What are they teaching you? It's the fun facts
about rural America. For $9 .95, you can get
a diploma. From Poupon U. Or a degree with your
name on it. In fancy script. You too can be an
alumni. I'm just going to order this online and
put it in my office. Welcome to County Connection,
the official podcast of the Washington State
Association of Counties, where we dive into the
legislative issues shaping the future of our
communities. From budgets to public safety, infrastructure
to elections, we'll break down what's happening
in Olympia and how it impacts counties from across
the Evergreen State. Stay informed, stay engaged,
and join us as we amplify the voice of Washington's
39 counties. Welcome, everybody, to the County
Connection Podcast. I'm Paul Jewell, your host
and government relations director for the Washington
State Association of Counties. It is Wednesday
of the very last week of session. It is beautiful
outside, but I'm inside hanging out with Jamie
Bodden, managing director of the Washington State
Association of Local Public Health Officials.
Jamie, we are this close, and if people could
see my fingers and how... closely aligned they
are they're less than an inch apart we are this
close to the end of the legislative session it's
the final countdown t minus five well it's t
minus three five four yeah there's five days
to go right wednesday thursday friday saturday
sunday so i mean if you counted today You hit
it right on. T minus five. Nicely done. I know
we're not quite finished and there's a few things
that are still kind of hanging out there, but
we know a lot already, right? Policy bills are
through for the most part. The things that we
were working on as far as our legislative agenda
items have made it. either all the way through
or they haven't. I know you've even been to some
bill signings already with the governor's office.
Let's do a quick recap of how things went this
session for you and for Wasafo. Yeah, for public
health, policy -wise, it felt like a grind at
times, but... We actually really had a great
session. I'm really, really, really pleased with
the session that we had. We got both of our policy
bills across the finish line. Remind us which
ones those were. One was House Bill 1947. It
was a Group B water systems bill. Okay, I remember
that one. And then we had Senate Bill 5163, updating
our child fatality statute. And both of those
have been signed by the governor, and they are
done. We've gotten the pen. We've taken the pictures,
got the postcard. We're done. So really, really
excited. Did you get the t -shirt? Not yet, but
do have plans for the t -shirt. Been there, done
that, got the t -shirt. That's what I always
like to say. So not only did you get... both
bills through both sides of the legislature,
but you even had them signed by the governor.
So they are law as we speak. Yes. I mean, obviously
they go into effect, you know, within 90 days
or a certain period of time, but correct, but
they, they will become law, but they will become
law, which is really exciting. Yeah. Yeah. Nice
job. It's always really fun to, uh, to, to see
the, you know, you, you work a bill really hard.
all through session it's all you talk about you
live and breathe it um so so being able to to
kind of tie it with a bow at the end. Usually
happens after session when everybody's gone and
it's not as exciting. So being able to do that
while session's still here is really nice. Yeah,
they seem to be doing a lot of bill signings
really early this year compared to what they've
done in the past. It's pretty remarkable that
you were able to get both of those bills through
first year of the session. You know, we've talked
a lot on this podcast with you and with others.
And I don't remember if you and I have talked
about this particular piece, but, you know, passing
a bill. in Olympia is not easy. It can even be
a really easy item that no one objects to that's
non -controversial. It's still hard to do. This
system is built to make you fail. So for you
to be able to get both of them through, that's
a pretty good little batting average. Nice job.
Yeah. I think we had a couple of things in our
favor. 5163, our child fatality bill, was actually
a carryover from last year. And it is one of
those bills where it's like, this is what we
would refer to in the biz as a good little bill.
That's what everybody says about their bills.
It's a good little bill. I'm here to talk to
you about this good little bill. But in this
case, we felt like it truly was. How come nobody
ever says, I'm here to talk to you about this
really bad little bill? Please pass this bad
little bill. No one ever says that. And I think
we all know why. Clearly, we're at the end of
the session. Because that wouldn't be a funny
joke at any other time of the year. We'd be like,
oh, no, Paul. Yeah, wow, Paul. What are you doing?
