WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 A Brady Bunch experience. Like, you can go there 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.960 and have breakfast, and Alice and Mrs. Brady 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:09.960 will serve you breakfast at the table, and then 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.240 you can go out to the fake lawn, you know, with 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:13.580 the astroturf. Get your face hit by a football. 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:17.699 Evidently. Evidently. I don't know. I mean, to 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:20.300 each their own. Not my thing for the Brady Bunch, 00:00:20.420 --> 00:00:22.620 but if you were, like, Hobbiton, I'd be, like, 00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:27.219 100 % down. Hobbiton? Hobbiton. I'm lost. From 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:31.059 Lord of the Rings. Paul. I mean, I know about 00:00:31.059 --> 00:00:33.640 the Shire. This is where we are losing a lot 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:35.960 of listeners because they are all really disappointed 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:41.840 with you. Welcome to County Connection, the official 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:44.140 podcast of the Washington State Association of 00:00:44.140 --> 00:00:46.119 Counties, where we dive into the legislative 00:00:46.119 --> 00:00:48.140 issues shaping the future of our communities. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:50.600 From budgets to public safety, infrastructure 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:53.539 to elections, we'll break down what's happening 00:00:53.539 --> 00:00:56.340 in Olympia and how it impacts counties from across 00:00:56.340 --> 00:00:59.420 the Evergreen State. Stay informed, stay engaged, 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:02.420 and join us as we amplify the voice of Washington's 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:07.659 39 counties. Welcome, everybody, to the County 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:10.019 Connection podcast. I'm Paul Jewell, your host 00:01:10.019 --> 00:01:12.459 and government relations director for the Washington 00:01:12.459 --> 00:01:15.840 State Association of Counties. And today, I've 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:18.680 got Jamie Bodden here. Jamie, how are things 00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:21.420 going? Things are going good, Paul. It's good 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:22.599 to see you. It's been a while since you've been 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:25.120 on the podcast. It has. It's been a couple weeks. 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:29.219 Well, happy sine die. Almost. Almost, yep. Sine 00:01:29.219 --> 00:01:32.659 die eve. I like to say happy sine die a couple 00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:34.579 of days early just because it makes me feel like 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:38.040 it's coming. Yeah. Makes me, it's like Christmas, 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.780 right? What would the eve of sine die be called? 00:01:41.219 --> 00:01:44.140 Like sine die eve sounds, is too obvious, but 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:46.599 there's got to be some sort of Latin. There has 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:48.540 to be some sort of Latin. I don't know, but I 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:50.599 could look that up. We should start a new tradition. 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.980 We'll start. It's like Halloween and then All 00:01:54.980 --> 00:02:00.500 Souls Day. Because like sine die, the Latin translation 00:02:00.500 --> 00:02:05.079 is like without something. I can't remember. 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:07.659 Without more, without end, or without something. 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:11.400 Because you're basically saying, okay, the meeting 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:13.560 is over, the session is over, and we don't have 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:15.919 another date to meet, right? It's indefinite. 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:18.460 It's indefinite. And, of course, they do, but 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:20.180 it's not this session. It's the following session. 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:24.000 So I don't know what the alternative to that 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.639 would be, but we should look that up. I'll bet 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:28.800 AI could tell us. I bet AI could tell us. Also, 00:02:28.979 --> 00:02:31.180 we could just say one day more and then sing 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:35.280 Les Miserables together. There you go. I don't 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.860 think people would like that. We could start 00:02:37.860 --> 00:02:41.860 a tradition and just, yeah, one day more. Yeah. 00:02:42.990 --> 00:02:44.669 But, of course, we don't count the days here 00:02:44.669 --> 00:02:47.430 at WASAC. We make the days count. That was for 00:02:47.430 --> 00:02:49.110 all you listeners out there who love it when 00:02:49.110 --> 00:02:53.129 I say that. Jamie. Yes. How did things go this 00:02:53.129 --> 00:02:56.069 session? Well, it's not quite over. We're waiting 00:02:56.069 --> 00:02:58.949 for budgets. Yep. That's today, though. That 00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:01.409 is today. In fact, in about 30 minutes or so. 00:03:01.629 --> 00:03:03.250 Yeah, so we're going to start hearing budget 00:03:03.250 --> 00:03:09.909 pretty soon. But budget aside, we had a very 00:03:09.909 --> 00:03:13.330 positive session. We had a good session for public 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:15.530 health. Yeah, good, good, good, good. You had 00:03:15.530 --> 00:03:17.389 a couple of bills that you were pushing through. 00:03:17.530 --> 00:03:22.120 We had a couple of bills that was Salfo. and 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:24.080 prioritized. They were kind of our bills. And 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:26.259 then we had a couple other bills that came up 00:03:26.259 --> 00:03:28.960 that were just good public health policy that 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:31.539 we wanted to support as well. And then we had 00:03:31.539 --> 00:03:35.979 a couple of bills that we had some concerns over, 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:39.960 weren't fully baked, and were successfully able 00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:44.360 to get those to die. So we got the good things 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.000 passed, and we kept the bad things from getting 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:48.780 passed. And that's how it's done. And that's 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:52.750 how it's done. So what were the big ones as far 00:03:52.750 --> 00:03:56.520 as the ones that passed? Yeah, so we had... Two 00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:00.000 priority bills passed, 2242, which was a larger 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.479 coalition effort around it. It was a preventative 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:06.520 services bill that would maintain access to specific 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:10.560 basic preventative services like cancer screenings, 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:12.419 immunizations, that kind of thing. So this is 00:04:12.419 --> 00:04:15.340 mostly for the clinics? Mostly for clinics and 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:19.000 our healthcare partners. And then it also empowers 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:23.709 DOH to... Make certain recommendations around 00:04:23.709 --> 00:04:27.170 immunizations and leverage multiple organizations 00:04:27.170 --> 00:04:29.529 at the state and federal level. And just to be 00:04:29.529 --> 00:04:32.230 clear, DOH is? Department of Health. Okay. Our 00:04:32.230 --> 00:04:34.490 secretary. And it would be our secretary of health 00:04:34.490 --> 00:04:36.990 explicitly in the bill. So this was a governor 00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:41.129 request legislation with the. Office of the Insurance 00:04:41.129 --> 00:04:43.449 Commissioner, Department of Health partnered 00:04:43.449 --> 00:04:46.649 with them, and then a number of advocates, both 00:04:46.649 --> 00:04:49.050 in the healthcare space and the public health 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:51.430 space, joined kind of the coalition effort to... 