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Member, Commerce, Labor & Sports Committee, Washington State Senate, 2017
Vice Chair, Ways and Means Committee, Washington State Senate, 2017
Member, Commerce, Labor & Sports Committee, Washington State Senate, 2017
Vice Chair, Ways and Means Committee, Washington State Senate, 2017
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Unknown Position
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- No
2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- No
Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Unknown Position
Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No
Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Unknown Position
1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- Unknown Position
1. Abortions should always be legally available.
- No Answer
2. Abortions should be legally available when the procedure is completed within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
3. Abortions should be legal only when the pregnancy resulted from incest, rape, or when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal only when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
6. Abortions should be limited by waiting periods and parental notification requirements.
- No Answer
7. Should Washington government funding be provided to clinics and medical facilities that provide abortion services?
- No Answer
1. The Washington government should prosecute cases of discrimination in the public and private sectors.
- X
2. The Washington government should provide no affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
3. Specific, adjustable percentages of contracts for state work should be awarded to minority or women-owned businesses.
- No Answer
4. Do you believe that the Washington government should recognize same-sex marriages?
- No
5. Do you believe that sexual orientation should be added to Washington's anti-discrimination laws?
- No
1. Increase state funding for programs to prevent teen pregnancy.
- No Answer
2. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for their employees.
- No Answer
3. Deny or suspend state-issued permits and licenses to parents who are delinquent in paying court-ordered child support.
- No Answer
4. Allow same-sex couples to become adoptive/foster parents.
- No Answer
1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and for hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer
2. Expand and promote "community policing" programs.
- X
3. Support "truth in sentencing" for violent criminals so they serve their full sentences with no chance of parole.
- X
4. Expand the use of the death penalty for additional circumstances relating to murder.
- No Answer
5. Oppose the death penalty.
- No Answer
6. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X
7. Require mandatory life sentences for third-time, violent felons.
- X
8. Inform communities when a convicted sex offender moves into the community.
- X
9. Increase state funds for programs which rehabilitate and educate inmates during and after their prison sentences.
- No Answer
10. Decriminalize the possession and private use of certain illegal drugs such as marijuana.
- No Answer
11. Strengthen penalties and sentences associated with drug-related crimes.
- No Answer
12. Implement chain gangs in which prison inmates work together in chained work groups.
- No Answer
13. Implement restrictions on living conditions of state prison inmates (e.g. limited visitation, television, smoking, etc.).
- No Answer
14. Require prison inmates to help pay for their health care services.
- No Answer
15. Support laws requiring restitution to crime victims at the personal expense of the criminal.
- X
1. Prosecute juveniles who commit murder or other serious, violent crimes as adults.
- X
2. Provide state funding for military-style "boot camps" for juvenile first-time felons.
- X
3. Increase state funding for local community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- No Answer
4. Support state government funding of programs for at-risk youth such as guaranteed college loans and job training and placement.
- No Answer
5. Support curfews for juveniles in high crime areas.
- No Answer
6. Increase state funds for programs that provide training and employment for disadvantaged youths.
- No Answer
7. Provide tax credits for businesses that contribute to job training programs for low-income youth (Youthbuilt program).
- No Answer
1. Increase state funds for improving the state's transportation system, including major roadways, railways and airports.
- No Answer
2. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for expanding, start-up, or relocating businesses.
- No Answer
3. Expand legalized gambling (either state lottery, slot machines or casino gambling).
- No Answer
4. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
- X
5. Remove state government controls or caps from wages, prices, rents, profits, production and interest rates.
- No Answer
6. Support limits on cash damages in lawsuits against businesses and professionals for product liability or malpractice.
- X
7. Increase state funding for programs to re-train unemployed workers.
- No Answer
8. Increase Washington state's minimum wage to $5.30 per hour.
- No Answer
1. Increase state funds for professional development and salaries of public school faculty.
- No Answer
2. Endorse teacher-led voluntary school prayer in public schools.
- No Answer
3. Encourage private or corporate investment in certain public school programs.
- X
4. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any participating school (public, private, religious, technical).
- No Answer
5. Implement charter schools where teachers and other professionals receive state authorization and funding to establish new schools.
