Friends and Neighbors, This will be my final e-newsletter for 2023. You will receive my next one during the first week of January, so I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The 2024 Legislative Session begins Monday, Jan. 8. It will end Thursday,...

Dear Friends and Neighbors, The state of Washington’s K-12 education system remains one of my top priorities as we approach the 2024 legislative session. And, according to the Seattle Times, significant learning loss remains a critical problem.   The equity issue of our time Last year, I worked to get...

Dear friends and neighbors, Republicans have talked a lot about the record increases in the price of gas. We’ve been clear that the tax program the Democrats refer to as “cap-and-trade” or “cap-and-invest” (but we call “cap-and-tax”) is to blame for Washington having the highest/second-highest gas prices in the nation. ...

Dear friends and neighbors, Although the legislature isn’t in session, it’s important to continue updating you on developments that will affect your families. At the moment, Washington has the second-highest gas prices in the nation. On Aug. 30, another carbon credit auction for the Democrat-sponsored cap-and-tax program will take place....

OLYMPIA… In what amounts to the ninth inning of the 2023 legislative session, more than two-thirds of the state Senate’s majority Democrats have slid an extreme tax-increase proposal into the lineup of bills still in play. Senate Bill 5770 would raise the limit on increases in state and local property...

              Learn more about what the Legislature is working on to deal with student learning loss and the needs of special education students.

OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, shared the following comments upon the passage of Senate Bill 5311, which provides $800 million in additional funding for special education programs in Washington schools. “Special education programs in Washington’s schools have been chronically underfunded. Although the funding in this bill still doesn’t go...

CENTRALIA… Senate Republican Leader John Braun says the renewed debate about the rising cost of college tuition is the one good thing about the Biden administration’s move to write off hundreds of billions of dollars in outstanding college loans. Braun, prime sponsor of 2015’s historic College Affordability Program, offered the...

OLYMPIA… More young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities will have access to “School to Work” services under legislation signed today by the governor. In areas where students with intellectual and developmental disabilities have access to such services, they are three times more likely to be employed when they leave...