Home | About Kevin | News & Media | Email Updates | The Ledger | Contact
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
I hope you are safe and well and enjoying this holiday season. As we get ready to put 2023 in the books and look forward to 2024, I’m excited to get back to Olympia and continue working for the people of the 17th District. It’s truly an honor to serve the people and communities in my district, and there are several important issues that are at the top of my list of priorities.
School Construction and Education
I’m a huge advocate for schools and education. Our kids need to have access to the best learning opportunities possible, and much of that requires more funding for new infrastructure, especially in rural areas. To that end, I strongly support House Bill 1044 from Rep. Joel McEntire (R-Cathlamet). This legislation, which would provide much-needed help to smaller schools, would create a supplementary capital grant program for school districts with enrollments of 1,000 students or fewer for comprehensive instructional facility modernization or replacement.
It would also require that grants be coordinated with the School Construction Assistance Program to the extent that a district has program eligibility. It would require school districts awarded a grant to provide a district share equal to 50% of a district’s remaining debt capacity for capital purposes, capped at an estimated property tax rate increment of $1.75 per thousand of assessed district value, under various assumptions. Additionally, it would establish various project eligibility criteria, grant prioritization, and an administrative process. I’m working hard to help push this bill through and doing whatever I can to help schools of all sizes.
Helping Local Beverage Producers
I’m also working to help businesses, including beverage producers throughout the state when emergency situations occur. I will be introducing a bill very soon that would allow beverage producers a temporary emergency permit – with no fees – to move their place of business to another beverage producing company in the event a natural disaster forces them to close.
Last summer, the Tunnel Five Fire forced several wineries to shut down production. The remaining wineries offered to open their facilities to five other companies. However, current law would not allow that to happen. We need to do what we can to help these businesses continue operating during emergency situations.
More Funding for Important Services
As a member of the House Capital Budget Committee, I’m also looking forward to getting more funding for important projects in our district. Last session, I helped secure $19.3 million in funding for several projects in our District, including:
- $2 million for the Washougal Civic Campus Project (Camas).
- $1.5 million for the West Fork Washougal Conservation.
- $1.25 million for the Green Mountain Wildlife Recreation program.
- $1 million for the Port of Skamania Cascades Business Park (North Bonneville).
- $1 million for the Rock Creek Bridge replacement.
- $1 million for the Fenton Community Park.
- $1 million for Criminal Justice Regional Training Facilities.
- $750,000 for Stevenson-Carson High School.
- $730,000 for the Camas Public Library.
- $669,000 for the Jones Creek Fish Barrier removal.
- $515,000 for Lacamas Lake Water improvements (Camas).
This session, I will work on obtaining more funding from the supplemental capital budget, including my top priority, which is to get money to improve the water system in the town of Underwood. Residents there were greatly affected by the Tunnel Five Fire. They lost water within hours of fighting the fire, which ended up destroying 10 buildings and hundreds of acres.
Capital Budget Projects Form Now Available
Additionally, now is good time to make you aware of some important information about the state’s capital budget funds. The 2024 Local Community Project form is now available. The deadline for submission is Jan. 26, 2024, at 12 p.m.
Funding is appropriated for the Local and Community Projects through a selection process during the legislative session. Requestors are strongly encouraged to submit their project early to ensure their request is received and to address any questions that may arise. Funding is not guaranteed and will be decided during the 2024 legislative session.
The form must be filled out in one sitting and is unable to be saved, therefore, the attached document outlines the questions so a requestor can be prepared with the information they will need in order to complete the form. All requests must be made using this form. Past versions of this form are unable to be accepted. Please no attachments.
Once a project proposal is submitted, an email will be sent to the address provided letting you know that the request was received. This is an automatic email, so there is no need to reply. Please ensure that the email address provided is correct.
House Page Program
The Washington State House of Representatives Page Program is now open for applications. To become a page, applicants must have a legislative sponsor, be between the ages of 14 and 16, and obtain written permission from their parents and school.
Pages earn $65 per day while working in the program. During their week serving as pages, they attend Legislative Page School every day to learn about the three branches of state government, the lawmaking process, and the importance of civil discourse. They also get to carry out numerous important duties that help the Legislature operate efficiently.
If you have a student in mind who would benefit from this program, please share this opportunity with them. I would love to work with the young people of the 17th District in Olympia.
Stay in Touch with Me
If you want to keep up with the work of the Legislature, here are some links that will help:
My legislative website | Here you will find my contact information, bio, news releases, email updates, videos, opinion pieces, bills, and other information.
The Capitol Buzz | A weekday roundup of online news stories. Click on the link to subscribe.
The Current | An online legislative publication from the Washington House Republicans. Click on the link to subscribe.
TVW | The state’s own version of C-SPAN, TVW broadcasts floor and committee action live online.
The Ledger| A legislative news aggregator.
Legislature’s website | Here you can see bill reports, committee agendas, and information about upcoming activities in the Legislature.
State agencies | You can find a list of all state agencies, boards, and commissions here.
Tracking a bill?|Click the link to find information on specific bills. In addition, when you visit my website you can easily view the legislation I’m sponsoring or co-sponsoring by clicking “Sponsored Bills.”
Thank You for Your Support!
Thank you for your trust and for allowing me to serve you. I’m humbled and honored to be your voice in the Legislature and will do everything in my power to represent you and our great district. I want you to know my door is truly always open and I hope you will reach out to me. I need your input to be the best legislator I can be.
It’s an honor to serve.
Kevin Waters
