Guest Commentary

As I gladly readjust to normal life in Ritzville after spending nearly every day of the past four months in Olympia, I have good news and bad news to report.

The good news is that the 2021 legislative session ended on time last Sunday. April 25, 2021. In fact, we finished for good early that evening, before darkness fell on Olympia. In my nearly 30 years as a legislator, there have been only a few times when a legislative session adjourned in daylight.

Unfortunately, this session was very bad for Washington's everyday, hard-working taxpayers. In fact, there is so much bad news that I can't include it all in one commentary, so today I'm providing Part One of my session review to you, with the second part arriving in your inboxes next week.

A session in which the public was not allowed

While there may have been daylight outside when the final gavels fell in the Legislative Building five days ago, citizens understandably could be upset that this year's session kept many of them in the dark. As I noted back in January, this legislative session was done remotely and not in person.

Committee hearing rooms on the Capitol Campus this session were empty and unused as every legislative committee meeting this year was held remotely via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. It was very unusual for other legislators and me to take part in committee meetings this way. It was even harder for people who wished to testify, as all of them had to "Zoom in" and be ready to testify remotely once their names were called by a committee chair. If their Internet connection was iffy, they ran the risk of not being able to testify. As has been the case for everyone relying on remote meetings during the pandemic, it was common for a committee chair to tell a legislator or testifying lobbyist or citizen that they were "on mute," meaning everyone else could see them but could not hear them. Some committee chairs were fair and respectful to those who were forced to testify remotely, while other chairs frankly were a bit rude and unfair, especially when it came to time limits.

Senate floor sessions were visible to the public only through the TVW network, which is our state's version of C-SPAN. The public was not allowed to sit in the galleries overlooking the chamber to watch the floor action below, though some staff could. Most senators chose to "attend" floor sessions remotely, while those in leadership were on the floor. As I was in Olympia throughout the session, I also was on the Senate floor much of the time. Otherwise, I took part remotely from my Senate office nearby.

Many Republican colleagues and I believe the public was kept out of the loop by the rules preventing people from entering (or even setting foot near) the Capitol or other legislative buildings during our session.

Like so many others, I hope things will be back to normal by next year's legislative session. The people deserve the opportunity to visit the Capitol – the "People's House" – during the session and engage with their legislators in person. Even with TVW's excellent coverage of this legislative session, the public was kept at arm's length from really being part of the legislative process. This needs to change in 2022.

It's interesting, for lack of a better word, how Democrat lawmakers could meddle with overtime in the ag industry while looking past an overtime issue that is literally right in front of them. During my nearly three decades as a state lawmaker, I've noticed there is also a "seasonality" with legislative staffers. During our session, staff put in very long and unusual hours, working evenings and weekends, even holidays. While legislative staff are given "comp time" to make up for the holidays they worked during session, they have to essentially donate an extraordinary number of hours before they can qualify for overtime compensation. Most staffers don't work enough OT to qualify, even though all of them work extra hours during session. I wonder if my Democrat colleagues are even aware. It begs this question: If the Legislature is so concerned about mandating overtime for agricultural workers, why doesn't it do a better job of providing overtime for its own employees during session?