John Braun

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia and budget leader for the Senate Republican Caucus, said this about the 2019-21 state operating budget proposed today by the Senate majority: “The Legislature is well-positioned this year to pass a budget that would support major new investments in bipartisan priorities, like special education and mental-health...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun’s proposed $500 million investment in mental-health treatment capacity is now embedded in the 2019-21 capital budget proposed Wednesday in the Senate. Braun said the capital budget’s authors are looking to put the unprecedented infusion of funding toward a new teaching hospital at the University of Washington, to...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun is inviting 20th Legislative District residents to a town hall in Chehalis from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, March 30. The meeting will be at the Veterans Memorial Museum, at 100 S.W. Veterans Way. Braun, R-Centralia, said he chose the date because Democrats who have majorities in...

OLYMPIA…The first state revenue forecast for 2019, adopted today, continues a streak of good financial news for lawmakers, with an additional $860 million anticipated to come in over the next two budget cycles: $307 million more for the remainder of the 2017-19 fiscal biennium, which ends June 30, and another...

OLYMPIA…The Senate today gave unanimous approval to bills from Sen. John Braun aimed at addressing concerns about the care of developmentally disabled Washingtonians and the management of health care for low-income residents. “It’s wrong that developmentally disabled people who don’t have medical needs are effectively being abandoned at hospitals –...

  OLYMPIA…The state Senate today gave overwhelming support to a pair of bills intended to improve the delivery of special-education services in Washington’s public schools. Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, is the prime sponsor of one of those measures: Senate Bill 5532, which focuses on policy changes to support families and...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, said he is dismayed by new legislation that would again delay long-standing efforts to reduce K-3 class sizes. Braun, an architect of the landmark education-funding updates enacted in 2017, had cautioned against the same move in 2018: “Research shows that smaller class sizes in grades K-3...

OLYMPIA…Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia and an architect of the landmark education-funding updates enacted in 2017, raised concerns about the future of those reforms following a vote today in the Senate committee on K-12 education. A majority of the committee members approved Senate Bill 5313, which would allow property-tax hikes by...

OLYMPIA…Legislation introduced today would require all three branches of state government to track and submit data regarding sexual harassment of employees for detailed annual reports that would be public. Sen. John Braun and Sen. Ann Rivers come at Senate Bill 5845 from different directions but are sponsoring it with the...