The Washington State Legislature convened at noon Monday, starting the clock on a 60-day session. John Sattgast reports from the state Capitol.
In his remarks during the Legislature’s opening-day ceremonies, House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox said Republicans plan to bring creative ideas to the table during the session for serious consideration.
“And these are big ideas that I think already have a degree of agreement from the majority.”
That includes replacing the long-term care program, enacting climate adaptive policies that prevent floods and wildfires, and making changes to police reform legislation that went too far. Most importantly, Wilcox said legislators need to be willing consider opposing viewpoints.
“And you and we will continue to make mistakes unless we understand that our best friends are those that are willing to tell us the things that we don’t want to hear. And we incorporate that in our process.”
Wilcox called on majority Democrats to give committee hearings on Republican proposals like emergency powers reform, and to not let ideology get in the way of what is best for the people of Washington state.