6th Legislative District                       March 19, 2010

Friends and Neighbors,

I’m as disappointed as anybody that I’m still writing from Olympia, where the Legislature’s special session appears as though it’s going to go into a second week. As you can imagine, I’m eager to get home.

This week I’ve got news about a bill I pushed through the Legislature this year and a new website that ought to be of use to anyone thinking about going back to school to be trained for a new career.

Bills get signed into law

While we’re all waiting for a breakthrough in budget negotiations, the governor has been busy signing bills into law. This week she signed a couple of mine.

I’ve written a couple times this session about Senate Bill 6627. That’s the bill I introduced to give people who live in Spokane and work in Idaho a new way to get the prescription drugs they need.

Well, I can happily report the governor signed it into law Wednesday.

Current law recognizes the increasingly mobile nature of our society by allowing Washington pharmacies to fill prescriptions written by physicians, osteopaths, dentists, podiatrists and veterinarians from neighboring states and British Columbia.

But pharmacists are not allowed to fill prescriptions written by advanced registered nurse practitioners in those states. My bill will change that when it takes effect in another three months, increasing access to prescription drugs for those who need them.

And just this afternoon the governor signed into law my bill to give cities with populations up to 300,000 the ability to annex into fire protection districts with a public vote. I introduced Senate Bill 6418 at the request of the city of Spokane so that larger communities such as Spokane could have more flexibility to determine the level of fire service they deem appropriate.

Find the college degree program that’s right for you

The state got more discouraging news this week when it was revealed that some of the job gains we made in January were lost in February. Unemployment is now at 9.5 percent.

This has sent lots of laid off workers to our state’s community colleges looking to get re-trained for new careers. And it’s no mystery why. Retraining programs have job placement rates of over 80 percent. And most people end up making more money in their new careers than they were making in their old ones.

But how do you find the right degree program that’s right for you? Well, the state’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board has introduced a cool new website that will help you sort through more than 5,000 public and private training programs.

You can find it at CareerBridge.wa.gov. There you’ll find detailed information about available programs by geographic region, average wages and job prospects by career choice, information about various training providers in Washington and even demographic information about students.

It’s a site that employers can use, too, to learn about which programs are developing the kinds of skills that they’re seeking in new hires. Check it out.

Keep in touch

It’s my great hope that when I sit down to write my next update, it’ll be from my downtown office in Spokane. I’m still hopeful legislative leaders will be able to wrap up budget negotiations quickly.  But the gravity of the problems our state is facing makes reaching these final decisions all the more difficult.

In the meantime, feel free to call or write with your questions and comments. I’d love to hear from you.