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:53.939 get the bill passed. So you had the governor's 00:04:53.939 --> 00:04:55.879 office, the insurance commissioner, and Department 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.199 of Health all partnering on one bill along with 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:00.779 Wasafo? Mm -hmm. That's a pretty potent combination, 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:04.660 I would think. Which was really great. And that's, 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:07.139 you know, the best policy has a large coalition 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:10.000 of support around it. And so it makes lighter 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.160 work of the things where everyone kind of has 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:17.959 their tasks. Our task as Wasafo was to help convene, 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:20.519 you know, groups to talk about testimony and 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:22.339 help with, you know, getting people registered. 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:24.399 We talked about it with meetings with legislators, 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:28.300 provided kind of a local perspective of if this 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:30.500 was protected, this means this for this community. 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:32.879 If these things go away, this means this for 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.819 this community. It ultimately got passed, and 00:05:36.819 --> 00:05:39.860 it was signed by the governor on Monday. So it 00:05:39.860 --> 00:05:43.160 is official official. Oh, wow. Got the pen, got 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:45.639 the picture. Went through the bill signing and 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:47.399 the whole ball of wax. And got to go in the state 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:49.519 reception room to get the photo signed, which 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:51.879 is rare. Boy, I think you might have won the 00:05:51.879 --> 00:05:53.660 bill signing lottery. I'm not sure. I think it 00:05:53.660 --> 00:05:56.079 was the first bill this year. 1345, which is 00:05:56.079 --> 00:05:58.800 a housing bill, went through early. And I think 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:01.279 that one, I can't remember if that one's been 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:02.800 signed or not. So it would have been a race between 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.860 those two. I'm going to have to research that. 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:08.319 I'll have to get back to our listeners to see 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:09.699 which one came out first. But congratulations. 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:11.920 Yeah. What are the other big ones? So other big 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:16.519 one, 6291 was one that was Salfo kind of ran 00:06:16.519 --> 00:06:19.360 alone, but it was a smaller bill that was around 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.939 our on -site wastewater inspectors. Oh, this 00:06:21.939 --> 00:06:24.279 is the one about how hard it is to get through 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:28.759 that kind of certification test, right? Yeah. 00:06:28.779 --> 00:06:32.439 So we have kind of a snag in the certification 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:37.290 period. time crunch where it's really hard for 00:06:37.290 --> 00:06:41.189 staff to get the supervision they need, and then 00:06:41.189 --> 00:06:44.509 sit for the exam, pass the exam. And so by extending 00:06:44.509 --> 00:06:46.449 that time period a little bit more, they have 00:06:46.449 --> 00:06:48.129 a little bit more of that cushion and a little 00:06:48.129 --> 00:06:50.170 bit more runway so they can do what they need 00:06:50.170 --> 00:06:52.949 to do to prepare and increase the likelihood 00:06:52.949 --> 00:06:54.889 that they'll actually pass the test. And you're 00:06:54.889 --> 00:06:57.750 hoping this leads to more success and more inspectors 00:06:57.750 --> 00:07:00.209 out there. Yeah, more success, more inspectors, 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:03.269 more inspectors being able to stay in the positions 00:07:03.269 --> 00:07:07.670 that they're in because that means better customer 00:07:07.670 --> 00:07:09.879 service to developers. and those that are looking 00:07:09.879 --> 00:07:11.680 to build and develop homes. Well, that's a direct 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:17.300 service that housing needs, right? So it should 00:07:17.300 --> 00:07:20.759 be a good thing for not just septic and not just 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:22.560 environmental health, but also for our housing 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.139 needs here in Washington State. Yeah, and that 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:28.959 one passed. It was one where we filed it late, 00:07:29.019 --> 00:07:31.639 so we weren't... you know, expecting a whole 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:33.699 lot of action this year, right? When you file 00:07:33.699 --> 00:07:35.319 things late, you can kind of be like, oh, we're 00:07:35.319 --> 00:07:37.120 going to get a hearing and that's about it. But 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:38.680 sometimes they catch on. Sometimes they catch 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:40.139 fire pretty quick. That's exactly what happened. 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:42.180 And it was, I think, because it was budget neutral 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:45.220 and it was relatively non -controversial. So 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:47.319 it moved swiftly out of the Senate unanimously. 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:49.519 Well, and being able to tell the housing story 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:51.620 on it too probably helped. Yeah, and swiftly 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:53.660 out of the house unanimously. So we got that 00:07:53.660 --> 00:07:56.060 one passed too. Yeah, cool. Congrats. And then 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:59.439 one that we worked on and we talked about, 2442. 00:08:00.259 --> 00:08:04.100 Yes. Was another one that we weren't really watching 00:08:04.100 --> 00:08:07.420 because we really weren't, you know. Great bill. 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:11.600 weren't really involved or not really one that 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:13.660 we needed to pay attention to, right? Until. 00:08:13.660 --> 00:08:16.540 Until. Some amendments came in and we were like, 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:19.500 ooh, we actually do like this bill. And there 00:08:19.500 --> 00:08:21.480 were components that we really did like and we 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:24.420 really wanted to see included. And so it's a 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:28.600 good example of sometimes bills change and evolve 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.040 in a way where you're not paying attention and 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:32.960 then suddenly you're game in, you're getting 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.350 tapped in. And you get to engage and talk about 00:08:36.350 --> 00:08:39.450 the bill in a different way. And I think that 00:08:39.450 --> 00:08:42.590 was helpful because you got to focus on the things 00:08:42.590 --> 00:08:44.549 that you liked and were important for kind of 00:08:44.549 --> 00:08:47.110 your book of business. And I could take some 00:08:47.110 --> 00:08:49.570 of the different sections that we liked and talk 00:08:49.570 --> 00:08:52.149 about those too. Yeah. So just to be clear, 2442 00:08:52.149 --> 00:08:55.789 was Representative Berg's bill. And this is the 00:08:55.789 --> 00:08:59.080 one on local government finances. The reason 00:08:59.080 --> 00:09:01.559 you guys got involved, correct me if I'm wrong, 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:03.299 I think there were probably two components that 00:09:03.299 --> 00:09:06.620 you really liked. Of course, the part that was 00:09:06.620 --> 00:09:08.320 in there from the very beginning was the one 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.179 -tenth of one percent sales tax for children's 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:13.980 services. So that's kind of an indirect sort 00:09:13.980 --> 00:09:16.960 of related thing. But then it was the five cents 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:19.539 per thousand, I assume, for supportive public 00:09:19.539 --> 00:09:22.240 health clinics that you really wanted to support. