Your democracy does work

Here’s an inside look at how your democracy works in ­Olympia. 

We just passed the deadline for bills to make it out of the House of Origin, meaning House bills needed to pass the House and Senate bills had to get voted out of the Senate. 

That meant we spent all day debating bills for about a week. More than once, we voted until about 2 a.m.  

I’m proud to report that we actually agree far more often than we disagree. Of the 270 bills we passed this year in the House, 76% received strong bipartisan support and 54% were passed unanimously. Those agreements simply don’t make the front page of the paper. 

Now, we’re back in committees, considering all the bills the Senate passed. Across the rotunda, senators are doing the same thing with our House bills. 

Bills I introduced that passed the House include: 

Capping the costs of inhalers and epi-pens (House Bill 1979): Many people rely on inhalers for asthma and epinephrine injectors for deadly allergies. It’s more common than you think, and these two medical devices have become very expensive when the costs to produce them are cheap. 

To give people a break, my legislation caps the cost of these devices at $35. It matches the cap we placed on insulin last year.

Portable orders for life-sustaining treatment (House Bill 2166): People, often with serious health conditions, may decide to limit aggressive care options or elect to not receive CPR. This is a difficult decision made with their doctor, and we should respect that. Right now, it’s hard for those wishes to be known outside of hospitals. This legislation helps paramedics and EMTs recognize medical jewelry linked to these directives and creates a statewide database of people who have them. 

Dual Credit (House Bill 1146): It’s easier than ever for students to earn college and high-school credit at the same time, but few families know about all their options. This law requires public schools to make students and their families aware of dual enrollment programs. 

Ferries: Ferries are essential lifelines for our region. I’ve worked hard to expand programs to recruit and train new ferry staff, while also protecting the preservation and construction budgets for ferries. 

What’s next? 

There’s a small window of time for the House to consider policy bills from the Senate and for the Senate to pass our bills out of committee and their floor. 

The House and the Senate will release their operating, transportation and capital construction budgets soon. 

Much of the rest of this session revolves around negotiating differences between those budgets and disagreements to any changes made to bills sent to the other chamber. 

I’ll keep you informed when those budget proposals get released and tell you about major actions on issues as we near the end of the 2024 session. 

As always, it is an honor to serve as your representative, and I encourage you to contact me with your ideas, stories or comments. 

Rep. Dave Paul lives in Oak Harbor. He’s Deputy Floor Leader and Vice Chair of the House Transportation Committee.