Sen. Billig on appears on TVW’s Opening Day Special. (Click on the image to see the interview!)
Monday, January 12th marked the first day of the 2015 Legislative Session. There were the usual ceremonies to mark the opening of the session as well as the introduction of dozens of bills taking their first step in the journey to perhaps becoming a law.
I kicked off the session with legislation that will help shine a light on the dark money in Washington State elections. This bill – SB 5153 – requires that any organization involved in state elections disclose its donors regardless of non-profit status. Currently, some non-profits use their status to avoid disclosure. In the past few years, we’ve seen political organizations on both sides of the aisle use their non-profit status to avoid disclosing their donors. As more money is spent in political campaigns in new and different ways, we need to ensure that our campaign finance laws are up to date and provide the transparency that voters demand and a healthy democracy requires.
SB 5153 has a broad list of bipartisan co-sponsors and received widespread support from editorial boards, including the Seattle Times and most recently theSpokesman-Review!
For more information, please read the press release issued from Wednesday morning.
Become a Senate Page
Are you a high school student between the ages of 14 and 16? Are you curious about state government? Are you interested in a paid, interactive learning experience? Do you like to climb lots of stairs? If so, you should apply to join Team Billig as a student Senate page!
Student pages participate in a one-week program that offers a one-of-a-kind look into the inner workings of state government.
Click on the image to see what it’s really like to be a page.
As a page, you will deliver important messages and documents, attend committee hearings, and get a unique front-row seat at the Washington State Legislature.
If you or someone you know might be interested in becoming a page, please fill out this application!
One more addition to our office
I could not be more pleased with our staff for the 2015 session. Kate and John have been doing a tremendous job so far and we are excited to add our intern, Maureen Haeger, to round out the team.
Maureen grew up in Spokane and lives there with her husband and son. She is a junior at Eastern Washington University, where she is majoring in philosophy and government. After graduation, Maureen plans to attend law school. Welcome, Maureen!
Keeping in Touch
If you have a comment, idea, or question, please let me know. I would love to hear from you!
You can reach me by e-mail (andy.billig@leg.wa.gov) or by phone at 360-786-7604.
And if you know someone who would like to get their own copy of my weekly e-newsletter, tell them they can go to my website at http://www.senatedemocrats.wa.gov/senators/billig/ and click on the link to “Sign up for my e-newsletter.”
Onward!
Andy
