Senate Democrats have presented the plan designed to help put people back to work in Washington. Senators Derek Kilmer and Jim Kastama spoke with reporters on Tuesday highlighting more than two dozen bills intended to spur job growth in Washington. Kilmer says in working with state's Economic Development Commission, their caucus has adopted three areas on which to focus their efforts.

Sen. Kilmer: “The approach the Senate Democrats have taken has been consistent with what the state’s Economic Development Commission suggests is the path forward. It’s built around three legs of the stool: workforce, infrastructure and entrepreneurship.”

Kilmer says a new approach was needed to deal with the worst recession the state has seen in over 60 years while Kastama emphasized making retraining opportunities available to allow the state to fill a large number of high tech job openings.

Sen. Kastama: “Sixty thousand jobs are available in Washington state right now, there are openings, yet we can’t find the trained people to fill those. I think we’re very fond of saying ‘we don’t have a job shortage in Washington state, we have a skill shortage in Washington state.’ ”

Legislation worker training, infrastructure improvements and college research and development investments were included in the nearly 30 bills making up the job creation package which have moved out of their original committees and to the Senate Ways and Means and Rules Committees for further consideration.