Author Archives: brianzylstra
In the hours before a key voting deadline this session, the Senate unanimously passed three bills introduced by 9th District Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville.
Today is the first “floor cutoff” of the 2024 legislative session. Senate bills not approved by the Senate by 5 p.m. today are considered dead for the year. Bills that are deemed necessary to implement the state supplemental operating, capital and transportation budgets are exempt from this deadline.
SB 5344 – Helping school districts with construction-project costs
Senate Bill 5344 would create a public-school revolving fund that would be used to issue low-interest or interest-free loans to qualifying school districts for capital projects.
“We all know what a great success the state’s public works trust fund is,” said Schoesler, the Republican leader on the Senate capital budget, speaking before the vote on SB 5344. “We’re replicating that with this approach and hopefully improving access to very low-cost financing for at least a portion of our school construction. This will be good for small schools, medium-sized and bigger schools. It creates a place where we can place our money in the future and keep it recirculating back for school construction all across our state.”
SB 6162 – Excessive fees for locating abandoned property
Senate Bill 6162 would add a penalty for excessive fees for locating abandoned property held by a county. Under the proposal, someone who violates the prohibition on excessive fees for locating and recovering unclaimed property held by a county would be guilty of a misdemeanor and would face 90 days jail, a fine up to $1,000, or both.
Schoesler dubbed it a “technical clean-up measure” that is a fix to an unclaimed-property law from 2023 in which the penalty for predatory practices on unclaimed property was inadvertently left out.
SB 6215 – Improving tax and revenue laws
Senate Bill 6215 would make administrative and technical changes to the state’s tax and licensing codes.
“This is my annual clean-up bill for the state’s tax and licensing codes,” said Schoesler. “We always seem to discover a few codes here and there that need to be updated and this is the latest clean-up measure for those codes.”
All three Schoesler bills move to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
A bill prime-sponsored by 9th District Sen. Mark Schoesler that aims to help restaurants, taverns and other establishments navigate the state’s permitting process was approved 47-2 by the Senate yesterday.
Under Senate Bill 5291, applications for liquor licenses or license renewals would be automatically approved if the state Liquor and Cannabis Board fails to issue a decision within 45 days of the application date.
Schoesler introduced the bill after hearing about the trouble that three small businesses in the 9th District – Sonny’s Tavern and Grill in Washtucna, and Mi Jalisco and the Ritzville Golf Course Café in Ritzville – experienced while trying to receive a liquor license from the state.
“I watched two small, minority-owned businesses struggle for three to eight months for a simple liquor license,” Schoesler told other senators prior to the vote on SB 5291. “Imagine, all you want to do is move your Mexican restaurant from one side of the community to the other. They’ve never done anything wrong, great people. Eight months to get their license.
“With this bill, we can ensure permitting. Imagine you’re opening a restaurant and bar. You’re moving to a better location. You have to have certainty to order food, hire people, pay them, all these things. This bill simply makes it easier to permit a small business.”
Schoesler’s floor speech on SB 5291 may be viewed here.
The proposal would allow the LCB an additional 30 days to issue a decision on an application if it determines good cause for the extra time exists and issues a temporary license during the extended time period.
SB 5291 now goes to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
One popular state park – Steptoe Butte – in eastern Washington’s 9th Legislative District is about to have a very basic service eliminated. Another state park in the district – Lyons Ferry – continues to see long delays with the reopening of its campsites. Both situations don’t sit well with 9th District Sen. Mark Schoesler.
Schoesler recently learned that Washington State Parks will close the restrooms at the top of the Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site in Whitman County.
“While I’m happy Washington State Parks is going to repave the road to the top of Steptoe Butte, I strongly oppose the decision to end a very basic service by closing the restrooms atop the butte,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “The top of the butte is very isolated. Anyone having a picnic there will be forced to travel five miles down to the park entrance for a restroom. In what other state park would that be OK? Park lovers in our region – and I am one of them – deserve better.
“Seeing how Steptoe Butte State Park is in my district, the State Parks administration should have notified me and Representatives Schmick and Dye about the restroom closures. Instead, I found out from reading the Whitman County Gazette,” added Schoesler. “While I commend the Gazette for its reporting, you wonder why the State Parks people kept it quiet from me.”
When he inquired, Schoesler said, State Parks officials said the restrooms are being closed as part of a deal with local tribes.
“I understand that the tribes consider Steptoe Butte to be sacred ground. It is a special place for all of us. But I think this move will ruin what would otherwise be a great experience for many visitors who travel to the summit,” said Schoesler.
The Ritzville senator said Lyons Ferry State Park, located at the confluence of the Snake and Palouse rivers south of Washtucna, was reopened about 10 years ago. After the state park reopened, Schoesler said, many people in the area asked why the campsites at Lyons Ferry remain closed.
“There were public meetings with State Parks officials at Dayton and Washtucna several years ago about the campsites at Lyons Ferry and Palouse Falls state parks,” said Schoesler. “The plan was to close some campsites at Palouse Falls and reopen some of the campsites at Lyons Ferry. But the campsites at Lyons Ferry still have not reopened, and they won’t for several more years. When I pressed State Parks officials about it, they blamed the Army Corps of Engineers and claimed it will take another six years to restore water, sewer and electrical service available – and who knows how much longer to reopen the campsites after that. This is unacceptable.”
Schoesler pointed out that Lyons Ferry State Park is popular for fishing, water skiing, boating, picnicking and other recreational opportunities.
“Many hard-working taxpayers bring their boats to Lyons Ferry to enjoy a day on the water. It’s too bad that the campsites there are not open so visitors could stay overnight,” said Schoesler.
Schoesler criticized State Parks officials for not trying harder to find solutions to the issues at the Steptoe Butte and Lyons Ferry parks and for not being proactive in communicating with state legislators in the region or with local citizens about the status of the two parks.
“You’d expect a state agency would be able to work with tribal governments and the Corps and find solutions that allow these two parks to be fully used and enjoyed. Instead, it seems like the State Parks officials just threw up their hands and moved on to something else instead of finding solutions that are acceptable across the board.”