But, you know, it's one where we're not... bringing
a whole new policy initiative. We're not really
changing much. It's just updating and finding
efficiencies and finding things that need to
be improved upon existing legislation. So it's
kind of a bill that tidies things up. And last
year we thought, you know. Sounds more like an
average little bill to me. Well, whatever, whatever
size it is, it does good work. But, you know,
last year we thought, oh, this is going to sail
right through, you know, because who's going
to, you know, who's going to have issues with
this? Well, we did find that there was issues
with it. And so sometimes a bill that's not controversial
that you think is going to sail through doesn't
just because no one gets excited about it. Right.
And so, you know, when you're fighting for floor
time at the end and whatnot, it just kind of
gets forgotten about, too. And so, you know,
worked over the interim to get the bill in a
better place and were able to present. it this
year. We were really fortunate in that we had,
you know, a champion in the Senate and a new
freshman representative in the House who wanted
to take both of the bills on. Ultimately, it
went to the Senate. And our sponsor on the bill,
Senator Orwell, had experienced and it sat through
a child fatality review. So she knew the issue
that we were clarifying, experienced the challenge
that we were attempting to clarify in, you know,
in. that review. That's always helpful. And so
she was able to really speak eloquently and speak
to the purpose of that bill. So I think taking
that extra time to tidy it up over the interim
really helped move it along. What's also great
about that bill is that there was no price tag.
connected to that bill for local government.
Super important. So we got to talk about, hey,
foundational public health services supports
a lot of this work at the local level. We're
already funding it. We're already doing it. We're
not asking you for money to do it. We're just
asking you for you to help us clarify and update
it. And that's a very attractive talking point
in a session where budget is everybody's asking
for money and begging not to be cut. Yeah. Asking
for money was. Almost a non -starter this year.
It was certainly the thing that put a lot of
bills or left a lot of bills on the cutting room
floor, that's for sure. And that is a great kind
of segue to our other group, Be Water Systems
Bill, where, again, the cost to implement, there
is no change in the cost to implement at the
local level. So, you know, we're net zero for
local health jurisdictions to implement this
program, but we're finding efficiencies. and
where regulations can be relaxed and homeowners
can save money. So again, another attractive
argument in this budget climate, as well as something
that both Republicans and Democrats can support
when we talk about saving money to homeowners,
giving money back to homeowners, deregulating
when it makes sense. I think that was on our
side for getting this bill swiftly through session.
We really had zero hangups on this particular
bill. Well, good. What other bills were you watching,
both from a, you know, hey, that's a problem
bill. to, you know, hey, this is a really good
bill. Which ones were you watching that had good
outcomes? Yeah. And of course, good outcomes
could mean the bill didn't pass too, right? Correct.
Yeah. So I think one of our early podcast episodes,
we talked about to regulate or not to regulate.
We talked about home kitchens and water recreation
facilities. Oh, yeah. I remember that conversation.
A callback. And so those are two examples of
bills dying. We followed them really closely.
And one of those where really tried to... the
pools it was like um like airbnb for pools right
yes yeah yeah um and and both of those um ended
up dying um i believe early on in session um
and you know that's the way that those go um
we were excited to see that happen so those are
policy wins even though it was something we were
opposed to you think they'll be back um i think
I mean, Home Kitchens has been back quite a few
times, right? I wouldn't be surprised if Home
Kitchens is back. I know we're having conversations
with a lot of stakeholders, including our state
partners and food industry and hospitality around
larger food entrepreneurship concepts. of which
micro enterprise things are a piece of that.
And so I think we'll see it come back in probably
a couple of different policy options over the
next couple of years. Water recreation, I don't
know if it'll be back or not. I think it might
be one where Department of Health might be able
to do what they need to do in rulemaking and
everything else is just one of those where it's
like, maybe we don't regulate. Maybe the time
isn't right to... for this policy policy initiative
that they, that, you know, they, they might want
to, they might want to push for. So I, I wouldn't
be surprised if that one does not come back next
session. Seems like that one would be pretty
controversial. Yeah, I think, I think it is.
So two bills that we were, you know, went fast
and furious early on. Another bill that we monitored
closely, and I've already forgotten the number
for it because it's one of those things where
it was like, I had to care about it during session.