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.700 As more public health departments are doing. 00:09:27.370 --> 00:09:30.669 direct services work, but also community organizations 00:09:30.669 --> 00:09:34.340 that do public health. direct services as well 00:09:34.340 --> 00:09:37.240 would be able to be supported by that. And then 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.259 there's also like the housing components and 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:41.440 the mental health things. Some flexibility with 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:43.480 existing resources. Yeah, those are good social 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:46.519 determinants of health components that we know 00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:48.700 when people have better housing, they're going 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:50.419 to have better health outcomes, right? When they 00:09:50.419 --> 00:09:52.659 have stable access to mental health services 00:09:52.659 --> 00:09:54.740 or community -based mental health services, they're 00:09:54.740 --> 00:09:56.299 going to have better health outcomes too. So 00:09:56.299 --> 00:10:00.399 there's the specific... you know nitty -gritty 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.139 public health stuff that we really liked with 00:10:02.139 --> 00:10:05.000 the clinics but then this larger social determinant 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.480 kind of lens that we could put over some other 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:09.600 sections of the bill too that we liked that one 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:13.259 originally included some new revenue some new 00:10:13.259 --> 00:10:15.580 flexible revenue for counties in the form of 00:10:17.350 --> 00:10:20.309 a utility tax that we've been trying for for 00:10:20.309 --> 00:10:22.269 quite a while, but unfortunately was stripped 00:10:22.269 --> 00:10:24.830 out of the bill when it came out of the House. 00:10:24.929 --> 00:10:27.049 When it got to the Senate, we got it back in 00:10:27.049 --> 00:10:29.950 there in committee, but only briefly. It was 00:10:29.950 --> 00:10:32.529 almost like it was like, oh, nope, sorry, because 00:10:32.529 --> 00:10:34.190 the committee then stripped it right back out. 00:10:34.450 --> 00:10:36.529 But there is a really important component that's 00:10:36.529 --> 00:10:38.789 still in there. There's several things in that 00:10:38.789 --> 00:10:41.830 bill that counties like, not just the new revenue 00:10:41.830 --> 00:10:45.740 for children's services and for... public health 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:49.539 clinic support. But there's also, like you mentioned, 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:52.440 a lot of new flexible pieces with existing revenue. 00:10:52.899 --> 00:10:55.720 But there's also a piece in there that we're 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:59.559 hoping will stay. I have assurances that it will 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:02.700 stay, and that's the bifurcation of the veterans 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:04.620 and mental health and developmental disabilities 00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:09.279 levies from the general fund levy. A couple of 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:15.149 nice things to say about that one. The way it's 00:11:15.149 --> 00:11:17.450 working now under the bill, the veterans and 00:11:17.450 --> 00:11:21.600 MHDD levies have their own separate now. millage 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:24.460 rates that you're not going to have to choose 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:26.480 how much of your general fund you want to give 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:29.139 to them they're separate and independent which 00:11:29.139 --> 00:11:31.240 is really nice so i think we'll see enhanced 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:33.960 services and enhanced funding for veteran services 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:37.379 and for mh and dd services stability a little 00:11:37.379 --> 00:11:39.759 bit more predictability i think so yeah which 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:41.860 is all part of kind of what you were talking 00:11:41.860 --> 00:11:44.919 about right on that human services end and they're 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:49.720 not part of that 590 limit for local government 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:52.399 property tax levies, which is also great. It's 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:54.799 also great. And that automatically will free 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:57.159 up that funding that was being used for those 00:11:57.159 --> 00:11:59.519 services. Those millage rates that were being 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:01.179 pulled out of the general fund now will be available 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:03.960 for just general government services. So it's 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:06.960 kind of like a dual benefit portion of that bill. 00:12:07.299 --> 00:12:09.779 That's something that I think WSAC's been working 00:12:09.779 --> 00:12:12.419 on for a very long time. Yeah, very long time. 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:16.110 So that's a good little bill. Any other really 00:12:16.110 --> 00:12:17.629 good ones you want to mention or should we go 00:12:17.629 --> 00:12:25.730 to Kill Bills? You know, we had – it ultimately 00:12:25.730 --> 00:12:28.210 was good. It was a bit of a roller coaster the 00:12:28.210 --> 00:12:31.730 last week of session. It usually is. And one 00:12:31.730 --> 00:12:35.389 where – I've talked about this frequently where 00:12:35.389 --> 00:12:38.490 FPHS, our account shortfall, we needed a fix. 00:12:38.750 --> 00:12:41.269 There was four options on the table at the start 00:12:41.269 --> 00:12:44.549 of session. And we had, you know, and it was 00:12:44.549 --> 00:12:47.590 the path is foggy. The path will become clear. 00:12:47.850 --> 00:12:50.129 Well, last week it was like, all right, we have 00:12:50.129 --> 00:12:52.269 one bill. This is the path. We're ready to go. 00:12:52.649 --> 00:12:54.990 Is this the nicotine tax bill? This is the nicotine 00:12:54.990 --> 00:12:58.769 tax bill. You know, so ultimately we had it set, 00:12:58.889 --> 00:13:00.830 ready to go. It needed to get exact out of finance 00:13:00.830 --> 00:13:03.669 on Saturday. And it did not. Yeah, they didn't 00:13:03.669 --> 00:13:06.009 even meet on Saturday, did they? I think finance 00:13:06.009 --> 00:13:07.929 did meet. Oh, they did. Yeah. But the bill sat 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:09.149 there. But the bill sat there. They didn't pull 00:13:09.149 --> 00:13:11.470 it from exec. That's never a good feeling. No. 00:13:11.509 --> 00:13:13.649 And so it was. Was it on the exec schedule? It 00:13:13.649 --> 00:13:15.169 was on the exec schedule. And they just passed 00:13:15.169 --> 00:13:17.519 it over? And they just did not. Oh, that's crushing. 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:20.440 Yeah. That feeling is just like you feel defeated 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:22.460 when that happens. You had it ready to go. It's 00:13:22.460 --> 00:13:25.840 queued up. It's like at the finish line. It's 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.899 ready to just step over. Somebody pushes it. 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:30.659 And that wasn't just a finish line. It was a 00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:34.500 $21 million finish line, right? It's that shortfall 00:13:34.500 --> 00:13:38.080 fix. Yeah. So Saturday morning doesn't get exact, 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.559 you know, and now we have a $21 million deficit, 00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:45.230 right? Like gut punch, right? Things aren't looking 00:13:45.230 --> 00:13:50.129 great. And, you know, we did our job during session 00:13:50.129 --> 00:13:54.190 where we had enough people and had enough support 00:13:54.190 --> 00:13:56.970 legislatively around this issue who wanted to 00:13:56.970 --> 00:13:58.889 work on this issue, who wanted to fix this issue, 00:13:58.990 --> 00:14:02.210 where we could throw out a couple Hail Marys. 