Tag Archives: Seattle

Streamlining education for our kids

Kindergarten Students Learning to Tell TimeAnother issue I’ll be focusing on this session is education reform. Our smaller school districts are often overburdened by regulations and requirements handed down from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) in Olympia. My goal is to introduce two bills that will help streamline operations for our rural school districts to help them save much-needed revenue and free up more resources to focus on their kids.

One of my proposals would require a review of all the required reports that OSPI mandates of its school districts to see which ones are actually used. There are dozens of reports each district must complete during each school year and while larger districts like Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane may have the personnel to accomplish the task, smaller districts often have a minimal amount of staff who are already working at peak production. Continue reading

King, Eide call first five transportation feedback forums a “great success”

feedbackforumAfter establishing the goal of listening to the public’s input on transportation issues at venues across Washington, state transportation leaders are now halfway through their ten-city tour and are calling the feedback forums a great success.

“At the forum in Pasco last week, the governor made an appearance and was impressed by the level of engagement from citizens across Washington,” said Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, and co-chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. “We’ve heard the calls for more revenue and we’ve heard the calls for no gas tax increases, but perhaps the clearest message we’ve heard is that the state’s transportation system needs help, and that some of our reforms would do a lot to restore the public’s confidence in that agency. Continue reading

King adds three stops to Senate’s transportation feedback tour

Tour MapMore people in Washington will have a chance to be heard now that Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, has announced the addition of three locations to the Senate’s statewide transportation feedback tour. The additional stops in Seattle, Tri-Cities and Bellingham stem from an overwhelming public response to a series of public forums scheduled around the state to gauge public opinion on potential transportation reforms and revenue.

“So many people were interested in attending that we had to add a few more to accommodate the overflow,” King said. “It’s a good day in state government when there are so many people interested in participating that you have to increase the number of meetings.” Continue reading

Dates set for bipartisan statewide transportation forums

Senate Transportation CommitteeSenate Transportation Committee co-chairs Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, and Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, today announced the dates and cities that will be included in a statewide listening tour aimed at gathering input from Washington residents on building a new package of transportation projects.

Beginning on Sept. 17 in Bellevue, legislators will hold at least one public meeting in each of the Department of Transportation’s six regions. Each meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and last until 9 p.m. and feature presentations from regional transportation officials, as well as opportunity for public comment. Continue reading

King announces listening tour to discuss MCC reform ideas

Audio FileSen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, announced today that he’s delivered a letter to Washington State Department of Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson, requesting her agency’s cooperation in coordinating a series of public meetings around the state. King, who serves as co-chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he and his colleagues in the Senate’s Majority Coalition Caucus would like to gather as much input as possible from Washington residents and WSDOT officials in various regions around the state in order to craft a viable transportation package that could be supported by lawmakers as well as taxpayers.

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Bipartisan Senate committee unveils 2013-15 transportation budget

king_120Making good on promises to continue a tradition of cooperation, leaders of the Washington State Senate Transportation Committee today proposed a bipartisan transportation budget that would spend $8.7 billion in 2013-15: $5.3 billion in capital construction spending and $3.4 billion for operating costs and debt service payments. The proposal would complete the tunnel replacing Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct, restore and maintain ferry service levels, and improve or preserve highways across Washington, as well as make a number of system-wide reforms.

“We were faced with a particularly challenging set of circumstances this year, but I’m proud that this committee has not only faced those challenges but overcome them,” said Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, and co-chair of the transportation committee. “We’ve been able to maintain funding for all the projects to which the state is already committed, and we’ve even identified a number of areas where we can generate savings by implementing reforms.” Continue reading

Sen. King statement on the passing of Sen. Scott White

State Sen. Scott White, D-Seattle, suffered a heart attack and died last Friday. According to the coroner’s office, the 41-year-old White had an enlarged heart, a congenital condition that had not been previously diagnosed. In response to the news, Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, who served with White on the Senate Transportation Committee, issued the following statement:

“I wish to express to his family my deepest sympathies on the passing of Senator White. I had the honor and privilege of working with him this past session, not only on transportation but other issues in which we were deeply engaged. I found Senator White to be a man of high integrity, willing to work across party lines and able to listen considerately to help develop solutions that all sides were comfortable with. He was an easy person to respect and work with and his passing is a great loss to the Senate and the state of Washington.”