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OLYMPIA–To say that the last few years have been challenging is a major understatement, and serving as your voice in Olympia has been no different. I knew starting as a new legislator in the middle of a pandemic wasn’t going to be easy. The legislative process is unique under normal circumstances, even more so when it’s almost entirely virtual. Each day I am learning something new, and in my short time serving the 16th Legislative District as your state senator, I am finding that while there...
By Sen. Perry Dozier We all want transparency and accountability from those in positions of authority. I recognize the frustration that led to 2020’s protests and cries for police reform. Community members are right to expect justice and fairness, yet the police reform bills passed during the 2021 legislative session are unlikely to deliver that. Unfortunately, they will instead tie the hands of our men and women in uniform in a way that may have very negative consequences for public safety a...
OLYMPIA–I want to give my Democratic colleagues in the state Legislature credit. In a year when state coffers are overflowing and there is no financial emergency–still they have managed to break the bank. This couldn't have been easy, and it warrants special recognition. In a year when our majority colleagues in the House and Senate are pushing extreme legislation designed to turn the state into a Seattle-styled progressive utopia, their budget proposals wrap all the worst ideas into a sin...
OLYMPIA–After Senate Democrats passed a pair of bills Thursday night that would cause gas and diesel prices to skyrocket, Sen. Perry Dozier is warning food costs would rise and small farmers would be driven out of the business. Dozier, R-Waitsburg, a life-long wheat grower, called the measures “a poison pill for agriculture” and said they would have the most profound effect on farming of any legislation passed in the last 40 years. The steep increases in fuel costs are a top priority for major...
OLYMPIA–Last week the Legislature got a terrific piece of news. State tax collections have rebounded despite one of the worst economic situations we’ve ever faced. The latest projection adds $3.3 billion, and we’re right back where we were before the COVID shutdown. The strange thing about it was the reaction of our Democratic colleagues. They said they wouldn’t let this good news stand in the way of their brave and noble effort to impose an income tax on the people of Washington. And never m...
OLYMPIA–Three weeks ago, Southeast Washington dodged a bullet. Gov. Jay Inslee announced every other area of the state would move to Phase 2 of his COVID lockdown plan, allowing partial reopening of restaurants, gyms, and other businesses. But not ours, because of alarmingly high hospitalization rates. It was a mistake. A single hospital in Walla Walla misreported its COVID figures. If it wasn’t for the eagle-eyed county officials who caught the error and brought it to the attention of the Dep...
OLYMPIA–The meltdown at the state Department of Employment Security ought to teach us a lesson. It's easy for government to create problems, not so easy for the Legislature to come back in and clean up the mess. We ought to keep this in mind as the Legislature debates some of the big, bold ideas our liberal colleagues are bringing to the table this year–for an income tax, big increases in gas prices, greater government control of industry, and many, many more. Many of these policies are so big...