00:14:02.830 --> 00:14:06.690 And Dark Horse had a different bill where it 00:14:06.690 --> 00:14:08.850 fit within the scope of the bill and got it into 00:14:08.850 --> 00:14:12.269 an amendment on Monday afternoon. And so it has. 00:14:12.730 --> 00:14:15.289 passed in an amendment on monday afternoon so 00:14:15.289 --> 00:14:17.269 it's still alive so what bill did you take a 00:14:17.269 --> 00:14:21.929 ride on so the one what we needed to get passed 00:14:21.929 --> 00:14:28.990 was 61 uh 6129 uh senate bill senate bill and 00:14:28.990 --> 00:14:32.570 we ended up getting it passed in 2675 house bill 00:14:32.570 --> 00:14:34.549 which is a house bill what was the title and 00:14:34.549 --> 00:14:38.460 it's in a ofm accounts bill oh That's broad. 00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:43.279 Yeah. That was just begging for writers. You 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:44.940 put a title on a bill like that, you're just 00:14:44.940 --> 00:14:48.059 like, come on, come on. It's a little bit more 00:14:48.059 --> 00:14:50.720 prescriptive than OFM accounts bill. We have 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:55.399 a big wagon here. But it was one where similar 00:14:55.399 --> 00:14:59.740 bill runs every few sessions. It's an account 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:03.590 cleanup bill that OFM runs to help. tidy up their 00:15:03.590 --> 00:15:06.690 books, right? Sure. And so we were able to get 00:15:06.690 --> 00:15:10.570 it in. Kudos to Senator Braun for sponsoring 00:15:10.570 --> 00:15:13.970 the amendment. Kudos to Senator Robinson for, 00:15:14.110 --> 00:15:17.809 I know she did some work on that too. Why didn't 00:15:17.809 --> 00:15:19.549 they pass it out of House Finance? Do you know? 00:15:20.070 --> 00:15:23.330 They didn't have the votes. They didn't. And 00:15:23.330 --> 00:15:26.750 it was, I think, the larger tax issue was what 00:15:26.750 --> 00:15:30.169 killed it. Okay. So it hitched a ride when the 00:15:30.169 --> 00:15:32.759 House bill was in the Senate. Yes. So now it's 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:34.179 got to go back to the House. So now it has to 00:15:34.179 --> 00:15:35.659 go back to concurrence. And what do you think 00:15:35.659 --> 00:15:36.559 is going to happen over there? I think it's going 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:39.240 to be okay because the tax components are gone. 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:41.379 Oh, they are. And I think that was what was problematic 00:15:41.379 --> 00:15:44.519 and what ultimately sunk the bill was there was 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:48.779 a caucus within Democrats that wanted it and 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:50.779 a caucus within Democrats that were said enough. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:54.799 We have other tax priorities that we need to 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.879 focus on. One really big one that they just spent 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:01.419 24 hours on. And this was a bill that was just 00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:03.720 like, you know, there's not enough agreement. 00:16:04.059 --> 00:16:09.899 And I think what was exciting and what was demonstrated 00:16:09.899 --> 00:16:12.559 was that there was support and agreement that 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:16.600 we need to fix the FPHS account. The dark horse 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.559 that happened with 2675 and ultimately what got 00:16:19.559 --> 00:16:22.559 passed was we're taking all of the tax components 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:24.659 off the table. We're stripping all that away. 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:27.700 We're focusing solely on making FPHS account 00:16:27.700 --> 00:16:30.200 whole. Okay, but where does the $21 million come 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:33.980 in? That is how it was whole. So it's a diversion 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:40.100 of a fund. So it's not a new tax on tobacco like 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:43.049 it was originally intended. Correct. Instead, 00:16:43.169 --> 00:16:45.690 you're diverting funds from where? So instead 00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:52.370 of adding tax to this account that would fund 00:16:52.370 --> 00:16:55.549 FPHS, it's just diverting it back to the FPHS 00:16:55.549 --> 00:16:59.289 account. So it's limiting some of the revenue 00:16:59.289 --> 00:17:01.230 that they will be working with with the budget. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:04.079 in order to fix this account. So it's some general 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:06.440 fund revenue that's going? Other tobacco product 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:08.980 tax. Oh, okay. That would have gone to other 00:17:08.980 --> 00:17:11.480 tobacco -related services? That would have gone 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:13.839 to the general fund. Oh, okay. Because they scooped 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:15.779 some of that. So it is general fund money, essentially. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:19.660 Yeah. Interesting. Well, I was actually... Who 00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:22.140 was I talking with? I think I was... We did a 00:17:22.140 --> 00:17:25.900 podcast earlier this year on how a bill becomes 00:17:25.900 --> 00:17:28.920 a law. And we were kind of talking about the... 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:32.220 Some of the things that the cartoon, if you remember 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:34.140 from your childhood, doesn't exactly tell you 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:38.180 about every step of the way how a bill can really 00:17:38.180 --> 00:17:42.700 find a perilous crevasse to fall into and how 00:17:42.700 --> 00:17:44.420 you might resurrect that bill. And we talked 00:17:44.420 --> 00:17:48.119 about title shopping afterwards and how you can 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:51.380 hitch a ride through an amendment on another 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:54.420 bill. You can revive your bill. you just showed 00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:57.220 us a really good example of a real life opportunity 00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:59.259 and you took advantage of it. So congratulations. 00:17:59.720 --> 00:18:04.759 Yeah. Thank you. I, I was, I was having the pity 00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:09.920 party on Monday. It was not me. It was, it was 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:14.059 our, it was our advocates and partners who ultimately 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:19.799 Found an avenue and got it. So kudos to our lobbyist, 00:18:19.799 --> 00:18:23.259 Bryn, and our other partners. Well, it's pretty 00:18:23.259 --> 00:18:25.799 fortuitous because, I mean, really, without the 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:28.960 right title, you would not have had that opportunity. 00:18:29.299 --> 00:18:32.079 Correct. If there was not a different bill that 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:36.160 we could have. put it into. And Monday, there's 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:38.140 not a lot of floor action. Not a lot. This week, 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:41.200 right? There are, you know, there's a lot of 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:42.359 concurrence. Because it's after cutoff. Yeah, 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:44.380 there's a lot of concurrence floor action, but 00:18:44.380 --> 00:18:47.220 that doesn't mean you get to add things. It just 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:49.339 means yes or no. Yeah, your options were really 00:18:49.339 --> 00:18:52.460 limited. So it literally was probably one of 00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:55.700 the last bills to pass off the House floor. Before 00:18:55.700 --> 00:18:58.559 the big debate that happened yesterday. Yeah. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:01.640 Well, that's fortunate. Yeah. So very, very lucky. 00:19:02.220 --> 00:19:04.759 Very pleased. But we do know that we need to 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:07.160 come back the next biennium with a more longer 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:09.700 term fix. This feels like this is a Band -Aid. 00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:13.440 And it's a Band -Aid for now. But we know we 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:17.519 need to do some work over the interim. So it's 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.819 always nice to talk about the bills that passed. 