May 2005 Assembly Secures Major Commitments!
275 leaders from Spokane Alliance institutions gathered at the Convention Center on May 22 to celebrate legislative victories...
Assembly Secures Major Commitments
275 leaders from Spokane Alliance institutions gathered at the Convention Center on May 22 to celebrate legislative victories on eight of nine alliance supported bills and to secure commitments from area legislators and a top executive in the Governor's office.
After celebrating the legislative victories, Brenda Tudor (Centenary United Methodist Church), showed the group a chart indicating how legislators from the Spokane area voted on these bills. "Most of these bills were voted along party lines," said Rev. Tudor, “but it doesn't have to be that way." Her call for commitments to work toward bipartisan solutions on issues related to tax equity, sustainable jobs and health care was strongly supported by the two Republican legislators in attendance -- Senator Brad Benson and Rep. John Serben - as well as by the two Democrats – Rep. Timm Ormsby and Rep. Alex Wood. All four agreed to meet individually with Alliance leaders in October and then together in an Alliance sponsored meeting in November to work on crafting bipartisan solutions on these problems for the next legislative session.
Ms. Laurie Dolan, Director of the Governor's Policy Office, also pleased the crowd with several strong commitments: assisting in the development of the Prescription Drug Purchasing Consortium; providing resources to assist in analysis and the development of local tax equity proposals; and working to solidify a tentative commitment by Governor Gregoire to meet with Alliance leaders on June 28.
