Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
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When I was elected to represent Central Washington, I came to Olympia to advocate for families and kids who too often get overlooked by policies written with only Puget Sound in mind. I may be a newer voice in the Senate, but I've already seen how quickly political agendas can outrun common sense. Nowhere is that more clear than in the effort to shift school funding back onto the backs of local taxpayers. This year's Legislature gave local school districts authority to ask...
With high school and college commencements over, employers now worry about the graduates’ preparedness to enter the work world. This year, 3.9 million students graduated from our high schools, marking the largest class on record. An additional 4.6 million scholars earned college degrees. Their expertise was graded from A to F. Grades are supposed to indicate accurate achievement, competence and knowledge. Employers are losing confidence in education assessments. Dumbing d...
The Polish people are perplexed by some Americans lack of appreciation for our market-based economic system where consumers, not government bureaucrats, decide what to buy, manufacture and consume. For example, they do not understand why New York City voters would elect Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist, as mayor when he advocates a network of government stores to replace the wide variety of retailers from supermarkets to corner grocers. One trip to the Poland's...
As a leading advocate for Second Amendment rights, I must tell you the 2025 legislative session illuminated an undeniable truth: Our colleagues in Olympia's majority party do not respect our gun rights and are determined to dismantle them. While we repelled some outrageous attacks, a dangerous precedent has been set. Your constitutional freedoms now hang in the balance. We saw aggressive attempts to expand "gun-free zones" and impose new taxes on responsible firearm owners....
By the time this piece sees print, I certainly hope Travis Decker is behind bars. For the last several weeks, he has been pursued by law enforcement authorities across rugged North-Central Washington in one of the biggest manhunts in state history. On May 30, the divorced father picked up his three daughters for a scheduled three-hour visitation. The girls were found deceased three days later in a campground near Leavenworth, their arms zip-tied and with plastic bags over their heads. What makes this tragedy especially appall...
The recent focus on illegal immigrants in the U.S. has highlighted the ubiquity of their presence in agriculture. As protests rage all over the country, farmers and ranchers juggle the realities of employees not showing up for work out of fear while trying to get crops grown and livestock cared for. According to most recent data, 44%of farmworkers in the U.S. are here illegally. However, it is hard to know with certainty how accurate that percentage is with some estimates hovering around 50% and others as high as 75%. The...
After enabling President Donald Trump for many years, is our recently retired US Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers feeling guilty? She should be, but the proposals she lists in her new initiative (Spokesman-Review, June 4) certainly aren’t adequate to absolve that guilt. Former Wyoming US Representative and Republican House leader Liz Cheney, in her book “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning”, describes long-time Trump-idolater and current Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s actions following the Trump-o...
In this part of Washingtons, we don’t just talk about innovation — we embody it. For generations, Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, and the surrounding communities have stood at the epicenter of American scientific progress. Our region played a vital role in winning World War II, ending the cold war, and continues to spearhead clean-energy research and support for national security through institutions like the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Energy Northwest. Now, as our...
Last Thursday, I was packing my large green duffle bag and brushing sand out of my boots after a week of frolicking-yes, frolicking-in the southern Idaho desert during National Guard duty. I was sunburned, dust-covered, and dreaming of a long shower, when my phone rang. It wasn't a call for R&R, or even to ask if I'd made it out alive. No, it was an editor assignment-one I didn't realize would involve dust, denim, and the wildest bunch of folks this side of the Mississippi...
The question was straightforward: What happened with Senate Bill 5938 this year? The man who submitted the question at our recent legislative “town hall” meeting in Pasco wore a USS Nimitz hat, suggesting he had served our nation in uniform. The fact that SB 5398 is about property-tax relief for veterans with service-connected disabilities pretty much clinched it. As one of the sponsors of the bill, I knew the answer. Let’s get back to that in a moment. The march of techn...
Last year the Washington Legislature passed one of those high-handed virtue-signaling bills so popular with our green friends in the majority party. HB 1589 allows the state's largest private utility to exit the natural gas business and shunt billions of dollars in shutdown costs to its customers. Gas and electricity prices will soar in Puget Sound Energy's service territory, business will be disrupted and homeowners will face enormous costs to replace gas-powered appliances...
Although President Donald Trump and Harvard’s recent spats make headlines, key issues in question affect all higher education. Harvard, our nation’s first college (1636), is a center of current civil disruption and antisemitic behavior. The timing is bad because high school graduates are finalizing their college choices or deciding to forego college altogether. Last year, Boston Magazine’s Jon Keller described Harvard as suffering from “A crushing cancel culture, accusat...