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:22.319 Yes. But sometimes it's a little more fun to 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.670 talk about the ones that didn't. Just from a 00:19:25.670 --> 00:19:29.809 diabolical standpoint. Because everyone knows 00:19:29.809 --> 00:19:32.210 it's much more fun to kill stuff than it is to 00:19:32.210 --> 00:19:36.190 pass stuff. So let's pivot a little bit. Let's 00:19:36.190 --> 00:19:38.450 talk about the carnage you created. You know, 00:19:38.509 --> 00:19:42.230 this year, we didn't have a lot of carnage, I 00:19:42.230 --> 00:19:45.029 would say. I would say we put a lot of nice things 00:19:45.029 --> 00:19:49.910 to bed. You make it sound like you read them 00:19:49.910 --> 00:19:52.390 a story and you tucked them in. Kind of. You 00:19:52.390 --> 00:19:54.569 know, there's other years where I gleefully, 00:19:54.710 --> 00:20:00.460 like, yes, it is. over there yes instead of putting 00:20:00.460 --> 00:20:02.599 them to bed i put them to the long permanent 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:06.200 you know long permanent sleep um but this year 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:08.779 you know we had them with a pair of uh concrete 00:20:08.779 --> 00:20:11.599 galoshes if you know what i mean uh but this 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:15.059 year we had a couple bills that um gave us some 00:20:15.059 --> 00:20:17.079 heartburn had some pause you know gave us some 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:22.019 pause had some concern sure and um we're able 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:24.099 to have some really good conversations around 00:20:24.099 --> 00:20:28.380 that and have a better understanding and so You 00:20:28.380 --> 00:20:31.380 know, I they ultimately failed, which is what 00:20:31.380 --> 00:20:34.220 we wanted, which is a good thing that we we were 00:20:34.220 --> 00:20:38.440 able to kind of like, you know, they died early 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:43.400 and swiftly. But you always want to humane. Yeah. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:45.920 Yeah. You don't want to. Yeah. You don't want 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.740 to drag it out. That's painful for everybody. 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:52.579 But I think ultimately one of them, you know, 00:20:52.619 --> 00:20:55.599 I'm hopeful we can have more conversation and 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:58.000 bring back something better next year that actually 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:02.259 I think will move the intent of what the bill 00:21:02.259 --> 00:21:06.609 was forward in a way that's going to be. more 00:21:06.609 --> 00:21:11.009 effective. And the other one I think is a broader 00:21:11.009 --> 00:21:13.569 conversation that doesn't necessarily need a 00:21:13.569 --> 00:21:14.750 bill and need a statute change. You're going 00:21:14.750 --> 00:21:16.109 to tell us what these were about, right? Sure. 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:18.630 Yes. That's probably a better idea than speaking 00:21:18.630 --> 00:21:21.210 in really vague terms. You haven't even told 00:21:21.210 --> 00:21:23.769 us what they are about yet, Jamie. Come on. This 00:21:23.769 --> 00:21:27.150 is the bedtime story. Yeah. I'm not falling for 00:21:27.150 --> 00:21:31.309 that. I've been around the block. Time to go 00:21:31.309 --> 00:21:35.190 to bed. Not my first rodeo, Jamie. Don't think 00:21:35.190 --> 00:21:37.720 that's going to work. Work on me. So one of these 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:41.980 was 2183, which was around extreme weather events. 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:45.799 Okay, yeah, I remember this bill. And essentially 00:21:45.799 --> 00:21:51.140 had counties... Like shelters or something? Counties 00:21:51.140 --> 00:21:53.680 making, as part of their comprehensive plans, 00:21:53.779 --> 00:21:56.980 as part of GMA, developing heat response plans 00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:59.900 and set out a lot of parameters and criteria 00:21:59.900 --> 00:22:02.359 that needed to be included in these heat response 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:05.059 plans. Including like cooling centers and things 00:22:05.059 --> 00:22:08.259 like that. Cooling centers, specific populations 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:14.079 of focus, building refabs, distribution of resources, 00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:19.460 all of that. Great concept, right? We need to 00:22:19.460 --> 00:22:21.799 be more prepared for adverse weather. It's happening 00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:28.339 more frequently. This past flooding was a good 00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:31.619 example of adverse weather, not extreme heat, 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:35.039 but the need to have larger response plans in 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:40.079 place. a lot of our counties already have heat 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:42.680 response plans in some way. Sometimes emergency 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:45.039 management has that. Sometimes human services 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.279 has that. But those tend to exist already. Well, 00:22:48.299 --> 00:22:51.240 and this feels like emergency management more 00:22:51.240 --> 00:22:53.980 than it feels like, you know, regular planning 00:22:53.980 --> 00:22:57.259 or public health anyways. And it does fold better 00:22:57.259 --> 00:22:59.500 into, I think, that larger emergency management 00:22:59.500 --> 00:23:04.099 scheme. What we raised was this already duplicates 00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:07.890 a lot of work going on. So, you know, do we really 00:23:07.890 --> 00:23:11.509 need this if it's already happening? And if it's 00:23:11.509 --> 00:23:13.750 already happening, how do we, you know, build 00:23:13.750 --> 00:23:17.329 it in a way that aligns with the, you know, with 00:23:17.329 --> 00:23:19.910 the intent of what the bill wants? And I think 00:23:19.910 --> 00:23:23.230 what the larger scheme is, how do we do longer 00:23:23.230 --> 00:23:26.369 term mitigation planning so that when our response 00:23:26.369 --> 00:23:29.849 happens, our response has a better infrastructure 00:23:29.849 --> 00:23:35.230 in which to hang? That is costly. And there's 00:23:35.230 --> 00:23:37.990 no larger state plan or larger state kind of 00:23:37.990 --> 00:23:41.950 framework for that. So we really stressed if 00:23:41.950 --> 00:23:45.410 we want to have this larger mitigation kind of 00:23:45.410 --> 00:23:49.569 strategy and implement a lot of those efforts, 00:23:49.769 --> 00:23:53.769 we need to have something to... to work towards 00:23:53.769 --> 00:23:56.250 first. Otherwise it's just going to be every, 00:23:56.289 --> 00:23:58.029 you know, every jurisdiction doing their own 00:23:58.029 --> 00:24:01.369 thing. And it's still going to be patchwork. 00:24:01.390 --> 00:24:03.869 It's still going to be piecemeal because an extreme 00:24:03.869 --> 00:24:06.589 heat response in, you know, Eastern Washington, 00:24:06.789 --> 00:24:09.049 you know, Tri -Cities is going to look very differently 00:24:09.049 --> 00:24:13.809 than in Olympia. You know, it is 80 degrees in 00:24:13.809 --> 00:24:18.279 Olympia and it is. unbearably hot for some of 00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:21.180 us delicate flowers on the west side you know 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:24.160 80 degrees in the tri -cities is nothing no in 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:26.319 fact that's a spring day that's a great day to 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.200 go golfing yeah really it is yeah and it's it's 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:31.079 a very different type of heat you know as someone 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:33.900 who lives in eastern washington but frequents 00:24:33.900 --> 00:24:35.960 western washington i can tell you that that it's 00:24:35.960 --> 00:24:38.259 very different and 80 degrees 85 degrees feels 00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:40.319 very differently on one side of the mountains 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:43.750 than it does on the other Extreme heat, you know, 00:24:43.750 --> 00:24:46.450 in eastern Washington really doesn't kind of 00:24:46.450 --> 00:24:51.849 hit until 110 maybe. Versus 110 over here is 00:24:51.849 --> 00:24:54.789 nearly unbearable. Yeah, it is very, very dangerous. 