Sen. Keith Wagoner’s measure designating January as Americans of Chinese Descent Month in Washington has nearly reached the end of a long journey into state law.

“This is an important day and a great victory,” said Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, who has been working on the issue since 2020.

“This measure will provide our schools with the tools, our students with the education, and our citizens with the long, overdue recognition they deserve.”

Senate Bill 5000, the first measure introduced in the Senate for the 2023 legislative session, would designate each January as Americans of Chinese Descent/Chinese American History Month. The bill would also encourage public schools to designate time for appropriate activities in commemoration of the state’s complicated history with the Chinese community – the good and the bad – and to remember and honor the many contributions and achievements made by the Chinese Americans.

The measure is similar to Senate Bill 5264, which Wagoner introduced in 2021. That bill also passed the Senate unanimously in 2022, but the House failed to bring it up for a vote.

“This process has reaffirmed my great pride in serving in the Senate, because this body has supported me and the people we are trying to help one hundred percent of the way,” said Wagoner. “I thank each and every senator who voted this bill off the Senate floor twice unanimously. And I thank Asians for Equality, who trusted me for the last three years to carry the ball.”

Unless Gov. Jay Inslee vetoes SB 5000, the law it creates will take effect July 23.

By Sen. Keith Wagoner | Tri-City Herald | April 14, 2023

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On the Saturday before Easter, the state Senate’s majority Democrats passed what they call an “assault weapons ban.” In reality, the bill targets several of the most popular sporting and self-defense firearms in the country, including most modern sporting rifles and even some shotguns used for hunting and competition shooting.

My Republican colleagues and I debated the measure for nearly three hours, using the amendment process to try to point out the fallacies of their arguments and mitigate some of the damage the bill would do to the rights of Washingtonians and small business owners who work as legal firearms dealers.

As it turned out, I was the only one able to get an amendment accepted – one to support our military members and allow them to keep their firearms when they are ordered to move to Washington.

The proponents of this bill and I agree on one thing and one thing only. We are in a crisis in Washington. But it is a crisis of general lawlessness across our communities, one exacerbated by bad legislative decisions over the past several legislative sessions.

We have seen soft-on-crime policies, releasing criminals from incarceration; vilification of our law enforcement officers; toleration of life-destroying drug proliferation and use; failure to address mental health adequately; and poor decisions during the COVID lockdowns resulting in learning loss and depression among our youth. We need to focus on addressing the root causes leading to chaos and violence, not vilify firearm ownership.

Our nation has always had a history of gun ownership, and the Second Amendment to the U.S. constitution enshrines our naturally endowed right to defend ourselves and our families. But what we have not always seen – what is new to the moment – is the devastating loss of life we have witnessed due to crime, suicide, mass shootings and senseless violence.

House Bill 1240 declares the violent and inappropriate use of firearms ‘appeal[s] to troubled young men intent on becoming the next mass shooter.’ But where is the effort to help these troubled young males and heal whatever there is inside of them that is broken and leading to violence and rage?

Instead, this bill goes after the implement, and completely ignores the underlying root causes of the problems we see today.

The problems are not just reflected in deaths caused by a demented person with a firearm. We see it in the increase of drug-related deaths, teen suicides, wrong-way and drunk-driving assaults on our roads, and in the sunken eyes of lost souls we see roaming our streets with unattended-to mental-health and substance-abuse issues.

It is reflected in fatherless homes producing rudderless young men who feel hopeless and unsure of their place in this world. It is reflected in the general lawlessness we have seen explode across this state, thanks in large part to the failed policies of the Democrat majority in the Legislature and Governor Inslee.

Banning some of the most popular firearms kept and used by law-abiding citizens today will do nothing to address these problems. Absolutely zero.

Look no further than the City of Seattle. Despite Washington ranking in the Top 10 nationally for gun control for the past five years, we have seen the number of shootings – fatal or not – and ‘shots-fired events’ in our largest city hit an all-time high in 2022.

The fact of the matter is the law created by this bill will just be more of the same. Worse still, it will give the victims of these crimes and all Washingtonians a false sense of security that something is being done.

And let’s not forget that this ban is also blatantly unconstitutional, and likely to cost taxpayers crucial dollars that could be invested in mental health and public safety, but which will instead be used trying to unsuccessfully defend this law in the courts.

