Tag Archives: Yakima

King bill will lessen burden on Washington farmers, employees

Gov. Christine Gregoire signed Senate Bill 6423 Thursday afternoon, clarifying in state law that farmers and their employees are not required to possess commercial driver’s licenses under certain conditions. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, received unanimous support from the Washington State Senate and passed the House of Representatives97-1.

“It’s a tough time in our state right now, and the ag community doesn’t need to bear any more of a burden than it already has,” King said after the bill’s signing. “Our state’s farmers and farm workers won’t have to worry about breaking the law any longer and can now concentrate on moving their products and equipment to continue driving our economy forward.” Continue reading →

King’s prevailing-wage bill signed into law

Gov. Christine Gregoire signed Senate Bill 6421 Thursday afternoon, a measure that will speed up the process of returning retainage to our state’s contractors and subcontractors more quickly to avoid potentially negative effects on a contractor’s bonding capacity and financial viability. Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, sponsored the bill, which received unanimous support from the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives.

“I’m very pleased the measure had so much support,” King said after the bill-signing. “The tough economy we find ourselves in hasn’t shown many signs of improvement, and this will help our state’s contractors by allowing them to have money returned to them faster so they can in turn reinvest it in their businesses.” Continue reading →

King’s prevailing-wage bill now awaiting governor’s signature

After unanimous votes in the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives, Senate Bill 6421 is ready to be signed into law by the governor. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, says he’s pleased his measure was met with so much support.

“The bill is designed to help our state’s contractors and subcontractors have their retainage returned more quickly,” King said. “The idea is to speed up the process to avoid delayed payments that could potentially have a negative effect on a contractor’s bonding capacity.” Continue reading →

King bill exempting farmers from CDL requirements to become law

The governor is soon expected to sign a measure sponsored by Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, which would clarify in state law that farmers and those who work for farmers need not have a commercial driver’s license to move products from field to storage. Senate Bill 6423 received unanimous support from the Washington State Senate and passed the House of Representatives97-1.

“I was honored to be the prime sponsor of this farm-vehicle bill because I felt it was of great benefit to our eastern and central Washington farmers,” King said. “Relieving some of the bureaucratic burdens faced by our farmers and their employees should always be a priority, considering we depend so much on their efforts.” Continue reading →

Area lawmakers support historic, bipartisan Senate reform budget

After a series of unprecedented procedural maneuvers Friday evening, minority members of the Washington State Senate Republican Caucus joined with three like-minded Democrats to temporarily gain a philosophical majority and introduce a sustainable budget proposal that doesn’t depend on gimmicks, tricks or tax increases. Central Washington senators say not only does Senate Bill 5967 close the $1.1 billion gap, it projects to be in balance by the 2013-15 biennium. Continue reading →

Labor-committee members say bills violate historic, bipartisan workers’ compensation deal

Today brought the first deadline for policy committees in the Legislature to act on bills, and several measures that survived deal with the contentious issue of workers’ compensation – a move some legislators say violates the spirit of the highly-touted 2011 bipartisan workers’ compensation reform agreement.

At the beginning of the 2011 regular session, after years of conflict, much public debate and hours of intense negotiations among the governor and House and Senate leaders, legislators reached an historic agreement on ways to reform the costly, state-run workers’ compensation system.

Three legislators, all members of labor committees, say committee approval of several bills introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate this session risks undermining last year’s deal before it has even been fully implemented and erodes the trust needed to reach big agreements on solutions moving forward. Continue reading →

King to be honored Saturday for his role in brain injury bill’s passage

On Saturday the Brain Injury Association of Washington will recognize Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, for his efforts in getting the Zackery Lystedt law through the Legislature during the 2009 legislative session.

“It’s a real honor to be recognized like this by the Brain Injury Association of Washington, especially when it is for simply doing the right thing,” said King. “I was proud to sponsor the bill in the Senate and worked across the aisle to help garner the support of my colleagues for this important piece of legislation.” Continue reading →

Deccio ‘a dear friend and colleague,’ says King

Former Washington State Sen. Alex Deccio, who served the 14th Legislative District, passed away Tuesday evening in a Yakima hospital. Deccio’s career of public service included two terms in the House of Representatives, a term as a Yakima County commissioner, service in the Senate between 1981 and 1989, and again from 1993 until his retirement in 2005. Deccio would have been 90 years old on Friday.

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, who now serves the 14th District, issued this following statement in response to the news of Deccio’s passing: 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.”