And now that it's over, it's immediately out
of my mind. And from year to year, I want to
say, I want to say it's like 1422. I might be
wrong on that, but it was a bill that was focused
on our women, infants and children's program,
the WIC program. And that bill removed the requirement
for medical assistance to be certified to provide
the hematological screenings. So the finger pricks
or the hip pokes. Yeah, I remember that conversation
too. To test for anemia and lead and other things.
And we really liked that bill from not only just
a customer service perspective, side of things
of being able to provide more comprehensive service
to our WIC families as they were, you know, intake
as part of the intake. process to participate
in the WIC program, but also from a workforce
perspective of now anybody can be trained in
that and provide that service. We don't have
to seek out a specific certification or specific
job title or a specific job position to actually
do the test. Now, did that bill pass? That bill
did pass. And that also passed pretty quickly.
So it's not 1422. I just looked that up. 1422
is the drug take back program bill. But you're
close. Different DOH bill. Definitely a DOH bill,
but not the right number. So we'll have to get
back to people on that number but that was the
one uh what did you okay say the word again hematological
hematological testing right yep okay I'm trying
to, if people could see me, I'm trying to spell
this out. I'm like sounding it out in my brain.
Hematological testing. Okay. We'll have to get
back to folks on that particular bill number.
But that was a good bill and that one passed.
And that one passed. So we've got two bad bills
that didn't pass, one good bill that did pass.
Another bill, another good example of a bill
that we didn't like that we worked on throughout
all of session. And my apologies to LSC members.
You've heard me talk about this bill probably
more than you want. But 1154 is the solid waste
handling bill. That's one where we had concerns
right out of the gate. worked really hard to
get the bill in a position where our concerns
were addressed, had some outstanding concerns
throughout session that we just couldn't. get
the language right, couldn't get the language
right. And then finally, at the kind of the 11th
hour, you know, was able to get some floor language
put in that made it better. I think we still
had concerns at the end of the day and still
weren't completely comfortable with the bill
at the end of the day. But it's a good example
of you got to work the bill throughout the process.
Even if you don't like it, you can't just say
no, you got to be working on it. Otherwise, you
get taken out of the conversation and things
move forward without you. And so a good example
of you got to work it till it's over and you
got to work the bill, even if you don't want
to, even if it's not something that you like,
you still got to work it. We had a lot of outcomes
like that this year where, you know, there were
some pretty unpopular bills out there, not just
in public health, but in other issue areas as
well, where we just kept working the bill, working
the bill, working the bill. And at the end of
the day, you know, the outcome either was, you
know, the, not the worst possible, outcome for
us or the bill ended up dying. But there's a
lot of other groups out there that we witnessed
that just go, nope, we're opposed to this bill.
And they just kind of shut down on it. And every
time a new version of the bill comes out, it's
just, nope, nope, nope. And I think it's always
just in hopes of killing the bill. And sometimes
that works, but sometimes that strategy can really
backfire. And I agree with you. You're much better
off trying to stay as engaged as possible because
the worst outcome in Olympia isn't losing, it's
not being at the table when the discussion actually
happens, right? I mean, that should be your worst
fear as an advocacy professional here in this
town. Yeah. And I think we are a small enough
organization where we're really conservative
in how many oppositions we take on bills. We're
not big. We don't fund campaigns. We don't have
a lot of capital and resources behind us. Our
capital is our presence in Olympia and our relationships
that we have. So we have to be very judicial
about when do we come out in strong opposition
to something. And when do we take the softer
position of concerns or other because we want
to be part of that conversation and work those
bills? Well, and we're government partners, right?
We're not a special interest. We're not a business
interest or something like that. We were the
ones who actually implement majority of what
they pass up there on the hill in Olympia. And
it really behooves us. And I think it mandates
a strategy of being more collaborative, even
when we disagree with a policy or have concerns
about it, trying to make it better so that at
the end we have something that's workable. And
it comes back to you, right? When you can be,
I want to be helpful. I want to come find some
solutions. I want to work on this together. Great.
