We need energetic, common sense leadership focused on our core issues.

Economic Development | Education | Healthcare | Transportation

Economic Development

• Working for the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County, I spend every day fighting to bring good jobs into our community and to keep good jobs here in our community. That must be a top priority for Washington State.
• Economic development efforts are critical because they foster:
  • Job development, enabling better wages, better benefits, and better opportunities for our workers
  • An improved revenue base to support roads, parks, transit, libraries, emergency medical services, and other key assets that promote the livability of our communities
  • Economic diversification that reduces our vulnerability to industrial decline
• Our state needs a bold strategy to recruit new businesses, ensure success for our existing employers, and help new, local small businesses get off the ground.  
   
  First, we must address our competitive weaknesses – especially for small businesses. My efforts in Olympia have focused on – and will continue to focus on – improving our state’s competitiveness by: 
  • Improving education and workforce training so we can help workers get the skills needed for the jobs of today and tomorrow.  I’ll propose focusing our training efforts on high-demand fields that are seeing job growth;
  • Promoting regulatory reform to lower costs to small businesses; 
  • Lowering health care costs by developing health care purchasing pools for small businesses;
  • Decreasing the tax burden on small business.  I’ll sponsor a bill to give an incentive to our small businesses to create good jobs.  We’ve provide tax relief to high-tech and aerospace companies in our state.  We should extend that relief to small businesses in our community;
  • Establishing efficient, cost-effective transportation infrastructure to help our businesses get products and workers from place to place; and 
  • Giving our communities more tools to attract new business and develop the infrastructure our employers need to succeed.  I’ll work to expand the new Local Infrastructure Financing Tool (LIFT) program, so our communities will have a tool to promote economic development.

We must build on our strengths including our proximity to military bases, community colleges, and our excellent quality of life. We've got a great place to live and some tremendous assets. Other states are actively recruiting businesses into their communities. We should get proactive about doing this. 
 
Third, our state must start marketing this region as a good place to do business. Washington currently ranks 47th out of the 50 states in marketing our communities as a good place to bring good, high-wage jobs. We must do better.

Education

As the son of two school teachers, I believe a strong educational system is fundamental to Washington State's success. To get our economy moving, we need to do everything possible to prepare our kids for the jobs of the future.

• Washington needs to have the best K-12 system in America, and it must be focused on the success of every single child. Failure is not an option.
  • We must have an educational system that is accountable and results-oriented.  By 2010, we should cut the drop-out rate in half, ensuring that students stay in school and are capable of meeting strong standards.
  • I will fight for extra help for our kids who are falling behind.  We cannot have a one-size-fits-all model, and we must provide additional help for the kids who need it to succeed in school and in life.
  • While we demand more of our students and teachers, we must be sure that they have the resources they need to succeed. Class size matters. Study after study shows that student success is directly related to quality time between a student and a qualified teacher.  I will continue to support the two voter-approved initiatives that reduce class sizes and help us keep quality teachers.
• We must ensure that our institutions of higher education have the resources to meet our current and future economic needs.
  • In 2008, we will have the largest class of high school graduating seniors in the history of our state.  We must make sure that our 2-year and 4-year colleges have room for our kids.  It is especially important that we meet the needs in high demand fields like health care, engineering, and computer science. 
  • Education is directly tied to economic development. Our employers need good, skilled, educated employees. The competition to keep jobs here in America will be won as it has always been won – on great American skills and great American innovation.   This year, I worked to pass a bill to enhance our state’s commitment to workforce training, providing a new loan program for customized training and a tax credit for those workforce training investments. 

Healthcare

Skyrocketing health care costs are affecting all of us.  Too many seniors have to decide between buying basic necessities and paying for prescription drugs.  Our economy struggles under the weight of costly health insurance.  Small businesses often have to decide between meeting a bottom line and providing health benefits for their employees.  That’s why we need leaders who will focus on our priorities and propose solutions to make health care affordable and accessible for all our citizens.

• I will continue to fight for more affordable health care for our small businesses.  I will continue working to enable small businesses to pool together on health insurance to spread the risk and bring costs down.
• Last year, I supported a bill to set the goal of covering all of Washington’s children by the year 2010.  I was pleased that this received bi-partisan support, and I’ll work to see that happen.  It’s the right thing to do for our families.
• I will fight to expand bulk purchasing.  Our state agencies should be allowed to work together – along with other states and large private sector buyers – to purchase prescription drugs in bulk.  This would save taxpayer dollars and reduce costs for low- and fixed-income Washington residents.
• We’ve made great progress in dealing with the rising costs of medical malpractice insurance.  I will continue to work to make it affordable for doctors to practice here in Washington. 
  

Transportation

Too many of us spend too much time in our cars and too little time with our families.  We face serious traffic challenges that impact our businesses and our lives.  We need leaders who will make transportation solutions a priority, who will work across party lines in Olympia to help our region get its fair share.

Improving transportation isn’t about left or right – it’s about moving us forward.

• I will continue to fight for transportation fairness for our region.
  • I will fight for additional public funding for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge project. I secured funding to enable a half-price discount for transponder users during the first year the bridge is open.  But there is more to do.  The past two years, I passed a bill out of the House to exempt the Narrows Bridge project from the sales tax on construction.  This would save Narrows Bridge users $40-50 million.  As your Senator, I will fight to get that bill out of the Senate as well.
  • I succeeded in securing transportation dollars for two of our major safety challenges.  The Burley-Olalla Interchange overpass is currently in its design phase and construction will begin in 2008.  I will push to make sure this project happens as soon as possible – and on budget.   I also secured funding for the design of a new Highway 302 corridor.  There is much more to do, and I’ll fight to get this project completed. 
    
• Our transportation solutions must be efficient and accountable; they must support job growth; and they must protect our quality of life.