Governor’s plan for Phase 3 echoes Republican’s “Open Safe, Open Now”

OLYMPIA…Top leadership of the Washington State Senate Republican Caucus offered these remarks after the governor announced today that Washington is moving forward in his phased approach to reopening the state in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Phase 3, which begins March 22, allows businesses statewide to open to 50 percent capacity, including restaurants and bars. Alcohol service will be extended to midnight. And professional sporting events will be able to welcome fans back to stadiums, up to 25 percent capacity.

Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia:

“I commend the governor for realizing it was time to move our state forward to Phase 3. Opening businesses to 50 percent capacity will put many people back to work and allow them to feed their families and pay their bills. My reaction must pale in comparison to the reaction that families across the state are having. People have gone through tremendous hardships. Maybe this will give them hope for the future.

“It’s important to continue safety protocols like wearing masks, observing social distancing and washing our hands. This fight against the pandemic isn’t over. But the science shows that we can reopen to 50 percent safely and the data shows that it’s time to get back to a higher level of normalcy. We should all be celebrating cautiously.”

Senate Republican Caucus Chair Ann Rivers, R-La Center:

“I so appreciate that the governor incorporated many details of our ‘Open Safe, Open Now’ plan for moving to Phase 3 into the plan he announced today. We hoped he was paying attention to our good ideas, even though they came from Republicans. Today’s announcement shows what can happen when all voices are heard. I do wish he had worked with us more directly since collaboration is how we are going to recover fully. But I am very encouraged.

“I’m thrilled for all the businesses and families that are going to come back from the brink of ruin. I know how much people want to return to work. Heck, I know how much people want to be at the Mariners game on opening day. I pray that infection rates and hospitalization rates continue to drop so we can all move to a full reopening as soon as possible. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do that when the governor reevaluates the metrics in three weeks.”

OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, sent Gov. Jay Inslee the following letter regarding the continued use of security fencing around many of the buildings on the Capitol Campus in Olympia.

February 3, 2021

Governor Jay Inslee
Office of the Governor
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002

Dear Governor Inslee,

Although the Governor’s Mansion is used for public functions, it is also the private
residence for you and the First Lady. It was wrong for protestors to break through a
gate in the security fence surrounding the mansion, as they did on January 6. I have
consistently spoken against protests at the homes of public officials.

Public areas are the proper forum for dissent — not the places where public officials
and their families live. This is true whether you are the mayor of Seattle or the
governor of Washington.

On the Capitol campus, the space between the Legislative Building and the Temple of
Justice has been a traditional public forum. People have gathered there for almost 100
years to engage in constitutionally protected free speech.

After the January 6 incident, you made the decision to erect a tall metal fence – a wall,
in effect – around the Legislative Building. It was your judgment that in balancing the
constitutional right of free speech near the Legislative Building and potential threats to
the security of legislative- and executive-branch staff and officials, you would err on
the side of safety.

At the time, the Secretary of the Senate was gracious enough to contact the Senate
Republican Caucus and ask if we wanted the security fencing to surround the
Newhouse Building, where most of our members have their offices.

Before making our decision, we reached out to law-enforcement authorities. None
knew of specific threats directed at the Legislative Building and the Capitol campus as
a whole, so we chose to err on the side of the public’s right of free expression. We
thanked the Secretary for making the inquiry but declined the offer.

Governor, that was the first week of January. This is the first week of February.
Respectfully, it is time to take down the fences which are separating the public from
their elected officials in the Legislature. Nearly one month after being banned, the
people should at least be allowed to return to the traditional public forum on the steps
of the Legislative Building.

If there are specific and credible security threats which would counsel against taking
the barriers down, we would appreciate being briefed by specific law-enforcement
authorities. Otherwise, we serve the people and are accountable to them. During this
session, we are making decisions impacting the lives of every Washingtonian. To the
extent possible, we are still doing so on the inside of the Legislative Building. If you
won’t let the people inside the building to serve as witnesses to our actions, we at least
should be able to hear their voices from their traditional public forum on the steps of
the building. Restricting them to rain-soaked lawns far from the ears of legislators is
not an acceptable alternative.

Governor, please take down the fences which are needlessly keeping the people away
from the Legislative Building – the People’s House – and their legislators.
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Sen. John Braun
Republican Leader

cc: Senator Billig
Speaker Jinkins
Representative Wilcox

Senator John Braun and Senator Jeff Wilson encouraged, hopeful for governor’s announcement

OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, and Sen. Jeff Wilson, ranking Republican on the Senate State Government and Elections Committee, released the following remarks after reading in the media the Senate majority leader’s comments that the governor would be loosening restrictions on restaurants and other businesses.

Braun, R-Centralia, and Wilson, R-Longview, have fought to get Senate Bill 5114 passed, which would bring the entire state into Phase 2 of the governor’s reopening plan.

“While we are encouraged by the possibility that the governor will reopen more of Washington’s businesses, we need to use science to safely open businesses immediately. This will address the very real crisis our family-owned businesses are suffering. We know we can gather in safe, regulated public spaces. Infection rates in restaurants are less than one percent. It is a very distant third behind gathering in private homes and health-care settings. Other states that are fully open have far lower death rates than we do here in Washington.”