Then there's going to be another bill that's
either this session and this happened to us where
we got pulled into things of like, hey, we need
to figure out how to make this particular policy
work. Can you help us? And it's like, all right,
let's find some solution. It wasn't a bill that
we were following. It wasn't a bill that we had
a strong position on, but we were seen as a resource
to help make the bill better, to move it along.
And we got pulled into the wings before our floor
votes to work on some amendments. The amendments
got drafted, the bill moved forward. That got
us some really great goodwill with those legislators.
It was helpful for us because we're seen as a
valuable voice into that process and a desired
partner. And that's only going to help us move
forward. Yeah, and that happened to us in other
policy areas this year as well. And in previous
years, the only downside to that sometimes is
suddenly... you get helpful on a bill that you
had nothing to do with. Yeah, there are times.
And now it's a county bill, and you go, whoa,
whoa, whoa, wait a minute. This wasn't our idea.
And now somebody who hates the bill is really
upset at you, and they want to know why you helped
to pass that bill. Yes, boundaries are important.
Yeah, there's always a downside to every upside.
But you're right. I think when everything balances
out, it's much better. better to be seen as a
collaborator and as a resource and as a valued
partner than it is as an adversary. But, you
know, occasionally you have to take that position
in an adversarial way. And it's appropriate to
fight against bad ideas. And it's appropriate,
you know, to speak up when things are not going,
you know, the way that you believe they should.
But you want to try to do that, I think. That
shouldn't be your default position on everything.
You know what I mean? It should be the exception,
not the rule. I agree. Well, you kind of mentioned,
you know, that next bill or that future. And
I know we're kind of waiting for budgets, the
final budgets to come out. Like I said, it's
Wednesday. We saw Thursday and Friday. We're
hearing all kinds of rumors right now as to when
the budget's going to come out. Earlier this
week, we were hearing as early as today. I think
we've all heard that that's not happening today.
And I've heard all kinds of rumors that tomorrow
at the latest. And then I've heard, nope, not
going to happen until Friday, tomorrow at the
earliest. And the truth is, you know. That's
typical for this time of year. All kinds of rumors
are swirling around. Nobody really knows except
for the budget writers and usually only a little
while before the budget actually gets released.
So obviously we're all kind of sitting on pins
and needles a little bit, kind of waiting for
that to happen. What are you hoping for as we
look towards the final budgets? Well, we're really
anxiously watching what FPHS, what foundational
public health services looks like. Yeah, we've
talked a lot about that. We've talked a lot about
it. And it's one where it's been incredibly powerful
and meaningful and impactful for local government
and local health jurisdictions. So that's one
that's... high on our radar. But we're also looking
at other things. We talked about opioid and prevention
and substance use disorder investments, looking
at that, looking at some of the prevention things
around home visiting or health equity or school
-based health centers, some of that kind of tertiary
work that public health might be involved in
um from an environmental public health standpoint
we're looking at drinking water we're looking
at environmental toxin hazardous cleanup that
kind of thing yeah um all of those things that
we expect to be in the budgets we're just not
quite sure at what level yep and then we know
that they'll they're probably putting a pin in
it if if if nothing else around medicaid um for
the budget this year knowing that What's coming
federally is going to change that over time.
So really one of those things where we're looking
at what are they passing? They don't know what's
coming federally. We don't know what's coming
federally. But we know that something is, some
change is coming. And so kind of just watching
that. just interested and seeing where that goes.
Yeah, we had a chat about that just a little
while ago on a podcast where we talked just specifically
about what you were starting to see at the federal
level. What has changed since then, if anything,
and what kind of impact? How do I phrase this?
The federal dollars that come to Washington State
for Medicaid. are enormous and the money that
is spent in our budget with hca apple health
etc is primarily funded by those medicaid dollars
right so if there were a significant change in
what we receive from the federal government How
is that going to affect this budget? What should
we expect at some point in, you know, if that
shoe were to drop in a month or two or three,
what happens? Yeah, I wish I had a crystal ball
of knowing what's coming federally. Is it going
to be a change in reimbursement where maybe something
is being reimbursed or paid for, you know, an
80 -20 split where the federal government's paying
80 % or the state's paying 20 %? Right. Does
that change now to 50 -50? Does it change to
60 -40? Does it flip completely, you know, over?
