Reps present legislative wrap-up in Pullman

Gazette intern reporter

State Senator Mark Schoesler and Representative Mary Dye paid Pullman a visit Thursday, June 2, for a breakfast with residents of the Ninth District. The breakfast started at 7 a.m. at the Bell Tower venue in downtown Pullman. The event included a wrap up discussion on this past legislative session along with an open-floor discussion between the two and the attendees. Rep. Joe Schmick was unable to attend the breakfast, due to a meeting in Olympia he was attending regarding health care.

“Today's breakfast and other types of events like these means a lot to me,” said Dye. “We are on the same team, and I'm happy to be on your team, representing you all of District Nine.”

Both had a chance to open with statements reflecting on how the latest session went and some setbacks they experienced, as well as with closing statements discussing what they are looking forward to accomplishing in the future.

Schoesler spoke for the majority of the time at the event on topics such as the budget allocation for education, the opening of Lyon's Ferry Park, the ninth district's transportation opportunities, highway infrastructure, taxes, the new four-year balanced budget and the often argued-over topic of public records.

“We are hoping to see more improvements for those of us on this side of the state who live off the land,” said Schoesler, regarding those in government at the state and federal level who have pushed the needs of district nine to the side previously. “We would rather not reflect the other Washington.”

Rep. Dye spoke highly of charter schools for the majority of her time behind the microphone, expressing that people are not seeing the whole picture when it comes to them.

“Charter schools was a most important issue and we had people come to our side and give us the majority,” said Dye.

Additionally, Dye was proud of the progress made for state patrol with the increase in wages which is intended to reduce the loss of troopers who move the higher paying jobs in other police forces.

There were also disappointments. Dye spoke on how both sides were unable to come to a two-thirds majority agreement to raise taxes, saying how some recent initiatives have come to make their lives hard during session. Additionally, open source textbooks is still an issue, especially after speaking with Washington State University students about how expensive textbooks are.

Some questions asked when the floor was opened to the public included how can legislators guarantee Washington state is truly different than Washington, D.C., when keeping residents in mind, the concern of local education in community colleges in the ninth district, the McCleary decision, as well as concerns about the transportation package for the east side of the state.

“The four-year balanced budget is key to not be like the other Washington,” Schoesler commented.