- X
6. Require the use of state-wide achievement standards for all state public schools.
- No Answer
7. Emphasize local control of education as long as the school district meets state health and safety standards.
- X
8. Support sex education programs which stress abstinence.
- No Answer
9. Support sex education programs which stress safe sexual practices.
- No Answer
10. Provide state funding for programs which increase Washington students' access to the Internet and other telecommunications networks.
- No Answer
11. Increase state funds for higher education.
- No Answer
1. Enact tougher environmental standards to encourage the sale of cleaner burning fuels throughout Washington.
- No Answer
2. Support "self-audit" legislation which creates incentives for polluting industries to audit themselves and clean up pollution.
- No Answer
3. Require a cost/benefit analysis be completed on the economic impact of proposed environmental regulations before they are implemented.
- No Answer
4. Require the state to reimburse citizens when state-sponsored environmental regulations limit the use of privately- owned land.
- No Answer
5. Continue to provide funding for recycling programs in Washington.
- No Answer
6. Request flexibility from the federal government in enforcing and funding federal environmental regulations.
- No Answer
7. Suspend Washington's participation in unfunded, federally mandated environmental protection legislation.
- No Answer
8. Maintain minimum environmental quality as mandated by current federal regulations.
- No Answer
1. State Senators (8 years, to take effect in 2002)
- No Answer
2. State Representatives (6 years, to take effect in 1998)
- No Answer
3. Governor (8 out of every 14 years)
- Undecided
4. Do you support amending the U.S. Constitution to require an annual balanced federal budget?
- Yes
5. Do you support requiring limits on individual contributions to state legislative candidates?
- No
6. Do you support requiring limits on PAC contributions to state legislative candidates?
- Yes
7. Do you support requiring limits on corporate contributions to state legislative candidates?
- No Answer
8. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes
9. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- No
10. Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns?
- No
11. Do you support legislation to establish English as the official and recognized language of Washington?
- No Answer
12. Do you support Washington's law which prohibits smoking at all state government workplaces?
- No Answer
13. Do you support requiring limits on the number of lobbyists that state agencies and local governments are allowed to send to the Capitol?
- No Answer
1. Support expanding the nationwide federal ban on the public sale of assault weapons to include all forms of semi-automatic weapons.
- No Answer
2. Increase state restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms.
- No Answer
3. Maintain all state registration procedures and state restrictions on possessing firearms.
- No Answer
4. Ease state procedures and restrictions on the purchase and registration of firearms.
- No Answer
5. Repeal all state bans and measures that restrict law-abiding citizens from obtaining firearms.
- No Answer
6. Allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms.
- X
1. Expand state funding for pre-natal and infant care programs available in the state, including immunizations.
- No Answer
2. Provide tax incentives to assist small businesses in providing health care to their employees.
- No Answer
3. Ensure that Washington citizens have access to basic health care, through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- No Answer
4. Guaranteeing medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer
5. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- X
6. Support the current law that requires health insurers of Washington residents to accept any applicant, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
- No Answer
7. Support legislation requiring health insurance providers to cover certain medical services (e.g. 48 hr. hospital stay for mothers after childbirth).
- No Answer
8. Do you believe that terminally ill individuals should have the right to end their lives?
- No Answer
1. Abortion
- Eliminate
2. Affirmative Action
- No Answer
3. AIDS Programs
- No Answer
4. Education
- Slightly Increase
5. Environment
- No Answer
6. Health care
- No Answer
7. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase
8. Welfare
- No Answer
1. Alcohol Taxes
- No Answer
2. Business Taxes
- Slightly Decrease
3. Capital gains taxes
- No Answer
4. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease
5. Sales taxes
- No Answer
6. State Fees
- No Answer
7. Would you support a state income tax on incomes other than interest and dividend incomes?
- No
8. If an income tax were enacted in Washington state, would you support a flat tax structure for state income taxes?
- No Answer
1. Provide child care services to welfare recipients who work or attend school.
- No Answer
2. Allow welfare recipients to work and still receive state-funded health care and child care (if needed) until they become self-sufficient.
- No Answer
3. Require that able-bodied welfare recipients receive job training, attend school, or work in order to receive welfare benefits.
- X
4. Require that unwed mothers under the age of 18 attend school and live with a parent or guardian (if possible) to receive welfare benefits.