Who knows? Is it more of a block grant where
instead of being reimbursed for service or a
pay -for -service model, it's here is your Medicaid
block grant around prenatal care, and it is going
to be X million dollars, and you figure out,
Washington State, how, who, how much. how you
want to implement that block grant, but you're
not getting a penny more. Maybe that's how it
is. And so it's really hard to predict what direction
the federal government's going. That's going
to impact and change. What are the chances they
just turn it off, Jamie? I have no idea. Is that
even a possibility? I don't think they can. Healthcare
is so dependent on Medicaid. there varies across
the state and varies by populations, but, you
know, half of our baby, you know, about half
of our babies born in Washington state are on
Medicaid to, to essentially, you know, say to
those families, you know, figure out how to,
you know, have that baby safely and healthily.
That's a huge risk, not just, you know, financially
for the family, but. What if they don't get health
care? Right. What if they don't get prenatal
care? What if an issue like preeclampsia happens
for the mother and she has no idea, you know,
like there are all of these. She's not going
to regular checkups because she doesn't have
coverage and that costs money. You know, there
might be, you know, you might be able to identify
potential complications or right after delivery
potential complications. And that sort of outcome.
from a prenatal point of view, can follow that
child through the rest of their lives. Exactly.
And that's a cost to society as well. Not only
is it a tragedy, right, but it's a cost. It's
a huge cost. The newborn screening program that
our Department of Health does is a really great
example of being able to identify certain birth
defects and birth issues that happen within a
span, a short span of a baby's life, that if
they aren't identified can be incredibly, tragic
for the families where the, you know, treatment
is needed. Otherwise, you know, lifelong birth,
you know, birth issues or lifelong, you know,
challenges or even worse, you know. early death,
you know. So there's a lot of things where Medicaid
is really, really critical. And that's just prenatal,
right, as an example. We're not even touching
base, you know, on other health care that Medicaid
covers and pays for. So I think to completely
shut it off would be incredibly, incredibly damaging.
But it's going to look different. How big of
a share are Medicaid dollars to the state budget?
Do you know? I don't know that off the top of
my head, but it's huge. It's very, very big.
So a really big change in Medicaid dollars would
probably require the legislature to come back
and reevaluate the budget. Yeah, and any change
is going to probably require the legislature
to come back and think about that. Is it going
to be, depending on what that change looks like,
if that tap gets shut off or, you know. closed
significantly the state has to decide do they
pick up you know do they pick up the tab for
what's you know what the federal medicaid isn't
paying for anymore right they don't have the
money for that yeah where do we right yeah where
do we get the cash um so then you're you know
what are we what are we willing to not provide
and not cover and so big conversations, or do
you change how reimbursement happens? And I know
that the legislature is tackling a lot of that
right now through policy change in anticipation,
but it's still really hard to predict. So that's
one that we're, I don't think we're going to
have any answers in the budget. this year. But
I think it's one where we know that it is on
the horizon. It is a future important conversation
that the legislature is going to have to tackle.
Yeah, well, I'll be watching it very closely.
That's for sure. So Jamie, as we kind of wind
down here, as you mentioned, you know, team on
his five to go. And we're all getting kind of
excited about that and getting kind of, you know,
looking forward to getting back to normal, so
to speak, here at the office and in our kind
of you know, regular routines for the rest of
the year, you know, my thoughts always turn to
the next session. I just can't help but think
of the next, you know, for me, it's kind of like
a seasonal thing, right? When the season's over,
I'm thinking ahead to the next season, whether
it's, you know, the session or baseball season
or football season or whatever it may be. This
was the first year of the two -year biennium.
