Dear Friends and Neighbors, People all over Washington love spending time outdoors during the summer months, and those living in the 20th Legislative District are no different. We launch our boats, grab our fishing poles, and pitch tents at campgrounds around the state. Unfortunately, our options for where to enjoy...

Watch my weekly legislative update. Dear Friends and Neighbors, The Senate Democrats released their operating budget proposal this week. It’s not good for our state. If you remember, last year, Democrats responded to a $7 billion deficit in the state budget by approving a $12.3 billion package of state and...

OLYMPIA…More than $70 million for projects in the 20th Legislative District is included in the Senate versions of the proposals for the 2025-27 supplemental capital and transportation budgets, which were released this week. Both budgets were cowritten by bipartisan teams and would pay for local priorities such as flood response,...

Blocking major highway through Seattle a matter of life or death for some   OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, made the following comments about this weekend’s anti-Israel, traffic-blocking protest across Interstate 5 through Seattle. “People have the right to peaceably protest, but they don’t have the right to put...

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,...

Several of my e-newsletters have highlighted news about the governor’s cap-and-trade program that would be more appropriately titled “cap-and-tax.” This is the policy that has resulted in a 50-cent increase to a gallon of gas — an increase that could climb much higher. As I shared before, the governor was...

Dear Friends and Neighbors, As I shared in my previous newsletter, I suspected the carbon-pricing auction held by the Washington State Department of Ecology on August 30 (as part of the Democrats’ “cap-and-tax” plan) would result in another increase in the price of fuel. The results of that auction were...

20th District senator says Democrat colleague’s proposal to reduce pain at pump also deserves consideration CENTRALIA… The excessive financial windfall from Washington’s cap-and-tax policy should be used to address the affordability crisis facing the state’s homeowners and renters, says Senate Republican Leader John Braun. As of last month, state government had...

CENTRALIA… The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Washington is now worst in the nation, and Senate Republican Leader John Braun says the state’s controversial cap-and-tax law is clearly the main driver of the price jump. Braun, from Centralia, serves Washington’s largely rural 20th Legislative District. He...