HB 1240 now goes back to the House to reconcile changes between the version that passed the Senate and the one that passed the House earlier this year. That means there is still time for lawmakers to do the right thing, put this bill down, and set their sights on real solutions.

— Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, serves as the Senate Republican Whip and is a member of the Senate Law and Justice Committee.

House unanimously approves bill to allowing better record-sharing and transparency between DSHS and law enforcement

On Friday the state House of Representatives voted unanimously to approve Senate Bill 5370, a measure sponsored by Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley, that would improve adult protective services by requiring the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and law enforcement to share information contained in reports and findings of abandonment, abuse, financial exploitation, and neglect of vulnerable adults with each other.

“This bill helps us protect our vulnerable adults,” said Wagoner. “Those who are responsible for vulnerable adults must understand their critical role in reporting neglect, harm and exploitation. Mandatory reporting is often our first insight into helping those who are vulnerable. It is very good news that this important measure is one step closer to becoming law.”

DSHS investigates the abandonment, abuse, financial exploitation, neglect, or self-neglect of vulnerable adults, which includes those 60 years old or older, who are unable to care for themselves; those with developmental disabilities; and those receiving services from a home health, hospice, or home care agency.

Current law requires DSHS to keep a database of people who have been implicated in proven cases of abandonment, abuse, exploitation, or neglect of a vulnerable adult, and prohibit those individuals from being hired for sensitive positions.

Wagoner’s bill expands the number of mandated reporters to include employees of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, a certified residential service, or a support agency.

Confidential information could only be shared under certain circumstances, including when authorized by the Office of the Developmental Disabilities Ombuds.

The bill would also allow the DSHS secretary or a designee to examine and obtain copies of reports and records of autopsies or postmortems.

SB 5370, which passed the Senate 47-0 and the House 96-0, now goes to the governor’s desk for his consideration.

Sudden demise of House riparian-buffer bill makes SB 5353 only riparian protection proposal of its kind left in 2023 session

On its final day this legislative session to endorse Senate policy bills, the Senate Ways and Means Committee backed legislation from Sen. Keith Wagoner that would give up to 12 additional counties another opportunity to participate in the state’s Voluntary Stewardship Program.

The positive vote on Senate Bill 5353 was welcome news to agriculture groups and tribes, after a bipartisan riparian-buffer bill many had supported failed to advance out of the House Capital Budget Committee – a surprising result attributed primarily to opposition from Gov. Jay Inslee.

“It was a Cinderella story of legislation right up until the slipper didn’t fit,” Wagoner said, referring to the unexpected demise of House Bill 1720.

“What a disappointing end that is, to what was shaping up to be a great story of agriculture, tribes and conservationists coming together with members of both parties to put forth a truly bipartisan, balanced piece of legislation.

“I am pleased that the Senate is moving my volunteer-stewardship bill forward, giving us the chance to continue the bipartisan work that Washingtonians deserve and we all want to see.”

The Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP) offers an alternative approach for protecting critical areas on lands where agricultural uses exist. It is limited to 27 of Washington’s 39 counties, but under Wagoner’s proposal, the 2012 deadline in state law for counties to take part in the VSP would be removed, opening up the program statewide. His measure would also allow any counties joining the program to access funding for riparian projects.

“The goal of the program is to stop pitting rural landowners, agriculture communities, environmentalists, tribes, and regulators against one another. A Draconian, punitive, and forced approach would only sour cooperation, harm compliance and potentially lead to putting some farms out of business altogether,” warned Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley. “Senate Bill 5353 is about taking the opposite approach – having all sides work cooperatively to both improve our critical areas, while also preserving our farmlands.

“It’s a difficult balance to reach, but we’ve done it with this program.”

Wagoner also stressed how, unlike the failed approach offered by the Democrat majority in the House in previous years, his bill is about making the most of a program that has already proven successful.

“I have seen voluntary stewardship programs work, specifically in protecting critical lands along the Skagit River,” Wagoner added. “Voluntary programs, where we work together with conservation districts, property owners, environmental groups and the tribes produce better results than when we try to mandate a single solution on all property owners. Skagit County is proof of that.”

SB 5353 now heads to the Rules Committee, the last stop before a potential vote by the full Senate.