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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Today is policy committee cutoff in Olympia. This means any bill that is not out of its original assigned policy committee is now considered “dead.” However, no bill can really be considered “dead” until the last day of session. The majority party can always pull bills from committee if they want.
We have created a short list of good and bad bills and their status, which you can find here.
The issue with Kaiser Permanente (KP) requiring rural pharmacy customers to get their prescription refills either via mail order or through an official KP pharmacy continues to garner media attention. I did an interview with The Spokesman-Review and they posted their story this morning:
“New Kaiser policy requiring mail-order prescription refills stings rural pharmacies”
I also wrote an op-ed on this issue and the need for KP to do the right thing. You can read that here.
The historic bipartisan, voluntary, and regionally-focused fish habitat legislation (HB 1720) passed the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee today. Reps. Joel Kretz and Mike Chapman were on TVW's The Impact discussing the bipartisan nature of this landmark proposal. As they said, when you have the head of the Farm Bureau and a tribal chairman together on a panel in committee testifying in favor of a fish habitat bill, something special is happening. You can watch that here.
To make it easier for you to participate in the legislative process, we have a short video here. We also have a website that has simple, step-by-step instructions on how to leave comments on a bill, submit official written testimony to committee members, and how to testify remotely. We are always trying to find new ways to help you stay engaged in the legislative process.
As always, if I can be of assistance or if you have comments on legislation, please feel free to contact my office.
Sincerely,
Joe Schmick
