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The 2021 Legislative Session adjourned on April 25 and the Legislature made progress on many issues that are important to our community.

First and foremost, in this historic virtual session, I worked with the Legislature to provide swift pandemic relief for families, businesses and our community – as well as lay the groundwork for long-term economic prosperity.

We also made substantial investments in childcare, public health and housing affordability. The final budget prioritized helping small businesses by reducing unemployment insurance tax rate increases and providing small business grants.

And, for the first time, the Legislature funded the working-families tax credit, which is an important step to fixing our regressive tax structure.

I am also proud to have voted for bills that help secure family-wage jobs, protect our quality of life from climate change and fund the sustainable, accessible education that every student deserves.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that access to broadband is a major infrastructure necessity for our community and it is critical for economic development, healthcare and education. The 2021-2023 budget invests $155 million to improve access to broadband in rural communities like ours.

The budget has an additional $24 million to help connect students to the internet and $1.3 million to support broadband and digital equity planning. This year’s investments in digital access will expand avenues for economic growth in the 10th District for years to come.

Mental health was also one of my top priorities this session. Our young people have shown incredible resilience in the face of isolation and remote learning and they need our support to come out of this pandemic healthy and well. I worked closely with my colleagues to develop local programs aimed at reducing learning loss and improving access to mental health services for young people.

I worked closely with community leaders, health care providers and my legislative colleagues to secure a $750,000 budget proviso to improve mental health outcomes for young people in our community. My hope is that this pilot project will be replicated in other rural communities across our region and state.

The Legislature also allocated $52 million to increase the number of school counselors statewide.

I voted for House Bill 1477, which implements the national 988 system for suicide prevention services and behavioral health crisis response. This is an important – and dedicated – lifeline for our struggling loved ones to get the help they need quickly.

Finally, the Legislature passed bold legislation to protect our quality of life, address climate change and improve forest health. I am excited to see the Clean Fuels Standard enacted, which will reduce carbon in our transportation system. We also made significant investments in electric vehicle infrastructure and hybrid ferries – these investments will help develop an environmentally-friendly, cost-effective and advanced new ferry fleet that will serve Washington for generations.

I sincerely appreciate the cooperation, engagement, feedback and grace as we overcame the challenges of a remote session. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to meet with me over the past four months to provide feedback on policies and bills.

This session was unprecedented and also allowed us to expand the ways in which we can communicate with one another and be engaged in the legislative process. In this remote session, the people of Washington had more access to the Legislature than ever before and constituents did not have to travel to Olympia to participate in their democracy. I am advocating to continue to allow remote testimony for committee hearings so that residents of the 10th District can have their voices heard without having to drive to the capitol.

Finally, more than 90 percent of the votes we took were bipartisan. That is a testament to how we can listen to each other and work together, to solve our common problems.

It is an honor to serve as your representative and I look forward to seeing you soon.

Dave Paul, State House of Representatives