- X
5. Limit the welfare benefits given to recipients if they have additional children.
- No Answer
6. Provide two-parent families living in poverty the same welfare benefits as one-parent families.
- No Answer
7. Eliminate government-funded welfare and advocate privately-funded assistance to people in need.
- No Answer
8. Impose a two-year limit on welfare benefits for recipients who are able to work.
- No Answer
9. Place a lifetime limit of five years on the length of time a person can receive welfare benefits in Washington.
- X
Explain what your two main legislative priorities will be if elected to the Washington State Legislature. If any of your priorities will require additional government funding, explain how you intend to obtain the additional funding.
- No Answer
By Ross Courtney U.S. Senate candidate Dino Rossi toured two hospitals and a medical school Monday, using the occasion to advocate repealing the nation's new health care act and replacing it with market-driven policies. "I think it could bankrupt America," the Republican told a group of about 20 employees of Sunnyside Community Hospital. Rossi, challenging 18-year Democratic incumbent Patty Murray, also visited Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Terrace Heights and the Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco. It's part of his campaign tour of nearly every community throughout Washington as the Sammamish hopeful fights for every vote he can get in an election that could end up very close. "This is a top race ... It's very obvious we can win," Rossi said. It should be no surprise that Rossi is visiting areas that traditionally lean Republican anyway, he said. Rossi's campaign, however, spent time in Grays Harbor and Chinatown in downtown Seattle, both Democratic areas, in the past week. "We're finding great support from everybody," he said. "People get it. It's not really about party, it's about the future of the country." Since May, Rossi's campaign team has put enough miles on its car to drive from Seattle to New York and back four times. Rossi and Murray both need every vote they can get. Some polls show the campaigns are neck and neck. "In Washington state, the U.S. Senate race remains one of the closest in the country," according to Rasmussen Reports. In Rasmussen's most recent poll Aug. 31, "Rossi and Murray were even, with Rossi earning 48 percent of the vote and Murray 46 percent. The margin for error was4 points each direction. Meanwhile, an Elway poll released Monday showed Murray up 50-41, while a KING-5 TV poll by Survey USA last month had Rossi up 52-45. The respective parties seem to be taking notice, pouring more money into their campaigns. Roll Call, a Washington, D.C., political newspaper, reported that the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee each bumped up their spending by $2 million earlier this month. Murray's campaign also said it will concentrate on visiting with as many voters as possible. "We are not taking anything for granted," said Julie Edwards, communications director for Murray's campaign. "Sen. Murray is going to run this race like she always has, getting out and talking to as many voters as possible all across the state." On Monday, after checking out Sunnyside Community Hospital's new mammography and ultrasound technology, Rossi told employees he would try to repeal President Obama's health care bill, which passed the Senate earlier this year with 60 votes. He would try to replace it with laws that allow people to purchase insurance across state lines, limit malpractice lawsuits and permit individuals and small business owners to purchase insurance plans collectively. "Those don't cost taxpayers a dime," Rossi said. In response, Murray's campaign said repealing health care would put the country back where it was, with families and small businesses seeing double-digit rate increases every year, people denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions and millions of Americans without any form of insurance. "That's what Mr. Rossi would have us go back to by repealing (the health care act)," Edwards said. Edwards also said the act -- still being implemented -- will actually reduce the deficit because more people will be insured.
