39th District legislators hold Arlington town hall

Residents, state representatives and senators of the 39th Legislative District met for a town hall at the Arlington Airport to talk about bills being proposed in Olympia.

The Feb. 22 town hall saw all three district representatives, Rep. Carolyn Eslick, Rep. Robert Sutherland and Sen. Keith Wagoner, talking to residents.

The 39th Legislative District includes most of Arlington, Granite Falls, Monroe and all of the eastern rural part of Snohomish County.

It's been a busy session for many legislators with many bills being seen. The three legislators from the 39th District are on the minority side as all are Republicans though.

"It's been pretty painful for our side of the aisle," said Wagoner.

"Being this much in the minority has made it very difficult to get our policy issues on the floor and voted on," he said.

Wagoner added that there were plenty of bills that received bipartisan support as well though.

"I'm not close-minded to the fact that there is different ways of approaching these problems," he said.

A number of gun control bills have been making their way through the house.

"I was very proud of our house members," said Wagoner.

"I'm a very pro 2nd Amendment person and there's been some very onerous bills," he said.

Sutherland said the Republicans were mainly pushing for amendments to make the bills less strict.

"We came up with 120 amendments, and what that does is when you have 41 members that can speak for three minutes, that's about two hours for one amendment. If you are going to introduce the magazine ban bill that's going to cost you time. You're going to pass it, but it's going to cost your time," he said.

"Our strategy is not to run the clock out, but that is the effect of it," he added.

Other issues include mental health and Eslick said she is an advocate for improved services for the state's youth.

One of the bills she sponsored, House Bill 1874, passed both houses of the legislature and is meant to improve access to behavioral healthcare for kids.

"This is about getting kids the healthcare they need," she said. "It adds residential treatment."

Drug addiction was a big concern for some residents, although Eslick said she doesn't support some of the way that the state's tax dollars are used.

"My concern is that some of it isn't being used the way it should be," she said.

"I don't believe we should be supporting the downtown Seattle permanent supportive housing that allows drugs and alcohol. They need to be sober before we start paying our taxes to house them," she said.

Democrats are pushing a bill to ban capital punishment in the state and Wagoner said he has spoken out against that bill.

"There's room for people to agree or disagree on the value of capital punishment," he said.

"I personally support having it as an option because it is a powerful tool for prosecutors. Some of these mass murderers, which Washington is no stranger of, would never have given up the names and bodies to alleviate loved ones' suffering if that option was not on the table," he said.

Finally, car tabs and other taxes were discussed.

Car tabs are limited to $30 per a state initiative that passed last November, although that issue is still working its way through the courts.

Sutherland said he plans to introduce a bill to eliminate that fee entirely.

"I'm going to be dropping a bill, the elimination of car tabs," Sutherland said.

Feedback for the 39th Legislative District legislators can be sent to through their websites at keithwagoner.src.wastateleg.org, carolyneslick.houserepublicans.wa.gov, and robertsutherland.houserepublicans.wa.gov.