Dear neighbor,
I spent Week 5 on the House floor voting on bills that came out of committees. Tuesday is the cutoff to pass bills out of their “House of origin.” In other words, it is the deadline for House bills to be sent over to the Senate and vice versa. I will mention a few recent highlights.
First, House Bill 2336 passed the House by a vote of 95-3 this week. This is legislation I prime-sponsored after college students told me that it was difficult to find information about how their tuition dollars were being spent. This legislation would require higher education institutions to post departmental budgets and spending on a state website. This is a good open-government bill making budget information easily accessible for tuition payers and taxpayers. 
Second, the “pay for success” legislation I am working on was recently featured in an editorial in The Seattle Times, “Social impact bonds are a smart way to solve old problems.” House Bill 2337 would create a steering committee to develop a plan for a new public-private “pay for success” human services investment model. Pay for success programs, often called Social Impact Bonds, are being tried all over the United States. It is time for Washington state consider this option since the bureaucratic status quo has too often failed when it comes to reducing homelessness, offender recidivism, child poverty and more. Pay for success programs allow private investors to get a return when their investment leads to demonstrated results and taxpayer savings. We need to think outside the box to incentivize the right outcomes for society while saving money for taxpayers.
Finally, I recently took part in a panel as part of The Washington State Governance Series sponsored by the William D. Ruckelshaus Center and Washington State University. The program is designed to further discussion on improving Washington state government, the public’s view of government and legislative civility. You can watch the panel here: “Working to Improve Washington State Governance.”
Please keep in touch with your input on legislation as this session continues.
Sincerely,
Hans Zeiger
25th Legislative District
E-mail: hans.zeiger@leg.wa.gov
Web site: www.representativehanszeiger.com
Olympia Office (January-March)
468 John L. O’Brien Building – P.O. Box 40600 | Olympia, WA 98504-0600
(360) 786-7968 or Toll-free: (800) 562-6000
District Office (March-December)
101 South Meridian, Suite D
Puyallup, WA 98371
(253) 840-4526
