Area Legislators Visit Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce

Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted north-central Washington state legislators for a "Coffee & Commerce Legislative Wrap Up" session Tuesday morning.

12th District State Senator Keith Goehner (R-Leavenworth) along with 12th District State Representatives Mike Steele (R-Chelan) and Brian Burnett (R-Wenatchee), 13th District State Representatives Alex Ybarra (R-Quincy) and Tom Dent (R-Moses Lake), and 7th District State Representative Andrew Engall (R-Colville) visited with constiuents and recapped the legislative session.

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Rep. Burnett said he enjoyed meeting face-to-face with chamber members.
"It's like the best [thing] ever," Rep. Burnett said. "Just to be able to connect I think there's something about relationally when you have something more in common."

Sen. Goehner transitioned from the House of Representatives to the State Senate this session. He said overseeing the budget Gov. Bob Ferguson signed this year, which implements large tax increases, underwent some major changes from the time his caucus sent the bill to the next phase.

"I got a chance to see the whole budget, go through it, only to find out that once it leaves the senate, it's going to be negotiated out and it's going to be a different budget than what we sent over to the House," Sen. Goehner said.

In the Q&A Session, Wenatchee Valley Humane Society Executive Director BJ Andersen expressed concern about the exempt status for employers and non-profits with less than 50 employees. She said this regulation completely cripples businesses and non-profits.

Rep. Steele said he completely agrees this legislation makes life harder for those organizations.

"As someone who runs a non-profit... it absolutely affects my employment decisions," Rep. Steele said. "This is the same legislature that wanted to pay you to start... As someone who tries to legislate in a logical space, I don't like to legislate for things I don't understand, I feel like that happens a lot in Olympia, people reach into other parts of industries or other parts of business they don't have a clue about."

Legislators will begin their next legislative session in January.