First posted in March 2014 …
While progressives earned a couple of important wins this legislative
session, Rodney Tom and his Senate Republicans put greedy corporations
first and obstructed progress every step of the way. Fuse members stood
up to hold them accountable online, on the ground and in person. Here’s a
rundown of some of our biggest accomplishments during the 2014
legislative session and what we need to do next to build a more
progressive Washington.
The Good News:
The Dream Act
The clear highlight from this legislative session was the passage of the Dream Act. The Washington Dream Act allows all of our brightest students to apply for the state need grant, regardless of their immigration status. Our friends at OneAmerica, the Washington Student Association, the Washington Bus, and many others worked for years to build grassroots support for this legislation. More than 1,500 Fuse members joined them by urging legislators to support the Dream Act this year. Thanks to this unwavering pressure, the Senate finally passed The Dream Act.
Gun safety and domestic violence prevention
The House and Senate also unanimously approved a bill to expand gun violence protections for survivors of domestic violence. This legislation allows judges to require people under a restraining order to surrender their guns while the order is in effect. Even the NRA supported it, and in a functioning Senate it wouldn’t be controversial. Sadly, it took more than a year for Sen. Rodney Tom to allow a vote. Our friends at the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility deserve much credit for organizing support for this bill.
Why we need change:
In their second year in power, Sen. Rodney Tom and his Republican caucus were even more partisan and dysfunctional than 2013. They spent much of the legislative session congratulating themselves and repeating their tired sound bites, rather than working together to pass major legislation. Here are a few key bills that failed in 2014:
Closing tax loopholes and funding education
There are more than 650 tax loopholes on the books that cost our state billions of dollars every year. Closing some of the unnecessary or inefficient tax loopholes is critical to funding education. The House made modest progress by voting to close four tax loopholes to save $200 million in the budget for education. Yet Sen. Andy Hill of Redmond, the Senate’s budget writer, balked at this responsible solution to our state’s education funding crisis. Instead, he actually created or extended 18 other loopholes that will cost taxpayers $87 million. It’s sad to say, but Sen. Hill’s budget prioritizes every one of these 650 tax loopholes over our kids’ future.
Transportation and transit funding
The House passed a comprehensive transportation package in 2013 while the Senate Republicans spoke at length about the need for a transportation package. Yet nearly a year later – huge transit cuts looming across the state –– the Senate Republicans still have yet to approve any solutions to fix our bridges and roads or improve public transit.
Reproductive Parity Act
The Reproductive Parity Act (RPA) would require health insurance companies to cover all of a woman’s legal pregnancy options, ensuring every woman has the freedom and privacy to make her own pregnancy decisions. The House passed the RPA and a majority of Senators have signed a letter in support, yet Sen. Tom refused to allow a vote yet again this year. His hand–picked anti–women’s health committee chair, Sen. Randi Becker, refused to allow a vote on the critical bill. More than 2,600 Fuse members called on Senators Tom and Becker to allow a vote before the deadline. With a change in leadership, the RPA could pass the Senate in a matter of minutes.
Homeless Housing
One of the biggest controversies in 2014 was over funding for homeless housing. A strong bipartisan coalition worked to extend the fee that funds a huge portion of the state’s budget for housing assistance for low–income and homeless families. Unfortunately, Rodney Tom’s committee chair, Republican Sen. Jan Angel, abruptly ended a committee hearing without voting on the bill just before the legislative deadline. According to Sen. Steve Hobbs, one of the bill’s champions, Sen. Tom told Sen. Angel to kill the bill. Only after a flurry of outraged press coverage1 and editorials2 did Tom and Angel back down and agree to extend the funding in the final moments of session.
Raising the minimum wage
Fuse members sent more than 7,500 messages to legislators in support of raising the statewide minimum wage to $12 per hour. This important legislation would help ensure that no one who works full time lives in poverty. Unfortunately, we came up several votes short in the House while the Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Michael Baumgartner of Spokane, tried to cut the minimum wage for thousands of Washington workers.
Holding the Senate accountable:
Fuse members were there every step of the way to put grassroots pressure on the Senate Republicans and educate the public about their far–right agenda. We organized canvasses, phonebanks and constituent meetings with swing Senators. We also provided rapid–response communications and social media to spread the word and ensure the media and our members online also held the Senators accountable.
More than anything else, the 2014 legislative session showed how much we need a change in the Senate. Tom and his Republican caucus continue to be an obstacle to progress, which means our hopes of passing meaningful progressive reforms depend on retaking the Senate this fall. That’s where you come in.
It’s going to take a, long–term campaign to both retake the Senate and build grassroots support for change on the issues that matter, from commonsense gun laws to raising the minimum wage.
Will you give us the long–term funding we need to win by donating $10 per month as part of the Fuse PowerSource team?
and since this post we found out that Rodney Tom will not run for reelection ! So, that happened
Be a Seed for Change 
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