During the legislative session there was a bill to prevent any ‘unreasonable’ regulation by a city from interfering with a church’s right to house the homeless. I was one of only six Democrats to vote against this measure in the House (it died in the Senate) because I was troubled by situations just like this. I feel that church’s do have an obligation to the neighbors to take all steps possible to ensure the right of the church to be placed in a residential neighborhood isn’t taken advantage of inappropriately. As a father of four young children, I just don’t understand why asking for a more formal system of background checks (rather than just an informal interview process) wouldn’t be seen as common sense.

Let’s hope King County’s 10 year plan to end homelessness can get additional traction and the state can step up to its responsibilities in this critical area.

http://www.myballard.com/2009/05/10/controversial-homeless-shelter-moving-to-ballard/

My legislative assistant, Matt Gasparich, and I have been working hard preparing for the 2009 Legislative Session. The committees I’ve been assigned to match my personal interests and professional background: Energy, Technology & Communications; Higher Education; Education Appropriations.

With a massive state budget deficit projected to reach north of $7 billion by the next revenue forecast in March, we really only have one major issue: How to deal with the short and long term implications of our state’s $33 billion biennial budget and a revenue system that is highly inefficient, unfair and poorly designed by any standard.

This blog is designed to connect with you not as a rhetorical one way lecture about my pet issues but as a two way, interactive, engaging communication tool in the finest tradition of web 2.0 relationships. We have among the most educated, engaged, activist and passionate legislative districts in the state of Washington. I expect the comment section as we grow in readership to be equally thoughtful and genuine. I’m asking and challenging you to engage with me in an intelligent, non patronizing and creative way that honors the people of our district and community.

Finally, we are also conducting a very real experiment. Many legislators spend literally hours per day answering emails individually, and I respect that customized approach. But emails don’t really allow for an engaging dialogue. While protecting privacy of individuals, I plan to take legitimate email questions, concerns, comments and suggestions and post answers and responses on this blog. That way everyone can see the answer to a question instead of just the one person who responded, and everyone else can make further comments. It’s worth a try. It may fail miserably but I feel an obligation to try something new.