00:24:55.509 --> 00:25:00.130 And so had those conversations with bill sponsor 00:25:00.130 --> 00:25:03.410 and with committee members and said, you know, 00:25:03.430 --> 00:25:05.529 we'd love to have this larger conversation because 00:25:05.529 --> 00:25:07.970 we don't disagree that this is an opportunity 00:25:07.970 --> 00:25:12.569 to do more of that larger kind of. mitigation 00:25:12.569 --> 00:25:16.170 planning, mitigation efforts, so we can be better 00:25:16.170 --> 00:25:19.230 when the response does need to happen for these 00:25:19.230 --> 00:25:23.150 emergencies. We do have more infrastructure in 00:25:23.150 --> 00:25:26.490 place, but we need to have more conversation 00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:29.349 of what that could or should look like statewide 00:25:29.349 --> 00:25:31.829 because it is very different at the local level, 00:25:31.970 --> 00:25:36.289 and we probably want something that can be a 00:25:36.289 --> 00:25:39.539 thread throughout. all of those responses um 00:25:39.539 --> 00:25:44.319 and they agreed um and so um didn't didn't push 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:46.779 the bill in a way where we felt like we had to 00:25:46.779 --> 00:25:49.180 constantly try or trying to improve the bill 00:25:49.180 --> 00:25:51.400 we kind of provided some thoughts on to it to 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:53.660 improve it at a committee and then it ultimately 00:25:53.660 --> 00:25:57.619 died in um in appropriations in the house so 00:25:57.619 --> 00:26:00.460 died pretty early um and then another bill that 00:26:00.460 --> 00:26:04.099 we were working um working to just provide more 00:26:04.099 --> 00:26:07.339 education on was around local health officers 00:26:07.339 --> 00:26:12.900 and a bill that would allow other health professions 00:26:12.900 --> 00:26:15.940 to be local health officers. And we raised... 00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:19.220 Was this the one about like naturopathic doctors? 00:26:19.420 --> 00:26:22.420 It was around physician assistant and advanced 00:26:22.420 --> 00:26:24.220 practice nurse practitioners. Okay. Advanced 00:26:24.220 --> 00:26:26.869 registered nurse practitioners. Okay. Wasn't 00:26:26.869 --> 00:26:31.109 there another bill about naturopathy? No. I think 00:26:31.109 --> 00:26:32.970 they were trying to get that at one point into 00:26:32.970 --> 00:26:40.309 the bill, but no. And the rationale behind the 00:26:40.309 --> 00:26:43.170 bill was there's a shortage of health officers. 00:26:43.910 --> 00:26:47.609 It's difficult to recruit. Especially in rural 00:26:47.609 --> 00:26:53.279 areas, right? And so this is a way to help. And 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:59.539 it was one of those, yes, however, health officers 00:26:59.539 --> 00:27:02.339 are a specialized field. Statutorily, they have 00:27:02.339 --> 00:27:04.880 to have certain qualifications. And it can be 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:09.079 challenging to recruit depending on what specifically 00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:12.400 you're looking for. But we have right now about 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.859 half of our LHJs share a health officer in some 00:27:15.859 --> 00:27:20.400 way. And so we have a model where - LHJ means? 00:27:20.740 --> 00:27:23.730 Local health jurisdiction. So we have a model 00:27:23.730 --> 00:27:27.990 where a local health jurisdiction might, two 00:27:27.990 --> 00:27:30.509 neighboring ones might share a health officer. 00:27:30.670 --> 00:27:34.690 So if you contribute 0 .4 and we contribute 0 00:27:34.690 --> 00:27:38.970 .4, we have almost a full -time access to a health 00:27:38.970 --> 00:27:43.250 officer. Not every LHJ needs a full -time health 00:27:43.250 --> 00:27:46.640 officer. given the size and kind of scope and 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:51.619 things. And so it's a good way of tapping into 00:27:51.619 --> 00:27:57.420 more dedicated expertise versus someone who might 00:27:57.420 --> 00:28:00.140 be from the community but doesn't necessarily 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:02.640 have that public health expertise or is just 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:06.039 kind of doing this ad hoc. So there's, you know, 00:28:06.059 --> 00:28:08.940 a couple of different models. And, you know, 00:28:08.940 --> 00:28:13.859 we were concerned of does this. potentially weaken 00:28:13.859 --> 00:28:17.000 that expertise and that authority by eliminating 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:20.740 some of those criteria that current health officers 00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:23.259 have to uphold. So it was a good conversation 00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:27.660 to have. I think it speaks to the larger just 00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:34.039 concern that our rural areas are becoming harder 00:28:34.039 --> 00:28:36.160 and harder to recruit health care professionals 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:38.400 to our workforce, right? Health officers is certainly 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:41.109 one of those. For sure. Public health nurses 00:28:41.109 --> 00:28:43.549 actually for local health jurisdictions has been 00:28:43.549 --> 00:28:48.859 a chronic position that has been We keep identifying 00:28:48.859 --> 00:28:51.700 that through our workforce development survey 00:28:51.700 --> 00:28:54.779 as one of the top positions that it is just chronically 00:28:54.779 --> 00:28:56.599 hard to recruit and retain staff. It's hard to 00:28:56.599 --> 00:28:59.339 pay. Hard to pay. The public health nurses. At 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:01.420 least it was, you know, when I was a county commissioner, 00:29:01.559 --> 00:29:06.119 before really FPHS kicked in, we just couldn't 00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:11.259 pay the salaries that a qualified nurse could 00:29:11.259 --> 00:29:14.009 get. At a hospital. Really anywhere else. Yeah. 00:29:14.410 --> 00:29:16.769 Clinic, hospital, it didn't matter. In fact, 00:29:16.769 --> 00:29:19.009 I even had a couple of our nurses say, what you're 00:29:19.009 --> 00:29:22.250 paying me is embarrassing. Yeah. And it was terrible. 00:29:22.450 --> 00:29:25.589 And I felt terrible when I was like, that's all 00:29:25.589 --> 00:29:28.970 I got. It's what I have. Yeah. And so we've been 00:29:28.970 --> 00:29:33.910 able to mitigate that a lot with FPHS. There's 00:29:33.910 --> 00:29:37.329 other strategies around public health nurses. 00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:40.890 For the most part, it's a nine to five. So you're 00:29:40.890 --> 00:29:43.569 not doing shift work for health care and hospitals. 00:29:43.609 --> 00:29:47.029 No emergency rooms, no late night shifts, no 00:29:47.029 --> 00:29:49.269 swing shift. It's a great schedule. It's a little 00:29:49.269 --> 00:29:53.609 bit more stable, more predictable. So nursing 00:29:53.609 --> 00:29:57.210 is one where workforce shortages are happening. 00:29:57.670 --> 00:30:00.450 And so I think this is just part of that broader 00:30:00.450 --> 00:30:05.019 health care workforce. concern that is being 00:30:05.019 --> 00:30:08.619 expressed with our hospitals our clinics or you 00:30:08.619 --> 00:30:11.960 know public health departments of how do we maintain 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:16.160 that workforce in rural areas because those folks 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:19.039 are sorely you know they're so critical yeah 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:22.319 points of access for care and so we were able 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:25.220 to articulate like we don't fully disagree that 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:28.670 like workforce is an issue absolutely But we 00:30:28.670 --> 00:30:30.569 have some creative solutions that don't necessarily 00:30:30.569 --> 00:30:33.569 require an RCW fix. Here's some that we're already 00:30:33.569 --> 00:30:37.289 currently deploying across the state. Here's 00:30:37.289 --> 00:30:39.690 some that we think are other paths forward across 00:30:39.690 --> 00:30:42.430 the state where you don't have to have an RCW 00:30:42.430 --> 00:30:44.069 change. You don't actually have to have a bill 00:30:44.069 --> 00:30:46.529 to change the law. We can do this outside of 00:30:46.529 --> 00:30:48.990 that. So, and just to be, not to break our own 00:30:48.990 --> 00:30:51.930 rule here, but RCW means Revised Code of Washington. 00:30:52.009 --> 00:30:54.569 And when you say RCW fix, you mean a change in 00:30:54.569 --> 00:30:57.109 the law. A change in the law. Yep. Well, Jamie. 00:30:57.559 --> 00:31:00.259 It is, as we mentioned, one day away from signing 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:03.460 die. Supposedly, I am hearing some rumors that 00:31:03.460 --> 00:31:06.519 that might not be the case. Knock, knock, knock. 