Tag Archives: Spokane

State leaders gear up for transportation bus tour

State transportation leaders will travel by bus to see firsthand key rail-centered projects and attend briefings by state and local officials, following a June 17 joint transportation meeting in Spokane.

“We’re going to be touring many small communities whose focus is rail. The goods they move by freight have a huge impact on Washington’s economy. I’m looking forward to meeting with local officials to find out what we can do in Olympia to ensure they can get things to market efficiently,” said Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, co-chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and co-chair of the Joint Transportation Committee. Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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