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...

OLYMPIA… The state Senate voted more than five weeks ago to make possession of hard drugs a gross misdemeanor, and improve on the Legislature’s disastrous response to the state Supreme Court’s 2021 Blake decision. The state House of Representatives just passed a version of Senate Bill 5536 that would lower...

              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 today offered this statement following the Senate’s narrow passage of legislation that would let law-enforcement officers engage in vehicular pursuits in more situations than Washington law has allowed since 2021. Senate Bill 5352 was passed with a 26-23 vote on the final day of...

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...

Senate Bill 5599 removes parents from health and mental health care decision-making process OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, made the following remarks after the state Senate’s majority Democrats passed legislation that would give youth-related facilities a troubling new excuse for withholding the whereabouts of runaway children from their parents....

CENTRALIA… Tomorrow, middle-class households across California will begin receiving tax-refund payments to help with what one state official calls “inflated costs for everyday necessities.” Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, responded by pointing out how in Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee and Democratic legislators have refused all year long to offer...

CENTRALIA… The state Senate’s Republican leader says new numbers showing crime has continued to increase across Washington should give legislators even more reason to focus on public-safety measures next year – beyond what the governor is belatedly supporting. The 2021 Crime in Washington report has murder, rape, robbery and aggravated...

OLYMPIA… Another jump in price inflation at the state and national levels has Senate Republican leaders calling again for legislative action to provide financial relief to Washington families.   New numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show the June inflation rate in Washington was 10.1% higher than a year earlier,...