Congress is currently debating Medicaid reform as part of the 2025 budget package. The stated Republican goal is a continuation of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this year and need offsetting savings somewhere else in the budget. The original proposal was a $880 billion reduction in the projected increase to the Medicaid entitlement over the next 10 years, along with other savings in federal spending. Medicaid began in 1965 as part of President Jo...
Four years ago, during the legislative session, a lawmaker circulated talking points noting farmers could afford more taxes because they earned $250,000 working part-time. This legislative session, during a work session on rural and agricultural mental health, a legislator asked how farmers and people living in urban environments were different. During the same work session, another legislator asked how unions were involved in mental health respite activities in agriculture....
Washingtonians have good reason to be distrustful of the policies coming out of the state Capitol. While the legislation itself matters, how it’s crafted is also important – and, increasingly, there is less transparency, bipartisanship, or accountability. My goal as a state lawmaker is to work together and avoid partisanship, so I am greatly concerned that the new state operating budget was developed with little Republican input. Using the Senate as an example, our budget tea...
This week, we mark National Police Week. It's a time to honor law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty-and to show our unwavering support for those who continue to serve and protect our communities and country each and every day. From Spokane to Stevens County, the men and women of law enforcement form the backbone of public safety in Eastern Washington. They're the ones who answer the call when our homes, schools, or streets are in danger. They do...
Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson signed rent control into law last week and the law took effect immediately. House Bill 1217 had an emergency clause on the legislation, so there is no ability for the public to weigh in with a referendum or initiative. The bill 1217 caps rent increases at 7% plus the Consumer Price Index or 10%, whichever is less. Along with the caps, there are new penalties, notification requirements and restrictions on property owners. The effect of the...
Our state is in the grip of a deadly fentanyl crisis that is hurting communities from Pierce County to Spokane County. Yet, while lives are being lost every day, the Democrat majority in the Legislature chose to stand idly by rather than enact meaningful reforms this session. In Pierce County, where I live, we have seen a heartbreaking rise in tragedies. Back in 2017, two people who were 21 or younger died from fentanyl overdoses. By 2022, that number had grown to 19. Even mor...
Washington state lawmakers this year increased the cost to both buy a vehicle and fill the gas tank, adding an additional 0.2% sales tax to car purchases and a $0.06 per gallon tax increase on fuel. They argue the new taxes are needed to maintain highway and ferry infrastructure, yet politicians furthered their efforts to tax drivers and divert a large share of those taxes to other purposes. While an attempt was also made again to tax drivers by the mile to divert money,...
Representing the 13th Legislative District and serving as chairwoman of the Senate Republican Caucus, I have had the privilege of helping shape policy on behalf of families, small businesses, and rural communities across Washington. And while this year’s legislative session included a few bright spots, the broader picture is one of missed opportunities. Let’s start with the new state operating budget. It includes a record $77.9 billion and raised $12.9 billion in new tax...
Too often, elected officials overlook the cumulative costs of regulations, taxes, and fees on taxpayers. However, those added costs come back to bite them hard when people pack up and move, businesses close, or take matters into their own hands and pass an initiative or referendum. Consider what has happened in high tax and cost of living states, such as California, New York, Illinois, and Connecticut. In 2023, the National Association of Realtors broke down migration data...
When the state Legislature began its 2025 legislative session, a Senate Democrat mistakenly e-mailed a strategy memo to the entire membership, outlining her pitch for the largest tax increase in the history of the state. “We have to identify the villain and the problem blocking our progress and how we can take action to solve the issue,” she said. She went on to name the villain – “the wealthy few” who don’t pay their fair share. If we just pounded the rich with new taxes,...
Olympia’s majority party has already made it hard for Washington families to make ends meet through policies like raising the price of gas and home energy and shrinking paychecks. Now it’s pushing the largest tax increase in state history, which would make living in our beautiful state even less affordable. At the start of our 2025 legislative session, Republicans and Democrats agreed there would be a budget gap to resolve. Knowing the state is already expecting to take in...
Since taking office just over 100 days ago, I’ve cast 100 votes–focused on securing our borders, combating fentanyl, strengthening national security, and supporting a responsible federal budget to keep our government open while we start to tackle the challenge of our national debt. I’ve introduced four bills, co-sponsored more than 50, and become the first freshman in Congress to pass a bill through the House. I’ve held seven town halls, and met with hundreds of constit...
Before the Columbia River flood control system, spring blooms often coincided with large muddy floods inundating communities and farms. While the Midwest still faces threats from swollen rivers due to heavy rain and rapid snowmelt, the Columbia River basin does not. Our abatement efforts started with the completion of Grand Coulee Dam in 1942. Although flood control was its primary purpose, Grand Coulee Dam also provides water to irrigate 670,000 acres of farmland....
