nearly $1 billion over the next six years to build over 2,100 classrooms for these students.”

All public-works-board list projects are funded through the Senate proposal, which supports local infrastructure and provides family-wage construction jobs.

“We need to make these investments in our communities if our state is going to continue to be successful. Our proposal protects and invests in our natural resources and will insure that our cities and counties have access to resources to grow their economies. That is critical as our state works to bring the economic recovery statewide. This capital budget is good for our schools, jobs, and community,” said Warnick.

The legislation will be a striking amendment to Engrossed House Bill 1115 which received a public hearing at noon today in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

You can click here to view a list of projects and locations that are funded in the Senate’s proposed capital budget.