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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Olympia is moving fast, and sometimes it feels like the headlines are chasing the Legislature instead of the other way around. In the middle of the noise, I try to keep my focus on two things: protecting the basics that rural communities depend on and making sure the public still has a real voice in how our state is governed. That includes health care access, local agriculture, and the constitutional tools Washingtonians use when they feel ignored.
Rural health care: protecting access and stability
As the long-time ranking member on the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, I pay close attention to policies that affect hospitals and patients statewide, even when the issue does not start in our district. Rural communities are often the first to feel the impact when health policy goes sideways. When a hospital is stretched thin, when staffing is short, or when capacity is limited, there are no easy backups in rural Washington.
That is why I cosponsored House Bill 2250, which is scheduled for a public hearing in the House Health Care and Wellness Committee on Jan. 27 at 1:30 PM. The bill clarifies eligibility for hospital charity care so the program prioritizes low-income Washington residents and NOT for those who come from out-of-state to take advantage of Washington’s services and taxpayers. We should not embrace “Health Care Tourism.”
This matters because charity care is not an unlimited pot of money. Hospitals provide hundreds of millions of dollars in charity care each year, but they are also facing staffing shortages and cost pressures. If we do not focus scarce nonemergency charity care resources on the communities the program was designed to serve, we risk longer wait times, strained capacity, and costs that get shifted onto local patients. That is not a recipe for protecting rural health care. It is a recipe for weakening it.
Keeping rural emergency hospitals in mind
Rural emergency hospitals are a newer model designed to keep essential emergency services available in small communities. My House Bill 2488 deals with Medicaid payments for services provided by rural emergency hospitals, making those payments subject to appropriation.
That is a fiscal accountability issue, but it is also a rural access issue. If we want emergency services to remain available close to home, we need funding decisions that are clear, deliberate, and sustainable. Rural communities cannot afford uncertainty when it comes to emergency care.
Helping patients get to the right level of care
Sometimes the difference between a good outcome and a tragic one comes down to time, staffing, and whether a critically ill patient can be safely transferred to the right facility.
House Bill 2110 addresses interfacility specialty care transports by ambulance. In plain terms, it helps ensure a safe transfer can happen when workforce limitations would otherwise prevent it. The bill allows a registered nurse, even without EMT certification, to provide patient care during an interfacility specialty care transport when key safeguards are met, including that a certified emergency medical services provider is also in the ambulance, the nurse has appropriate competencies, and no paramedic or nurse with EMT certification is available.
This is a practical adjustment aimed at real-world staffing constraints, especially in rural areas. When the perfect staffing model is not available, we still have a responsibility to make sure patients can get where they need to go safely.
Protecting working farmland and demanding transparency
Conservation districts play an important role in stewardship and resource protection. But there should also be clear boundaries, especially when it comes to actively farmed ground.
House Bill 2154 would prohibit conservation districts from purchasing real property 20 acres or larger that is actively being used for agricultural production. It also requires every conservation district to inventory and publicly disclose certain large agricultural properties it already owns, including legal descriptions, associated water rights, and the most recent crops grown. The Department of Agriculture would then post those inventories online.
This bipartisan bill is about keeping productive farmland in production and making sure the public can see, plainly and clearly, what is being held and why. Sunshine and accountability are not controversial. They are the basics of good government.
Initiatives: let the people be heard
The Legislature has officially received Initiative IL26-638, Protecting Fairness in Girls’ Sports. Article II, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution requires that initiatives “shall take precedence over all other measures in the legislature except appropriation bills and shall be either enacted or rejected without change or amendment by the legislature before the end of such regular session.”
That language is not complicated. The Legislature is obligated to consider initiatives. Lawmakers do not have to pass them, but we do need to treat them seriously. That starts with a public hearing so Washingtonians, supporters and opponents alike, can have their voices heard in a transparent process.
If leadership refuses to even hold a hearing, what message does that send about who gets a seat at the table.
Protecting the people’s right to the initiative
Along the same lines, Senate Bill 5973 would create new hurdles for citizen initiatives by requiring at least 1,000 signatures before a ballot title can even be issued. That may sound procedural, but it is a major new barrier placed between citizens and their constitutional right to go directly to the voters.
This proposal has drawn bipartisan concern. Former Secretary of State Sam Reed warned lawmakers the initiative process is viewed by voters as “almost sacred.” Current Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, also urged the Legislature not to move the bill forward, noting his office is already equipped to address fraud without burdening the process itself.
The initiative process exists because the people do not always trust Olympia to police itself. When lawmakers start changing the rules to make citizen action harder, everyone should pay attention, regardless of party.
Stay in touch
As always, I appreciate hearing from you. The best laws come from real conversations with the people who live with the consequences. I will keep working to protect rural health care, support agriculture, and defend the constitutional rights Washingtonians rely on when they want their government to listen.
Sincerely,
Joe Schmick