So this was the big, you know, the big 105 -day
session. Next year in January, starting early
January, we'll have the start of this short session,
the second year of the biennium, only 60 days
long. Traditionally, those have always been reserved
for kind of cleanups and trailer bills and budget
fixes, but no longer is that the case. There's
usually a lot of major policy that gets considered
during that short period of time, even though
it's a much more intense period of time with
a lot less opportunity to really discuss and
think about things. What do you see coming forward
next year as kind of priority items? If we were
to look ahead and you were to say, okay, here's
my... I'm looking at the roster here. Here's
who I think are going to be the number one draft
picks for public health. What do you think is
going to pop up? For public health issues, I
think we've kind of started to map out some of
the bigger things that we might want to work
on and have interim conversations on. Working
with our state partners on some bigger conversations,
one around data sharing and just data modernization
updates. Vital Records is one where that's exciting.
You know, you know, I can make anything exciting.
But, you know, so I think that might be one.
I mentioned the food entrepreneurship concepts.
I think that's going to be another one of how
does public health lean into economic development
in a way that leverages. That's not a regulation
first standpoint. We have regulation for a reason,
but we also have this opportunity to support
and educate and empower. Yeah, more of an enabling
role. Yeah, so I think that's something that's
going to be really interesting to work through
and work out. You know, I think there's going
to be some, it'll be interesting to see what
kind of budget. fixes that they might need to
address. You know, they'll know how some of those
bigger policy initiatives are playing out or
just kind of the public sentiment of having six
months. Well, there's just a lot of uncertainty
economically right now. You know, there's talk
of initiatives already. And so that's going to
have, you know, an impact on things as initiatives
always do. So, you know, Public health is just
a very small piece of that. But, you know, just,
you know, always wanting to be mindful of the
bigger things going on. We're not the most, you
know. We're not the hot topic of the day and
are very rarely, you know, kind of achieved that,
you know, hopefully once, you know, once a century.
Just a few years ago, you were the hot topic
of the day. We don't need to revisit that again.
But, you know, we're interested in things like
housing. We're interested in things like public
safety because they do have peripheries to public
health where, you know, people who are housing
secure have better health outcomes. And so it's
an issue that we're interested in watching. following
because we know you know that certain things
provide better you know better opportunity and
better health outcomes and same with public safety
that we know that being able to have you know
that community connection and thinking uh you
know of um support and relationship as well as
that more policing side of thing is really, really
important, especially around things like substance
use and behavioral health issues. So, you know,
we're tangentially, you know, watching a lot
of those other bigger issues that are probably
going to come back because they're kind of perennial
policy issues, right? I was hoping you were going
to say this was the year we solved it all. Nothing
else to talk about. Work is never done. Never
done here in Olympia. Well, here's to hoping
you stay out of the headlines from a public health
perspective. Me? Me specifically? Or are we talking
about public health? Just public health in general.
Because I can commit that I will stay out of
the headlines. But, you know. Well, let's hope
you stay out of the headlines, too. But, no,
I just meant public health in general. It can
get a little uncomfortable, I know. And there's
a lot of other issues that I think are probably
going to be taking up media's attention. Let's
hope so anyways, right? What are you most looking
forward to to interim? What is your favorite
thing to do? Why do I feel like you just turned
this thing around? Suddenly it's Jamie, the host.
Well, I mean, you know, my daughter's getting
married. So that's kind of a big deal for our
family. It's what we're looking forward to the
most, I think, this year. So on a personal level,
I think that's probably the big family event,
seeing the kids. It's a big milestone for you
as parents. Yeah, it's a little scary. It's a
big milestone for her and her fiance. It's exciting.
She seems completely calm, which is great. Yeah,
she's got it really put together. And she's,
I don't want to, you know. give out too much
personal information because I have a feeling
I'd get in trouble for my family. It's a good
test to see if they listen to the podcast. I
don't think they do. But this would be, you know,
I would say something really foolish and this
would be the one they would listen to. But yeah,
no, that's coming up pretty quick right after
session. So that's kind of a big deal. And then
my wife and I have our 30th wedding anniversary
this year as well during interim. So those are
the big things for me. What's the gift for 30?
I don't know. Um... Sanity? Whatever Honey wants.
Whatever my wife wants. That's what the gift
is. Well, congratulations. Thanks. How about
you? You have any milestones coming up? Let's
see. I am, and we've talked about this, I am
taking a trip with my sister who is becoming
an empty nester. Oh, that's right. Is this the
one where you don't know where you're going?
