It was a long session, replete with countless trips back and forth to Olympia and numerous late nights spent reading bills and debating issues. But finally, on Friday, July 10, the Washington State Legislature adjourned, and 39th District Representative Elizabeth Scott came home.
Overall, lawmakers convened for a total of 176 days, making 2015 the longest session in state history. The regular budgeting session, which began on Monday, Jan. 12, lasted for 103 days, after which it took three consecutive special sessions for legislators to agree on a budget.
During her time in the legislature, Scott has become known as a champion for property rights and a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment. An advocate for smaller, smarter government, she has worked to pass bills that support small business owners and has tackled issues brought to her by constituents. Elected in both 2012 and 2014, this was Scott's third year serving in the legislature.
Going into the session, Scott was well aware that the possibility of a special session existed. During her freshman year in 2013, it took two special sessions to complete the budget. Legislators receive no additional compensation for special sessions; no matter how many times they are called back down to Olympia during the year, their salary remains a flat rate.
This year, the Washington Citizens' Commission on Salaries voted to increase the legislator compensation from $42,106 to $45,474, effective September 2015. All salary adjustments are adopted by the commission, since legislators are prohibited from voting on their own pay raise.
The compensation rate approved by the commission will remain constant, other than an additional 3 percent increase next year. Legislators are also given a small daily per diem amount while they're in session, which is typically used to pay for meals and the cost of renting a hotel room.
During the budgeting sessions, held during odd-numbered years, legislators plan how the state will spend revenues for the upcoming two-year period. The state's finances are divided up into various budgets including transportation, capital facilities and general operating, all of which must be agreed upon by the House and the Senate before they can be implemented.
This year, Gov. Jay Inslee signed the operating budget just before midnight on Tuesday, June 30, narrowly avoiding a partial government shutdown.
The state's $38.2 billion dollar two-year operating budget invests $1.3 billion into K-12 education, including expanding access to all-day kindergarten and facilitating lower class sizes in grades K through third. It funds a cost of living increase for teachers, expands the state's early learning programming and implements tuition cuts for college students. It also provides a raise for Washington State Department of Corrections workers, who will receive a 9.8 percent wage increase over the 2015 GÇô 2017 biennium.
And it provides additional funding for mental health services.
"There's wide bipartisan agreement that that is a weak area in our state system,GÇ¥ Scott said.
While the transportation budget was the only budget that actually passed on time during the regular session, transportation issues continued to plague the legislature during the special session. This was because of a separate 16-year, $16 billion transportation investment package, which included an 11.9-cent gas tax increase.
"That was a big struggle between the House and the Senate,GÇ¥ Scott said.
Much to the dismay of some House Republicans, the transportation package passed through the House at about 1:20 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1 with an emergency clause, which means that the bill cannot be subject to referendum.
House Republicans tried to replace the emergency clause with a referendum clause, so that the gas tax could be put before a vote of the people, but the amendment was voted down. As a result of the transportation package, gas prices will climb 7 cents as of August 1, with an additional 4.9 cent increase going into effect on July 1, 2016.
Republicans were able to fight off the capital gains tax proposed by Gov. Inslee, which would have implemented a tax on the sale of stocks, bonds and other assets.
"Every single state with a capital gains tax also has a state income tax,GÇ¥ Scott said. "So it is seen very much as a toe in the door.GÇ¥
There were other successes as well, Scott said. A staunch advocate for gun rights, Scott has worked to stave off bills that would further fund citizens' initiative I-594, which prescribes universal background checks during transfers of gun ownership.
"They tried to expand the funding for implementing I-594 which many people in our area voted no on,GÇ¥ Scott said. "I was happy to see that we were able to kill additional funding for that.GÇ¥
Another of her successes this session was House Bill 1422, a bill that prohibits the misrepresentation of a floral product business's geographic location. Scott sponsored the bill after learning about the issue from a local business owner, and it was signed into law by Gov. Inslee on Wednesday, May 6.
Scott experienced aggregate success through her involvement on the Freedom Agenda Team, a team of seven legislators who zero in on bills that protect life, property rights, second amendment rights and veteran rights. Team objectives include things like bills that will facilitate lower taxes and smaller government. This year, the team proposed a total of 88 bills.
"Sixty-five of them got hearings which is amazing, because remember, we're in the minority,GÇ¥ Scott said. "So we don't control the chairs or who gets to get a hearing.GÇ¥
Out of the 65 bills that were heard, 12 of them passed out of their house of origin and a total of five of them were signed into law.
"On top of that we got over 70 Democrats to co-sponsor those bills, so that was really fun,GÇ¥ Scott said. "There's plenty that both sides of the aisle are concerned about.GÇ¥
Already looking forward to next year, Scott plans to reintroduce several pieces of legislation that didn't make it all the way through the legislative process this year, including a full repeal of Common Core testing standards and her bill to criminalize female genital mutilation. Although female genital mutilation has been against the law federally since 1996, it is up to individual states to prosecute it as a crime. Her bill would require mandatory reporting by agencies tasked with recognizing abuse, such as childcare workers, teachers and nurses.
On a political level, Scott plans to take things up a notch in 2016, and will run against United States Congresswoman Suzan DelBene for her seat in the United States House of Representatives. For more information about her candidacy for Congress, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethScottForCongress?pnref=story.
To learn more about Scott's policy goals in the Washington State Legislature, please visit: http://houserepublicans.wa.gov/elizabeth-scott/.
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