Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I’m pleased to share that Malia Renner-Singer, a civic education teacher at Wenatchee High School, has been awarded Civic Educator of the Year for Washington state! Malia was the teacher who coordinated “Project Citizen” on which I evaluated and was able to meet the smart young women who testified in Olympia recently. Malia will be coming next week to be honored at the Capitol. It was a pleasure to nominate her, and I am thankful she was selected. I’ll have more information in my next update about that.

Many of you have likely been watching the winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia as I have been with my family. Four people from our own district have been and will be competing:

• Brian Gregg, a Winthrop native and distance and freestyle specialist on the 14-member cross-country skiing team;
• Sadie Bjornsen, also of Winthrop, competed in cross-country ladies skiathlon 7.5km classic and in the 7.5km free skiathlon;
• Erik Bjornsen, Sadie Bjornsen’s younger brother, competed in the skiathlon 15km classic and 15km free skiathlon; and,
• Torin Koos, a Leavenworth native and member of the 14-person ski team, will be competing in the sprint free classic.

Congratulations to you and your communities for all you have accomplished!

I am so proud to represent people who work so hard and make a difference in not just our state, but or world!

In this week’s video update, I give you a tour of the House Republican caucus room – watch it here or by clicking on the image below:

Teachers make a difference!

The North Central Educational Service District is publishing a book about how teachers make a difference. I was honored to write the book’s foreword. Growing up in Wenatchee schools, then serving on the Eastmont School Board, and now as a member of the House Education Committee, I definitely have seen how teachers make a difference in the success of students and our education system. When the book comes out, I’ll be sure to share how you can get a copy for yourself.

Deadlines and voting

This past week was the cutoff for House bills to move out of House committees or they are considered dead for the year. We spent a great deal of time hearing bills and voting on them in committees. On Tuesday, we shifted to spending the majority of the day (and sometimes the night) on the House floor – where all 98 representatives discuss and vote on legislation. I’m pleased that House Bill 2106 regarding primary ballot elections has already passed the House and will be considered in the Senate in a public hearing Feb. 20. House Bill 2105, which I sponsored to bring more transparency to open public meetings, passed the House yesterday. You can read more about that here.

As always, please feel free to contact my office anytime with questions, concerns or suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you.

It’s an honor to serve you in our state House of Representatives.

Sincerely,

Brad Hawkins

State Representative Brad Hawkins
12th Legislative District

E-mail: brad.hawkins@leg.wa.gov
Web site: www.representativebradhawkins.com

Olympia Office (January-March)
122G Legislative Building – P.O. Box 40600 | Olympia, WA 98504-0600
(360) 786-7832 or Toll-free: (800) 562-6000

District Office (March-December)
11 Spokane Street, Suite 205A | Wenatchee, WA 98801
(509) 662-5733