Southwest Washington’s newest Republican state lawmakers — 18th District Reps. Stephanie McClintock and Greg Cheney — joined hundreds of business leaders, business owners and local officials for the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative outlook Friday morning.
Along with McClintock and Cheney were fellow Republicans Rep. Paul Harris and Sen. Lynda Wilson from the 17th District, and state Reps. Ed Orcutt and Peter Abbarno from the 20th District.
Many of the legislators’ top priorities were the same as last year’s: the Interstate 5 replacement bridge, public safety, affordable housing, post-pandemic economic recovery, education and tax relief for business and individuals, among others.
As a former school board member and with two children in college, McClintock said she was particularly interested in the work of the college and workforce development committee. She said technical and trades programs need to be more available, especially in high school, to give young people another path after high school.
“We need to market those programs better, that’s really what I’ve noticed,” McClintock said.
Cheney said he was interested in serving on the capital budget committee.
“There’s a lot of programs and projects that are going to need to get done, there’s some backlog,” he said.
Cheney, who is a practicing attorney, said the Legislature has a lot of policy decisions to make related to the Washington Supreme Court’s Blake decision and “how we’re going to deal with, going forward, what are going to be legalized drugs here when that temporary fix expires at the end of 2023.”
Along with wanting to repeal police reform bills passed by Democrats in 2021, the legislators said they also supported creating a regional law enforcement training center in Clark County.
The county and state’s continuing homelessness crisis remains a top priority for Harris.
“Hopefully, nobody wants to be on the streets. I think they’re there because they have issues with life,” Harris said. “Behavioral health will be an important topic to discuss and substance abuse and the Blake decision.”
Harris said the state needs to look for ways get individuals the mental health and/or substance abuse help they need, even those not ready to accept help.
While the Legislature won’t convene the 2023 session until Jan. 9, Abbarno and Wilson have already filed several bills focused on many of the same priorities discussed Friday.
Wilson is sponsoring Senate Bill 5011, which would repeal resentencing provisions for individuals convicted of second-degree robbery under the state’s three-strikes law, the same provision used by convicted killer Roy Russell earlier this year to vacate the mandatory life sentence he received in the killing of Vancouver teen Chelsea Harrison.
Wilson has also introduced a bill that would require the joint transportation committee conduct a study of a third bridge over the Columbia River.
A third bill filed by Wilson would add synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, to the endangerment with a controlled substance statute.
One of the bills filed by Abbarno would provide employer tax incentives to support veterans and military families, while another bill would repeal the long-term care tax passed in 2019.
Wilson said most of the bills that pass through the Legislature are passed through bipartisan efforts. She said the best advice she could give to new legislators is to get to know their colleagues and “find time to have conversations with them outside of committee and try to find common ground.”
McClintock and Cheney will be sworn in on Jan. 9 prior to the start of the 2023 session.
