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January 19, 2024

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Week Two of the scheduled 60-day session has been very busy with committee public hearings, some floor action, and meetings with constituents as we rapidly approach our first legislative deadlines.

Earlier this week, the Secretary of State’s office certified two citizens’ initiatives to the Legislature. Initiative 2113 would restore the authority of a peace officer to engage in a vehicular pursuit when there is reasonable suspicion a person has violated the law. It was referred to the House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee on Monday. Initiative 2117 would repeal the state’s Carbon Commitment Act, including the carbon tax credit trading program, known as “cap and trade.” On Wednesday, it was referred to the House Environment and Energy Committee.

On Monday, House Republican Leader Drew Stokesbary made a motion on the floor to instruct the House Community Safety, Justice, and Reentry Committee to promptly hold a public hearing on the initiative. My House Republican colleagues and I believe that with more than 400,000 people signing the initiative, citizens deserve to be heard in the legislative public hearing process. Majority Democrats rejected the motion. Leader Stokesbary made the same motion Wednesday on Initiative 2117. Again, Democrats rejected that motion.

Several of my bills have received public hearings in their respective committees:

• Library district voters – House Bill 2106 would make it so voters within a city or town annexed into a rural county library district, island library district, or intercounty rural district may vote in an election that would determine whether that district will be dissolved. This stems from last year when voters within the city of Dayton discovered they would be excluded from voting on a measure that would have eliminated the city’s library and library district. That measure was pulled before it went to the ballot, but it brought attention to the need to close the loophole in the law and ensure citizens have a voice. A public hearing was held this past Wednesday in the House Local Government Committee.
• Certificate of need task force – House Bill 2128 would create a task force to investigate modernizing the state’s certificate of need requirements. Under state regulations, certain healthcare providers and facilities must get state approval before building certain types of facilities or offering new or expanded services. This antiquated law may be a barrier to needed health services in our rural communities. The task force would review the certificate of need program and make recommendations to the Legislature. A public hearing was held on this bill in the House Health Care and Wellness Committee on Jan. 10. Watch my remarks in this video.
• Small counties’ coroner office exemption – House Bill 2132 would exempt any county under 45,000 people from a new law that would require a trained coroner’s office to be located inside every county by next January. Smaller counties cannot afford that cost – and they are forced to look at cutting other services to meet the requirement. A public hearing was held this past Wednesday in the House Local Government Committee.

I spoke about several of these issues earlier this week on KONA Radio. You can listen to my interview here.

As I mentioned in last week’s email update, your involvement is vital in the legislative process. Rep. Mary Dye and I will be holding a one-hour virtual Zoom 9th District town hall meeting on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 6:30 p.m. Please pre-register for our event at: http://tinyurl.com/09-LD-Schmick-Dye. We look forward to taking your questions.

Thank you for the honor of allowing me to serve and represent you!

Sincerely,

Joe Schmick