00:31:07.079 --> 00:31:10.170 I'm hoping that is. I think we're all hoping 00:31:10.170 --> 00:31:13.529 that is the case. But the last two days were 00:31:13.529 --> 00:31:15.450 a bit of an adventure. You know, if you say the 00:31:15.450 --> 00:31:18.269 words three times, it happens. I'm not saying 00:31:18.269 --> 00:31:23.130 anything any times. Don't conjure the Beetlejuice 00:31:23.130 --> 00:31:25.470 of legislative session. I'm vaguely alluding 00:31:25.470 --> 00:31:30.130 to the fact that they did a bit of a turn in 00:31:30.130 --> 00:31:32.029 events over the last couple of days, which ate 00:31:32.029 --> 00:31:35.250 up a lot of time that they otherwise had. otherwise 00:31:35.250 --> 00:31:37.470 would have had available for things like concurrence. 00:31:37.509 --> 00:31:39.670 And there's a lot of bills sitting out there 00:31:39.670 --> 00:31:42.990 right now. Yeah, Senate got a lot done Tuesday 00:31:42.990 --> 00:31:45.200 and Wednesday. But the House did not. But the 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:47.460 House has a lot of work, yeah. And I think almost 00:31:47.460 --> 00:31:49.599 all these bills that you talked about today, 00:31:49.740 --> 00:31:51.880 as far as the ones that passed, except for the 00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:53.440 one that's already been signed by the governor. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:56.440 Yeah, 2442 and 2675. They're all hanging in the 00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:59.279 balance. And those are big ones. Yep, all hanging 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:02.420 in the balance. So there's a lot of us eagerly 00:32:02.420 --> 00:32:04.799 sitting here going, okay, is my bill going to 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:08.730 get across the finish line in time? It has yet 00:32:08.730 --> 00:32:11.430 to be seen. And you mentioned we still have budgets, 00:32:11.509 --> 00:32:16.210 which are supposed to be heard by their conference 00:32:16.210 --> 00:32:18.190 committees or their conference committee reports 00:32:18.190 --> 00:32:20.890 are supposed to be signed today. Well, it's 9 00:32:20.890 --> 00:32:23.190 .59 and they said 10 o 'clock. So we should see 00:32:23.190 --> 00:32:25.609 them within the hour or within the next two hours. 00:32:26.029 --> 00:32:28.009 What are you anticipating? What are you looking 00:32:28.009 --> 00:32:31.730 for as those final budget proposals come out 00:32:31.730 --> 00:32:34.029 to be considered by their respective chambers? 00:32:34.589 --> 00:32:38.000 Yeah, we were really pleased both. Chambers did 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:40.160 not cut foundational public health services general 00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:43.480 fund. So the governor proposed a $29 million 00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:47.839 cut and both chambers rejected that. So you should 00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:51.980 end up pretty okay then. I think with the fix 00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:56.339 that we have in the bill that got passed, plus 00:32:56.339 --> 00:32:59.619 those budget proposals, I think. is going to 00:32:59.619 --> 00:33:02.259 be looking really good. Of course, that's going 00:33:02.259 --> 00:33:04.660 to be the first thing I look at because that 00:33:04.660 --> 00:33:06.940 is just so incredibly critical and important. 00:33:08.579 --> 00:33:12.000 So once I look at that and can either take a 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:15.539 breath of relief or take a breath of despair, 00:33:15.819 --> 00:33:20.319 we'll be moving forward. One way or the other. 00:33:20.579 --> 00:33:23.640 Other things we'll be looking at, you know, public 00:33:23.640 --> 00:33:26.579 health, a lot of the things are smaller kind 00:33:26.579 --> 00:33:29.680 of one -offs. A lot of prevention work, a lot 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:32.960 of community -based work. So things like a lot 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:35.940 of the overdose and opioid response things, both 00:33:35.940 --> 00:33:39.240 chambers cut a lot of that work because it was 00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:41.940 a lot of general fund dollars. So anything that 00:33:41.940 --> 00:33:44.819 wasn't necessarily protected by the opioid settlement 00:33:44.819 --> 00:33:49.180 abatement account. was cut or reduced. So we're 00:33:49.180 --> 00:33:51.480 going to look and see how did they rectify that. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:53.380 Both chambers did it a little bit differently, 00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:56.000 focused on a couple different things. So that's 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:57.980 one area where. Yeah, when they first got that 00:33:57.980 --> 00:34:00.079 money, there were a ton of line items in the 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:02.799 budget surrounding that. Yeah, it was. It looks 00:34:02.799 --> 00:34:04.559 like a lot of that's gone now. Yeah, four, three 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:08.599 years ago. They did a lot. They funded a lot 00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:11.679 of things and they braided funds through that. 00:34:11.800 --> 00:34:14.360 Right. Which strategically was smart because 00:34:14.360 --> 00:34:17.139 then. You weren't losing things immediately. 00:34:17.219 --> 00:34:19.260 You could kind of pull things back slowly and 00:34:19.260 --> 00:34:21.480 slowly and slowly. So it's kind of happened over 00:34:21.480 --> 00:34:24.199 time. Last session, a lot of things got cut and 00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:27.280 reduced. So, you know, that's going to happen 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:29.559 again this session. Some of that was one -time 00:34:29.559 --> 00:34:31.409 funding too, right? Yeah. Yeah, and so it'll 00:34:31.409 --> 00:34:35.230 be interesting to see what gets negotiated in 00:34:35.230 --> 00:34:38.510 that space. There's other things around home 00:34:38.510 --> 00:34:41.449 visiting that we care about, other chronic disease 00:34:41.449 --> 00:34:45.590 prevention and education. We talked briefly about 00:34:45.590 --> 00:34:48.829 tobacco tax, which often goes to tobacco prevention 00:34:48.829 --> 00:34:52.449 and education. Without a new tobacco tax, that 00:34:52.449 --> 00:34:57.900 work. most likely isn't going to get funded in 00:34:57.900 --> 00:35:01.119 any meaningful way. So there's a few smaller 00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:06.760 things where we look at some things around environmental 00:35:06.760 --> 00:35:10.119 public health, like drinking water, hazardous 00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:13.900 materials, those kinds of things we look at. 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:20.900 But our big one is FPHS. Yeah, good. Well, Mystery 00:35:20.900 --> 00:35:24.530 will be... Maybe not solved, but will be revealed, 00:35:24.730 --> 00:35:27.829 right? Pretty soon. And we'll have the answers 00:35:27.829 --> 00:35:30.710 that we're looking for. How's your energy? How 00:35:30.710 --> 00:35:33.789 are you feeling? I'm tired. Yeah. It's been a 00:35:33.789 --> 00:35:37.869 rough, short session. And I think it's third 00:35:37.869 --> 00:35:42.590 winter. We had a lovely January that was just 00:35:42.590 --> 00:35:45.070 sunny and wonderful. Fall spring. Fall spring, 00:35:45.289 --> 00:35:47.909 yeah. And then we had some rain, and then we 00:35:47.909 --> 00:35:50.130 had some more lovely weather in February too, 00:35:50.269 --> 00:35:52.690 right? As far as session goes. Fall spring, the 00:35:52.690 --> 00:35:55.730 sequel. Yeah, the nicest session weather I think 00:35:55.730 --> 00:35:58.469 we've ever had. And then this week has just been 00:35:58.469 --> 00:36:02.429 dumpy. And I say that as someone who loves the 00:36:02.429 --> 00:36:06.630 rain, who loves the fog, but it's really hard 00:36:06.630 --> 00:36:09.849 to see beautiful blossoms on. trees and which 00:36:09.849 --> 00:36:11.869 are just now starting to pop yeah and then have 00:36:11.869 --> 00:36:15.630 like frost in the morning um it's been chilly 00:36:15.630 --> 00:36:19.090 you know we're you know feels like we were heading 00:36:19.090 --> 00:36:24.619 in a direction of of Growth and rebirth. Well, 00:36:24.739 --> 00:36:27.760 we still are. You know what they say in the Northwest? 00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:31.119 It's those spring rains that bring those. What 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:34.019 does it say? April showers bring May flowers. 00:36:34.179 --> 00:36:37.300 Now, we're not quite to April yet, but it does 00:36:37.300 --> 00:36:38.579 feel almost like that. And you know what May 00:36:38.579 --> 00:36:42.699 flowers bring? Allergies. Pilgrims. Oh, my goodness. 00:36:42.980 --> 00:36:45.579 Did you not know? May flowers bring pilgrims. 00:36:46.710 --> 00:36:50.369 That's the saying. Not anymore, Jamie. Not anymore. 