(March 9, 2017) — March is the month that most Washington state legislators schedule town hall meetings. After a busy week of floor action that ended with Wednesday’s cutoff deadline for policy bills, this Saturday, March 11 is the busiest day for these community forums. The focus is expected to return to the 2017 legislative session’s biggest priority: the state budget.
The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is urging union members and community supporters to attend their local town hall meetings (see list below). Ask your legislators:
► Will you reform our state’s upside-down tax system, where the poorest pay the highest percentage of their income in taxes and the richest pay the least?
► Will you support closing tax breaks that benefit the most wealthy among us — like the tax break on capital gains from the sale of stocks and bonds — in order to fully fund public schools as demanded by the McCleary decision?
► Will you support public services by funding the state employee contracts, which address Washington’s recruitment and retention crisis by including modest but long-overdue pay raises?
The WSLC and its affiliated unions have a tremendous stake in the outcome of this debate. The WSLC represent the interests of more than 500,000 rank-and-file union members, many of whom with children in public schools and all of whom pay for it. The WSLC also represents the teachers and other school employees whose low wages are repeatedly cited in the McCleary decision. And importantly, the WSLC represents other public service workers — the people who keep our communities safe, care for the elderly and disabled, protect our children, maintain our roads and transportation system, instruct and serve students at state universities and colleges, and provide other essential services.
This latter group are the people who will be targeted by some lawmakers to pay much more than their fair share. Legislators who say “fund schools first” but oppose reforming our upside-down tax policies in order to raise the revenue needed are essentially saying they want to fix the school funding problem by cutting other services, laying off more public employees, and freezing/cutting the pay of those who remain. That would be an extraordinary injustice to public service employees and the rest of us who rely on them to keep us safe and healthy.
Here are the legislative town hall meetings scheduled for the remainder of March: (If you aren’t sure what district you live in, click here to fund out. If no meeting is listed below for your district, contact your legislators and ask them when they will hold a public forum.)
LD 1: Senator Palumbo (D), Rep. Stanford (D) and Rep. Kloba (D)
LD 3: Senator Billig (D), Rep. Riccelli (D) and Rep. Ormsby (D)
LD 5: Rep. Rodne (R) and Rep. Graves (R)
LD 13: Senator Warnick (R), Rep. Dent (R) and Rep. Manweller (R)
LD 16: Rep. Jenkin (R) and Rep. Nealey (R)
LD 19: Rep. Walsh (R)
LD 21: Senator Lilas (D), Rep. Peterson (D) and Rep. Ortiz-Self (D)
LD 22: Senator Hunt (D), Rep. Dolan (D) and Rep. Doglio (D)
LD 23: Senator Rolfes (D), Rep. Appleton (D) and Rep. Hansen (D)
LD 24: Reps. Tharinger (D) and Chapman (D)
LD 25: Senator Zeiger (R)
LD 26: Rep. Young (R)
LD 27: Senator Darneille (D), Rep. Jinkins (D) and Rep. Fey (D)
LD 28: Rep. Muri (D) and Rep. Kilduff (D)
LD 29: Senator Conway (D)
LD 30: Rep. Pellicciotti (D) and Rep. Reeves (D)
LD 31: Rep. Stokesbary (R) and Rep. Irwin (R)
LD 31: Senator Fortunato (R)
LD 32: Senator Chase (D)
LD 33: Senator Keiser (D), Rep. Orwall (D) and Rep. Gregerson (D)
LD 35: Rep. MacEwen (R)
LD 36: Senator Carlyle (D), Rep. Frame (D) and Rep. Tarleton (D)
LD 37: Rep. Tomiko Santos (D) and Rep. Pettigrew (D)
LD 41: Senator Wellman (D), Rep. Senn (D) and Rep. Clibborn (D)
LD 43: Senator Pedersen (D), Rep. Macri (D) and Rep. Chopp (D)
LD 44: Rep. Lovick (D)
LD 45: Rep. Goodman (D) and Rep. Springer (D)
LD 45: Senator Rossi (R)
LD 47: Senator Fain (R), Rep. Hargrove (R) and Rep. Sullivan (D)
LD 48: Senator Kuderer (D), Rep. Slatter (D) and Rep. McBride (D)
LD 49: Rep. Wylie (D) and Rep. Stonier (D)
Short URL: https://www.thestand.org/?p=56146
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