Gov. Inslee’s office announced this morning that it he is holding a news conference this afternoon to provide an update on his Roadmap to Recovery.

OLYMPIA… Senate Republican Leader John Braun offered these remarks after the Senate majority avoided taking action today on Senate Bill 5114, which would immediately move all eight regions of the state to Phase 2 of Gov. Jay Inslee’s latest economic restart plan:

“SB 5114 is the bipartisan plan to safely reopen Washington. It received an enormous outpouring of support at a public hearing before the Senate’s state government committee a week ago. This morning the Republican leader on that committee made a motion asking for a vote. Instead of responding to the motion, the committee chair adjourned the meeting. The restaurants and other small businesses that are struggling across our state deserve something more encouraging than that.

“Republicans trust the employers of Washington to reopen safely. We’re serious about giving them that opportunity. One way or another they need to get to Phase 2 of the restart plan. This afternoon we made a motion aimed at bringing the safe-reopening bill to a full Senate vote. For the second time today, our request for a vote on SB 5114 went nowhere. The majority dodged it by rejecting the motion.

“We don’t question that the governor and the majority want to protect public health. It just makes little sense that both are so resistant to letting restaurants resume indoor service at 25-percent capacity when it’s clearly a meaningful form of pandemic relief that wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime. People want to gather. They can do so at house parties out of public view, or in the controlled environment of a restaurant or bar. Just yesterday the governor finally acknowledged there is no such thing as a zero-risk environment. We have confidence that small businesses are ready to minimize the risk to all who step inside. Republicans are not going to let up on this.”

Senate Republican Leader is grateful small business workers had their voices heard

OLYMPIA… Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, issued this statement after dozens of people testified this morning before the Senate State Government and Elections Committee in support of Senate Bill 5114. It would move all regions of Washington to Phase II of Gov. Jay Inslee’s latest reopening plan and, among other things, allow restaurants to resume restricted indoor dining.

“I’m grateful that well over 1,000 people signed in as supporting this bipartisan bill, on top of those who were allowed to speak directly to the committee. That’s a staggering number, but it reflects how the hospitality industry in particular has been staggered by these economic restrictions. Thousands of restaurants and other small family businesses statewide have been lost for good – decimated by rules that are not supported by data and science and are enforced by state employees who have not had to skip a single paycheck.

“Today’s testimony spoke to the desperation people are feeling. Employers have had to repeatedly lay off people who depend on those jobs to feed their families. The businesses that are hanging on have suffered enormous losses. They can’t afford to cover the expenses continue to add up during the shutdown. We heard from one business owner who owes more than $300,000 in rent. That’s crushing. Not only have people been put out of work, but many are buried in debt they can’t ever hope to recover from. That kind of despair takes an enormous toll on mental health, which can lead to increased suicides and substance abuse.

“Indoor dining is prohibited on the assertion that restaurants are ‘super spreaders’ of the virus. The data shows the highest rate of infection comes from inside our own homes. Health-care settings come in second. The infection rate tied to restaurants is well down the list – less than 1 percent of total cases. No wonder Chicago’s Democrat mayor has called for restaurants in that city to reopen immediately. She recognizes people are at more risk gathering at home instead of gathering in a public place under strict COVID-19 guidelines. The restaurant shutdown is not reducing the spread, it’s feeding it. The data being offered does not show the correlation or causation necessary to justify crushing the livelihoods of people who are following the rules.

“Forty five out of 50 states have restaurants open, including six that are doing better at managing the spread of the virus than our state. The five states with the lowest virus rates are all open. Washington has some of the strictest safety restrictions for restaurants. We should allow them to open and trust them to follow those restrictions. We can open our economy and still reduce the infection rate. If they can do it, we can do it.

“No one wants the virus to continue to spread and overwhelm our frontline health-care workers. My wife is a nurse and I see the stress the virus is putting on her and her coworkers. But it’s clear that the presentation of the data is not telling the whole story and that the shutdown is not working. The virus continues to spread. Encouraging people to engage in safe, regulated environments is the right path forward.”

Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia and the ranking Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, gave this statement after Gov. Jay Inslee unveiled his 2018 supplemental budget proposal Thursday morning.

“I’m encouraged by a few components of the governor’s budget plan. I’m glad he is finally adhering to the four-year balanced budget law in crafting his budget, and I appreciate that he is embracing the bipartisan work on the K-12 education funding structure enacted last session. I ask that the governor veto any budget that isn’t balanced over four years.

“My main concern is with aspects of how Governor Inslee balances the budget, specifically with the carbon tax and its impacts on Washington businesses and citizens, and the proposed tapping of the state’s ‘Rainy Day Fund.’ We will see whether there are enough votes in the Legislature to pass these proposals.

“It’s important that we show discipline by keeping a sizable balance in the ‘Rainy Day Fund’ and budget reserve so we can weather an unexpected economic downturn or state revenue drop.  A strong ‘Rainy Day Fund’ goes hand-in-hand with a balanced budget to help ensure Washington’s economic security.

“The governor’s budget proposal is just a starting point. Now it’s up to legislative budget leaders to move forward and develop a prudent and responsible supplemental budget that makes necessary adjustments to the two-year spending plan instead of tacking on expensive wish-list spending items.”