Legislative Update – Feb. 28, 2017

February 28, 2017

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I hope this update finds you well. As you may have noticed by the banner above, I was recently appointed to the Senate to replace Sen. Brian Dansel who resigned to take a job in Washington D.C. Thank you for your continued confidence in me. It is a tremendous honor to serve you in Olympia.

This new position comes with a few new rules. One such rule requires people who wish to receive my email updates to “opt-in.” I send out periodic e-mail updates throughout session to keep you informed of important issues and to solicit your thoughts. It is critical that if you wish to continue receiving these updates that you click the banner below or subscribe here.

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Join us next week where we will discuss the proposed solutions to the Hirst decision, and measure we are taking to protect your access to water. Sign up here!

My First Senate Bill – Bringing jobs back to Rural Washington

Rural economies have been slow to recover and one-size-fits-all laws and regulations create unnecessary roadblocks to job creation in our communities. I am proud that Senate Bill 5790 was my first bill to pass off the senate floor because it will provide rural counties and cities more flexibility under the Growth Management Act.

It will allow counties and cities to adjust development plans to boost economic growth in times of economic deterioration. The law also allows counties to provide for job creation and economic development in their comprehensive plans and requires the Growth Management Hearings Board to consider local elected officials economic development decisions when their communities face economic hardship.

Noxious Weeds on State Lands

Lack of state action to control noxious weeds on state lands are burdensome on adjacent landowners and local noxious weed boards. Yesterday, the Senate passed my bill, SB 5754, that would allow our counties to recover costs from the state for noxious weed control on state lands. Currently, state law allows counties to take action to control noxious weeds at the cost of the landowner when the landowner does not. However, when the state is the landowner, the county cannot recover the cost. This bill will allow a county to place a lien on the state land and collect the cost it spent to control the noxious weeds.

Telephone Town Hall Recap

Last week I joined Rep. Kretz and Rep. Maycumber for another telephone town hall. Again, we had tremendous participation with over 3,000 people joining the call. I appreciate everyone who took the time to submit questions and participate in our live survey. We asked three questions about issues important to the 7th District:

  1. How do you feel about the economy where you work and live?
  2. The federal government is now considering reintroducing grizzly bears to Washington State. What do you think of this effort?
  3. With record- setting wildfires the past few years, what do you think of the command structure used to fight the fires? Form the people making the decisions of who goes where with what, and how those commands were relayed down to the “boots on the ground.”

You can view the results to the survey here.

Contact My New Office

If you have any comments, questions or concerns about the questions above or any other issues of interest please do not hesitate to call, write or email my office. Again, it is a tremendous honor to represent the people of the 7th District.

Phone: (360) 786-7612

Email: Shelly.Short@leg.wa.gov

Mail: P.O. Box 40407

Olympia, Washington  98504-0407