President Pro Tempore
Committees
- Health & Long-Term Care (Vice Chair)
- Rules (Vice Chair)
- Financial Institutions, Housing & Insurance
- Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection
Olympia Office
312 Legislative Building
Olympia, WA 98504-0429
(360) 786-7656
Local Governments
News
Comparing the two tax reform bills 3/9/2010
I’m hearing a lot of people are having trouble finding the details of the Senate’s recent high-earners income tax proposal. I think the confusion stems from the fact the high-earners tax was introduced in a substitute bill for my original Senate Bill 6250, which focuses more broadly on overall tax structure reform. The two proposals are fundamentally different, so I can understand why people who call up the wrong version would be confused.
Franklin bill would tax high-wage income, roll back state sales tax 3/4/2010
Olympia -- Each year for the better part of a decade, Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-South Tacoma, has called for a dialogue on reforming the state's tax structure. Today, in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, that dialogue began.
The starting point for that dialogue is Franklin's Senate Bill 6250, which would give Washington voters the option of creating an income tax on high-wage earners while rolling back the state sales tax to the 5.5 percent Washingtonians were paying 30 years ago.
Legislature passes life-saving drug-overdose legislation 3/1/2010
Olympia - Lives could be saved by legislation passed Sunday by the Legislature.
Senate Bill 5516, sponsored by Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-South Tacoma, would cut down on deaths from drug-related overdoses by discontinuing the prosecution of people who alert hospitals or police if they think someone needs medical help.
Floor Speech: SB 6843 2/10/2010
Sen. Franklin – Legislative Update – Jan. 21 1/25/2010
Sen. Franklin – Op-Ed on “Kids at hope” 1/25/2010
Patrick O’Callahan’s column in The News Tribune (1-14) misinterpreted the intent and means of my legislation to discontinue the widespread use of a number of negative labels that discourage children from aspiring to make the most of themselves.
O’Callahan, along with similar critics, concluded the purpose of Senate Bill 6249 is to simply replace labels that have acquired pejorative meanings with a new label that will inevitably take on the negative connotations of its predecessor. That would simply be an exercise in semantics and would accomplish little good. But that’s not what the bill proposes.
Let’s meet and talk 12/31/2009
I hope to see you at my town hall meeting on Saturday, Jan. 9, from 10:00 a.m. - Noon at the Bates Community College south campus in Tacoma. I look forward to discussing expectations for the 2010 legislative session and to hear your questions and concerns. Joining me will be Rep. Steve Conway and a representative of the state Department of Social and Health Services to field questions.
Video update for Aug. 20 8/20/2009
Video: Legislative Update - July 14 7/14/2009
VIDEO: Bush butternut tree honors MLK, state pioneer 4/24/2009
Friday’s dedication of a Bush butternut tree in honor of George Washington Bush and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. drew a diverse crowd of community leaders, historians, lawmakers and church leaders to the Capitol Campus. Watch the ceremony here.