We don't know where we're going. Oh, that is
so crazy. Yeah. We filled out a survey with a
company and they bought our plane tickets. I
think you are so... are planning our whole entire
trip and we show up an airport with our bags
and open an envelope and find out where we're
going. Oh my gosh. That is so crazy. It's great.
And I mean, don't get me wrong. I, I, I would
never trust anyone enough. To do that. But I'm
a planner. I can't wait. I'm really hoping it's
like Iowa. I'm just joking. I love Iowa. I grew
up near Iowa. Yeah, I can see that. When you
open the envelope, we're taking you to the rolling
grain fields of Iowa. Yes! You've heard of flyover
states? Well, not today. You're landed. I'm hopeful.
I think we're going to go someplace in Europe.
But again, we'll find out when we get to the
airport. That is incredibly, incredibly, incredibly
brave. I was talking with my wife Amanda about
it. She thought it was a great idea. Of course,
she said, I know you think it's a terrible idea.
So when I go someplace, not only am I searching
things on the internet, I buy the book. Like
I buy the book. Like the Lonely Planet. Yes.
Yeah. I buy the travel book and I look for YouTube
videos about it. This is how bad I am. Do you
have a printed itinerary for every day? No. Okay.
Laminated? No. Not that bad. But I do try to
have an idea of what I want to do when I get
to a place. I am really meticulous about researching
the things that you have to have a reservation
for because there are more things these days
than you used to, right? I mean, you used to
be able to just drive into a national park. You
can't do that now. In many cases, you've got
to plan ahead. But don't you want to pay somebody
to do that all for you? No. No. I just don't
trust them. No. I actually researched the restaurants.
I'm almost obsessive about it. I researched the
restaurants. And I decide which ones I want to
go to before I've even set foot. No, I'm with
you on that. So you know this. I have a friend
and we do a New Year's trip every year at a different
time zone. And next year or this coming New Year's,
we're going to Finland. Oh, that'll be great.
Yeah, we did Chile this past New Year. Now, are
you having someone else plan that trip too? No.
So what we do is we talk about what we want to
do. My big thing is I want to go to the Arctic
Circle and I want to spend the night in Nice.
Hotel. And they're like, well, I want to go to
Christmas Village for Christmas and experience
that. So we have different things that we want
to do, but we're both big food. food fans. And
so we, we do map out our restaurants. Okay. Well,
that's more of a planned itinerary ish trip,
but we're still pretty flexible. We're still
kind of loosey goosey. Okay. Yeah. But you made
me feel a little more normal. So thank you. I
appreciate that. But you know, it's also fun
to just like, no, let's just see what kind of
adventure we can do. I don't think I could ever
let go like that. I, I, I just, I, I envy your
ability to do that. But I don't want to try.
That makes sense. I don't even want to try. Well,
you know, it's good to know that about yourself.
I guess so. Now I feel like I've divulged too
much. All right, Jamie. Well, it's been great
talking to you. It's been great working with
you during the session. You're a really important
part of the team here at WASAC. Public health
is a big part of what we do, and I think you
did a really good job when you were talking about
what to expect next session. You were talking
about housing and public safety and all those
other things. All of the issue areas that we
work in here at WASAC, they overlap and they
dovetail. There are not like really clear lines
between them. There's so many shades of gray.
And, you know, we spend a lot of time talking
back and forth about different bills and working
together on different things, which I really
enjoy. I know you probably don't enjoy it as
much, but I just want you to know it's been great
working with you. You're a super valued member
of the team, and I hope we can keep doing this
for a long time. Likewise. Congrats on a really
good session, Paul. Yeah. Well, congrats to,
well, we'll see. It's not over yet. That's true.
It's not over until the budgets are signed. And
unfortunately this year, it may not even be over
then. So yeah, we'll see. But we did it. Look
at us. We did it. Thanks, Jamie. We'll talk to
you again soon. Bye, Bob. Thanks for tuning in
to County Connection. Stay in the loop by subscribing
to us through your preferred podcasting app and
following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
And don't forget to join The Hub, your go -to
source for the latest news and updates from the
Washington State Association of Counties. Until
next time, stay connected and stay informed.