Dear Neighbor,

While there have been many ups and downs this legislative session, today I want to share some good news with you.

We’re moving to phase 3!

Weeks after our entire state made it to phase 2 of Governor Inslee’s Roadmap to Recovery plan, he announced that all of Washington will be eligible to open up to phase 3 beginning on Monday, March 22. While we previously didn’t know what phase 3 would like, we now know that:

• Sports stadiums will be able to allow fans at 25% capacity
• Restaurants, businesses and gyms can open up to 50% capacity
• A maximum of 400 people can attend outdoor activities

I’m also relieved that this new phase will evaluate counties independently every three weeks with assessments occurring on Mondays and any possible changes taking effect the following Friday. The first evaluation is scheduled for April 12. To learn more about how counties will be measured, click here.

Senate Republicans have been advocating to continue reopening our state since January and I’m glad to see that the governor concurs. As the number of cases continue to decline, it is vital to our businesses and to our communities that we look forward to what phase 4 could look like so we are able to plan-ahead. I believe they are fully capable of operating safely; as lawmakers, we should do everything in our power to support them as they continue reopening.