State Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, released a statement on Sunday highlighting Republican achievements during the 105-day 2023 legislative session.
“Republicans have a lot to be proud of this year. We were able to address each of our top priorities: public safety, affordability and education. We had some big disappointments as well, but we fought hard. We were able to pass some important legislation and prevent some bad legislation from moving forward,” Braun said.
In his statement, Braun said public safety was a top priority not only for Republicans, but for Washington residents generally. Braun said communities are “plagued with homelessness, violent crime, drug abuse, auto theft and retail theft” and said some feel as if they are under siege.
“Yet Democrats pushed legislation that would lower the penalties for criminals and ignored the pleas of victims’ families. While we did pass a bill that expands the list of crimes where the standard for police pursuit is ‘reasonable suspicion’ instead of ‘probable cause,’ the standard does not apply to auto theft or reckless driving,” Braun said.
Braun added the bill was only a “half-step” in the right direction. He said the bill was opposed by law enforcement and the mother of a girl who died after being hit by a stolen truck. The mother testified the legislation would not have saved her daughter.
“Sadly, the House Democrats aggressively fought against a bipartisan compromise on the bill to address the use and possession of hard drugs. Instead, they pushed a version of the bill that law enforcement has said is worse than passing no bill at all. Fortunately, it failed because it prevents cities and counties from taking a more assertive anti-drug approach,” Braun said.
For affordability, Braun said Republicans were able to stop what he referred to as “outrageous” tax increases, including a proposal to increase property taxes by $12 billion over the next 10 years and another to tax drivers by miles driven.
“These would have disproportionately harmed middle and lower-income families, just as the shortage of affordable housing has,” Braun said.
Braun added the Legislature “made great strides” in passing zoning permitting reform legislation that will increase buildable land and make it easier for builders to increase the housing supply and allow more people to become homeowners.
Braun expressed some disappointment in the area of education, pointing particularly to the issue of learning loss related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have said many times that the high level of learning loss suffered by Washington’s school children is the equity issue of our time because it has increased the learning gap, leaving children of color and those in lower-income families further behind. I’m very disappointed that the $70 million allocated in the Senate budget proposal to close that gap was absent from the final budget. That’s a huge disservice to our kids,” Braun said.
However, Braun did praise increased funding for special education programs.
“Republicans have fought for five years for more special education funding because the kids receiving those services deserve better than they’ve been getting,” Braun said.
Under legislation passed during the legislative session, $800 million was allocated for special education programs over four years.
