Category: Uncategorized

Ross and Cyrus Raising funds for Fred Hutch

WP_20140720_001Rep. Cyrus Habib and I are riding in Obliteride August 9th and 10th to raise money for the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center and the work they do to solve the problem of cancer. We’d love your support of the cause.

You may not know this, but both Cyrus and I are cancer survivors. He has a very rare childhood cancer that cost him his eyesight when he was in elementary school. I had stage 4 non-Hodgkins Lymphoma several years ago. In my case the Hutch saved me with a stem-cell transplant. This is a treatment that was pioneered here, and Seattle is still the best place in the world if you have the cancer I had.

Without the Hutch I wouldn’t be here, and neither would thousands of other survivors. You can contribute online here. 

Fail: Congress Working on Toxics Policy

With the exception of education policy, there’s probably no other issue where states’ rights are paramount than when it comes to the health of its residents. Congress is currently considering a bill that would have devastating consequences to public health in Washington state if they don’t make major changes to the proposal. The federal Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA), currently being considered by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is an attempt to update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act. The 1976 act is in dire need of updating – something both parties agree on.

Unfortunately, the CICA not only falls well short of improving the current law, it will actually put communities at greater risk of exposure to toxic chemicals. It will impose weak chemical testing standards, create faulty cost/benefit methods, and prohibit states from adopting their own toxic chemical protections. Continue reading “Fail: Congress Working on Toxics Policy”

Other Opinions on Common Core Standards

It’s not just me disagreeing with the people who want to get rid of the Common Core State Standards, it’s a host of thoughtful people. My favorite so far is from David Brooks, the conservative columnist from the New York Times. (I know this is an oxymoron, but he’s more conservative than everyone else there.)

A Circus Descends on Common Core – David Brooks (New York Times)

Common Core Spawns Widespread Political Fights – Bill Barrow (AP)

The sense you get from reading these articles is that the noise is about the noise, not about the substance of the standards.

Guest: Why students need the new Common Core education standards –  Katie Brown, Washington State 2014 Teacher of the Year

The Seattle Times supports it as well: Engage in new Common Core education standards.

Transportation

I made some remarks at the Bellevue Rotary yesterday that seem to have been misinterpreted by some people, so I’m clarifying:

Passing a transportation package this session is incredibly important for the Puget Sound region. I support a well-designed package.

  • Metro Cuts

    Starting in January King County Metro will start reducing service to make up for an expiring car tab fee the state authorized them to charge several years ago. You can see the proposed reductions here. The Eastside cuts will result in significantly increased congestion as commuters shift to single-occupancy cars.

  • Arial view of 520 bridge

    The 520 bridge project will stop planning for the next phase. They will lay off the design team, making it difficult to re-start the project, costing millions and adding years of delay. If no package is passed we will have a bridge that has 6 lanes all the way to Foster island, which turns out to not be all that helpful. The exit to Montlake will be dysfunctional and highly congested as buses and HOVs cross three lanes of traffic to get off and on. The vulnerable parts of the bridge will remain – the hollow pillars on the west approach to Montlake and the Portage Bay Viaduct, and could fail in an earthquake or by being struck by a barge. (This happened a few years ago and did serious damage to one of the pillars.)

  • The Seattle metro area has some of the worst congestion in the nation. In 2012 our area was the 4th worst in the nation, according to the Tom-Tom data company. (Link here.) This is a deterrent to businesses locating here, and fixing it has been a major ask of the Boeing Company, Microsoft, and a host of other major employers. As I’m sure you have figured out by now it’s also quite painful to live through.

I support a large transportation investment package to improve this situation and will vote for a package that makes sense.

However, I don’t support just ANY transportation package – it needs to be good for the central Puget Sound. (Other parts of the state care about the impact on their area, which makes putting together a package an incredibly difficult balancing act.) A good package will have a number of key elements: Continue reading “Transportation”

Cool data about net income migration

This is an interesting view of how income has migrated in the last decade – lots of high wage people moving to Washington state. The rankings are aggregate,  so it might be interesting to see what the per-capita impact of this would be. The impact of $7.88 billion on 7 million people in Washington is likely to be a lot larger than the the impact of $17.6 billion on the 26 million in Texas.

The article that goes with the post has links to the raw data where I could presumably answer my question.

Redmond Derby Days

Everybody loves a parade! The Redmond parade is nice – there’s lots of floats, it’s short, the weather is usually good, and it’s well organized. My favorite part of parades is wandering around as everyone is set up waiting for the parade to start – there are a lot of people to talk to and they are usually interesting.

Education wins in final budget

2009-Smily-Headshot-medium.jpgA week has passed since the end of the second (and final) special session this year and I’ve finally put socks and shoes on and shaved. This was an exhausting exercise as the Senate Republicans figured out how they were going to make decisions. I’m pleased we were able to get it done at the end, but would have preferred to have not come so close to the deadline for shutting down most state services.

The final budget addresses most of my priorities:

  • $1 billion in new funding for K-12 education, part of our effort at addressing our constitutional requirement to amply provide for the education of all children. This is not as much as I believe the court is asking us to do, but it’s a significant step. Continue reading “Education wins in final budget”

Internship Opportunities!

I just got this mail from the Governor’s office and I’m hoping my thousands of loyal blog readers will pass this on to interested college and graduate students.

Ross sig small

The Governor’s Leadership Academy is a unique internship program for college and graduate students to gain a hands-on learning experience in the Governor’s office.

The Inslee Administration is looking for innovative, forward-thinking individuals who are committed to public service and who want to develop their leadership and public policy skills in a dynamic environment.

Continue reading “Internship Opportunities!”

Background Checks and Guns in the Chamber

I recorded a video last week that describes my dissapointment at not passing HB 1588, a quite reasonable bill that would have required background checks on gun purchasers to ensure that we are not enabling felons or those with serious mental health or domestic violence issues to purchase guns. The bill has been written about extensively in the press so I don’t want to recap that here, but the video will give you some sense of why members are concerned that people can carry assault rifles (or any firearm for that matter) into the galleries overlooking the House Chamber.

Town Hall Meeting Saturday March 16, 2013

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

MEDIA ADVISORY

Who: State Sen. Rodney Tom and state Reps. Cyrus Habib and Ross Hunter (48th Legislative District)

What: Town hall meeting

When: 10 a.m. – noon, Saturday, March 16

Where: Redmond City Hall, 15670 NE 85th St., Redmond

Why: To meet with constituents to discuss issues and answer their questions about the current legislative session.

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For interviews or more information:

Sen. Rodney Tom 360-786-7694 or Rodney.Tom@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Cyrus Habib 360-786-7848 or Cyrus.Habib@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Ross Hunter 360-786-7936 Ross.Hunter@leg.wa.gov