00:36:51.170 --> 00:36:56.130 Oh, my goodness. That's like a bad dad joke. 00:36:56.309 --> 00:36:58.510 It is a bad dad joke. But I like it because I'm 00:36:58.510 --> 00:37:01.230 a big fan of dad jokes. But, yeah, this session 00:37:01.230 --> 00:37:08.010 was a grind. It was hard in a lot of ways. Not 00:37:08.010 --> 00:37:12.570 a lot of breathing room. um right not a lot of 00:37:12.570 --> 00:37:15.389 time to just kind of like okay reset um it was 00:37:15.389 --> 00:37:18.400 a lot of like pivot pivot Pivot again, pivot 00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:19.960 again. We knew going in that it was going to 00:37:19.960 --> 00:37:22.139 be a tough one, right? Facing another deficit, 00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:25.400 a lot of controversy on the local level here 00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:28.860 in the Washington State, here in Washington State, 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:31.219 trying to deal with those federal cuts that were 00:37:31.219 --> 00:37:33.300 coming down that were directly related to public 00:37:33.300 --> 00:37:36.460 health issues and Medicaid. So we knew it was 00:37:36.460 --> 00:37:37.940 going to be a tough one, but it felt a little 00:37:37.940 --> 00:37:42.980 harder maybe than we've seen some of the... More 00:37:42.980 --> 00:37:45.559 recent short sessions. And I'm sure a lot of 00:37:45.559 --> 00:37:49.219 it was due to the budget stress. And then, you 00:37:49.219 --> 00:37:52.360 know, the legislature decided to take on some 00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:55.039 major policy issues this year, too, which, you 00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:57.260 know, traditionally they don't do in short sessions. 00:37:58.099 --> 00:38:01.199 But in more recent history, they have been doing 00:38:01.199 --> 00:38:04.940 in short sessions, sort of. But the last few 00:38:04.940 --> 00:38:06.940 they hadn't. So it was kind of like they lulled 00:38:06.940 --> 00:38:08.780 us to sleep a little bit and then brought it 00:38:08.780 --> 00:38:10.820 back. Well, and when you have short sessions. 00:38:11.289 --> 00:38:16.590 where you're still on the positive side of resources, 00:38:16.889 --> 00:38:21.070 you can make bigger policy decisions, right? 00:38:21.150 --> 00:38:23.809 And so it's harder when you're making those bigger 00:38:23.809 --> 00:38:29.969 policy decisions with a smaller pot. And that 00:38:29.969 --> 00:38:34.170 was felt throughout all of session, I think by 00:38:34.170 --> 00:38:37.230 everyone. Yeah, I agree. This is just a tough 00:38:37.230 --> 00:38:40.570 year. Sometimes it's just hard to predict what's 00:38:40.570 --> 00:38:42.289 going to happen, and you just got to play it 00:38:42.289 --> 00:38:45.269 by ear. But I agree with you. I'm tired. I'm 00:38:45.269 --> 00:38:49.110 ready to go home. What are your interim plans? 00:38:49.210 --> 00:38:51.010 What fun things do you have set for the interim? 00:38:51.230 --> 00:38:53.050 I'm just going to work hard for counties. You 00:38:53.050 --> 00:38:56.789 know me. I'm just going to work hard for counties. 00:38:57.090 --> 00:38:59.730 Although my son, just on a personal level, my 00:38:59.730 --> 00:39:02.250 son is graduating with his master's degree this 00:39:02.250 --> 00:39:04.690 year. So we'll be traveling out there to see 00:39:04.690 --> 00:39:08.050 him. Any baseball games on the way? Maybe. I 00:39:08.050 --> 00:39:10.550 always try to fit in a few. I'm a huge baseball 00:39:10.550 --> 00:39:12.929 fan. So I think the Mariners are going to be 00:39:12.929 --> 00:39:17.409 good this year. We'll see. But a lot of the experts 00:39:17.409 --> 00:39:19.960 are out there saying that. Seattle is poised 00:39:19.960 --> 00:39:22.440 for another big year, which on top of a huge 00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:26.239 football year for Seattle would be amazing. Amazing 00:39:26.239 --> 00:39:28.639 for us in the Northwest, amazing for Seattle 00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:31.559 sports. And frankly, the Mariners just deserve 00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:33.840 it. They just deserve it. They've been around 00:39:33.840 --> 00:39:36.079 for a long time. They've never been to the series. 00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:40.380 This is not the Seattle Mariners commentary podcast, 00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:43.500 but I'm a huge fan. So love to talk about it. 00:39:44.519 --> 00:39:46.320 They don't have any baseball in Wisconsin, do 00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:50.000 they? The Brewers. Oh, forgot about the Brewers. 00:39:50.139 --> 00:39:52.059 Yeah, you think that it's been a long time for 00:39:52.059 --> 00:39:58.039 the Mariners. May I introduce? Yeah, Milwaukee's 00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:01.699 been a bit of a... They've had a rough go. There's 00:40:01.699 --> 00:40:03.579 been a long stretch in there for Milwaukee, too. 00:40:04.300 --> 00:40:09.969 It's only been a stretch. Well, let's hope the 00:40:09.969 --> 00:40:12.750 mariners and the brewers have successful seasons. 00:40:12.969 --> 00:40:14.409 Yes, that would be great. Well, thanks, Jamie. 00:40:14.449 --> 00:40:17.730 We could have the sausage race and the salmon 00:40:17.730 --> 00:40:20.730 run at the game. I dig it. That could be fun. 00:40:21.389 --> 00:40:25.210 Each sausage could hold hand with a salmon, and 00:40:25.210 --> 00:40:28.929 you could run together. My son, as you know, 00:40:29.110 --> 00:40:32.130 has been living in Pittsburgh, and I went to 00:40:32.130 --> 00:40:33.570 a game there last year. Do you know what the 00:40:33.570 --> 00:40:36.489 race is in Pittsburgh? So we have salmon in Seattle. 00:40:36.550 --> 00:40:37.590 We have sausage in Milwaukee. Yeah, I'm trying 00:40:37.590 --> 00:40:39.449 to think what Pittsburgh's known for, and I'm 00:40:39.449 --> 00:40:43.610 like, bridges? Steel? All of those things are 00:40:43.610 --> 00:40:49.570 true. But no. There's no bridge race, no steel 00:40:49.570 --> 00:40:54.340 race. It's pierogies. Oh, nice. Oh, dumplings. 00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:58.320 Could be fun. It's hilarious. My wife, being 00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:02.820 from Polish descent, was very pleased that there 00:41:02.820 --> 00:41:06.280 was a pierogi race. Yeah, good times. Do you 00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:09.420 then, does Pittsburgh, so Milwaukee does the, 00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:12.039 after the seventh inning stretch, they do roll 00:41:12.039 --> 00:41:14.800 out the barrel and we do polka? No. Do you do 00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:16.719 polka in the Pittsburgh games? I didn't, no, 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:23.190 no. Thank goodness. If you say that, it's fun. 00:41:23.550 --> 00:41:27.510 I'll bet it is. It's fun. I'll bet it is. Polka 00:41:27.510 --> 00:41:29.170 and baseball, that just doesn't sound right to 00:41:29.170 --> 00:41:31.650 me. But I wouldn't have put pierogies and baseball 00:41:31.650 --> 00:41:34.130 together, and it seemed to work. Well, Jamie, 00:41:34.210 --> 00:41:37.550 thanks for joining me again for this little wrap 00:41:37.550 --> 00:41:41.960 -up. We've got our final. Friday online wrap 00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:44.920 up virtually for everybody as members of LSC. 00:41:45.099 --> 00:41:47.099 And so we'll have more information for them. 00:41:47.159 --> 00:41:49.800 Then hopefully final. Hopefully final. Information 00:41:49.800 --> 00:41:52.500 on what passed, what didn't pass, and the highlights 00:41:52.500 --> 00:41:54.920 and lowlights of the budget. But interesting 00:41:54.920 --> 00:41:58.260 session. Congratulations on your successes this 00:41:58.260 --> 00:42:02.260 year. And I guess we'll look forward to next 00:42:02.260 --> 00:42:05.719 year. Happy interim. Yeah, happy interim to all 00:42:05.719 --> 00:42:08.059 of us, for goodness sakes. Thanks, Jamie. Thanks 00:42:08.059 --> 00:42:10.480 to all of you who are listeners out there and 00:42:10.480 --> 00:42:11.980 everything that you do for your communities every 00:42:11.980 --> 00:42:14.280 single day. We hope you can join us for our next 00:42:14.280 --> 00:42:21.119 chat. And until then, take good care. Thanks 00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:23.360 for tuning in to County Connection. Stay in the 00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:25.300 loop by subscribing to us through your preferred 00:42:25.300 --> 00:42:27.599 podcasting app and following us on LinkedIn, 00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:30.619 Facebook and Instagram. And don't forget to join 00:42:30.619 --> 00:42:32.719 the hub, your go to source for the latest news 00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:34.559 and updates from the Washington State Association 00:42:34.559 --> 00:42:37.260 of Counties. Until next time, stay connected 00:42:37.260 --> 00:42:38.239 and stay informed.