By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Our area’s three state legislators will appear together tomorrow for the second time in less than a week.

The 34th District Democrats are convening a “session in review” forum, 6 pm Wednesday (May 28), at Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW) and all are welcome to come hear from/ask questions of Sen. Emily Alvarado, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, and Rep. Brianna Thomas.

Last Thursday, the trio were guests at the West Seattle Democratic Women‘s dinner meeting. Here’s our hour-plus unedited video:

They remarked on very long hours and the work it took to balance the budget – $7 billion in cuts, $9 billion in new taxes, “none were easy.”

Nor, they said, was their working relationship with new Gov. Bob Ferguson, even though he, like all three of them and the majority of their fellow legislators, is a Democrat.

Fitzgibbon, who also serves as State House Majority Leader, noted “a lot of tension” and “difficult meetings.” Ferguson, he said, despite his prior service in state government (as Attorney General), “didn’t know much about the state budget” and therefore was offering opinions on things he didn’t yet fully understand.

Alvarado noted that they passed a transportation budget, which included ferry funding, though overall she was “a little disappointed in our underinvestment in multimodal … but we really focused on completing projects.” She called the capital budget the “happy budget,” with “record investments in housing – $780 million.” She also touted what was budgeted to fund education and services for unhoused people as well as immigrants and refugees “since they’re particularly vulnerable right now.” She noted that a plan for state employee furloughs “did not go forward.”

They answered attendees’ questions for an hour. Topics included students’ right to health privacy, transmission of clean-energy electricity, mental health, and a state-level version of the federal political challenges. After one attendee observed we didn’t seem to be in as much of a “blue bubble” as some think, Thomas agreed, saying it was a “rough and tumble dynamic” with some arguing far-right claims such as “trans women aren’t women” and “global waraming is a myth” as well as “re-litigating the value of vaccines.” Alvarado added, “People seemed emboldened from the other side to say things I don’t think they would have said several years ago out loud – things that are hateful, things that are racist.”

The senator also said “it’s important that not only are we against something, we are for something,” but it’s “very hard to put that vision forward” when dealing with a big budget hole. But she touted, “I think we did some big thing,” from the “permit to purchase” gun law to “progress on recycling.”

A theme of sorts for the Q&A was “behind the scenes insight,” so the legislators did get some questions along those lines. Alvarado was asked about the difference between the House and Senate, since the domino effect of Sen. Joe Nguyen’s move to the Commerce Department led to a role change for her. “(The State Senate) has fewer people, it’s easier to organize, easier to keep our tent together … being able to roll with fewer people makes it easier to get things done.”

Fitzgibbon added, “The House is like a symphony orchestra and the Senate is jazz.”

On another topic,Thomas said she regretted that improvement wasn’t made in juvenile detention conditions: “We just failed those kids.”

“I think we need to look at juvenile justice in a holistic way,” Alvarado added.

Fitzgibbon said one bill proposed that judges be required to find that secure detention was beneficial before placing a juvenile in it. It didn’t pass; he said that disappointed him. But he said a few points of juvenile justice were addressed this session, including a plan to convert “a vacant wing at an adult prison in Aberdeen” into space to house young adults.

Then someone asked about education funding. Sen. Alvarado said funding continues to grow but, “K-12 is our ‘paramount duty’ and we have a lot more to do to meet that fully.” She said a proposal to do that via a “wealth tax” failed, as did an attempt to “look at property taxes.” She said that education is “about half the budget” and she didn’t see what could be cut from the other half without doing damage. “Even the Republicans couldn’t come up with a ‘cut’ budget,” she contended, adding that in her view, “a movement” would be needed to fix school funding. “Are there ways to improve educational outcomes? Absolutely, but we shouldn’t be pitting (gifted programs) against special education. but we should be able to (fund it all) … the thing about great schools is, they’re fabulous for our economy.”

That drew applause.

After that, a question about “digital equity” led to rumination on deregulation. Alvarado said it seems as if Republicans believe “we can deregulate our way to a world where everyone has an affordable house … I don’t believe that at all.”

Again, you’re invited to another forum, which we’re told also will include “live Q&A,” 6 pm tomorrow (Wednesday) in the Fellowship Hall at Fauntleroy Church, 6 pm. It also should be noted that while Nguyen’s departure led to the Senate appointment for Alvarado (who had been in the House) and House appointment for Thomas (who had run unsuccessfully for local offices before), both will be on your ballot this fall (both unopposed).