By Michelle Dupler Republican Senate candidate Dino Rossi sat at a gathering of a dozen Mid-Columbia business owners, surrounded by faces lined with worry, stress and fear. They talked to him in a back room at the Country Gentleman in Kennewick about being overtaxed and overregulated, about wanting to expand but being afraid they will be penalized with more taxes and more regulations if they do. Bill Lampson, owner of Lampson Cranes of Kennewick, said he won't even think about expansion until some of the government regulations constraining him are lifted. "People like me are not interested in hiring anymore not only because of the (economic) uncertainty, but because of the overregulation," Lampson said. Farm owner Brenda Alford of Pasco said she worries about the expiration of a cut to the federal estate tax and her family losing the land they farm after she and her husband die. "The land is paid for in full. We pay a lot of property taxes," she said. "Why when we die should the government get any of it? That land is for our children and grandchildren." Tony Benegas, a West Richland city councilman and co-owner with his wife of a small engineering firm in Richland, said the health care reform law passed this year is creating a nightmare of red tape for him. "The health care bill is a disaster for us," Benegas said. "I just want to be left alone to make money." Rossi said the concerns raised by the group of business owners aren't new to him. He is hearing them from business owners across the state as he travels for his campaign against incumbent Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "The No. 1 issue for most folks is jobs and the economy, feeding the kids and keeping a roof over their heads," Rossi said. "What we're finding is a bit of a theme. There are business owners who would like to grow ... but they have no idea what their government is going to do to them next week. If they can't plan, there's no way they're going to invest in equipment or knocking down a wall to expand." Rossi said the nation is on a "fiscal cliff," and accused Murray of being one of the people who brought the economy to the brink with deficit spending and industry bailouts. He said he would extend tax cuts made by Congress in 2001 and 2003, repeal the health reform law and work to reduce burdensome regulations on business if elected. He criticized Murray as being out of touch with the importance of the private sector to the country's economic recovery. "Patty Murray has never had a private sector job in her entire life," Rossi said. Julie Edwards, Murray's campaign spokeswoman, said Murray has plenty of valuable real world experience serving on a school board, her parent teacher association and as a mother. "I guess Mr. Rossi doesn't think these are valuable experiences, but we disagree," Edwards said. Rossi also criticized Murray for being the "60th and deciding vote" on the health care bill, which he claimed is a "tax and spend bill with a little health care sprinkled on top." Edwards said Murray voted for the bill because it will protect vulnerable children and adults. "Health care reform will make sure kids with pre-existing conditions can go to a doctor, that people who get sick can't lose their insurance, and that young people can stay on their parents' plans up to age 26," she said. "This bill passed by an overwhelming majority of 60 votes and Mr. Rossi wants to repeal it and take these protections away." Bill Scott, who owns several Tri-City apartment complexes, cornered Rossi on immigration, saying he believes the government needs to reform immigration laws and provide a path to legal immigration rather than rounding up and deporting people who help support the economy. "If you take them out of my apartment complexes, I'd go broke," Scott said. "We need comprehensive reform, not just kicking folks out." Rossi said his approach to immigration is to have a "tall fence with a high gate." His grandparents came from Italy to raise their standard of living, and he would like to see other people have that opportunity, he said. "We should let people come here who want to pursue the American Dream, but we need to know who's coming," he said. "We need to make sure there is a way for people to come to work and live, but to do it legally." The general election is Nov. 2.
The Monroe Monitor & Valley News - Dino Rossi Visits Monroe Polly Keary Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi made a quiet visit to Monroe Thursday to get a feel for the needs of local police and to assess safety issues on U.S. 2. Accompanied by a campaign aide, Rossi spent about 45 minutes riding with Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer to Sultan and back and discussing local police and safety issues. "We wanted to come back to Snohomish County and talk to local law enforcement," he said. "The point is to see what they see." As Quenzer steered the car through town, he told Rossi that, while Monroe doesn't have a serious problem with organized gangs as do some towns like Yakima, most crimes involve drugs at some point. "Ninety percent of our crimes lead back to drugs," he said. But the biggest challenge to law enforcement in Monroe doesn't come from criminals, he told the candidate. Rather, it comes from financial strain caused by a new tax system in Washington. "Well, number one is the economy, but number two is this streamlined sales tax issue," he said. Under the new law, when a company delivers a product to someone in another town, the other town gets the sales tax. For towns like Sultan, which has very little manufacturing or large stores that might deliver far and wide, it means an economic boost. But for Monroe, which lost virtually all the sales tax it used to get from Canyon Creek Cabinet Company and other manufacturers as well as some revenue from Lowe's and other retailers, the loss has been significant. The state is supposed to reimburse the towns that lose money for a period of years, until the town's growing businesses have caught up to the city's former sales tax levels. But Monroe officials are skeptical about whether the check will arrive, and if it will in fact equal the amount that was lost. As the car passed the two intersections with Fern Bluff Road, Quenzer pointed out the high number of accidents that take place at those locations. Rossi said that if he is elected, he will funnel $600 million to fix the narrow highway, without raising taxes. "The governor is setting aside $50 million," he said. "That amount isn't going to save lives." Critics charge that his transportation plan would take funds from education. After the visit, Rossi left for Seattle to celebrate his daughter's eighth birthday. He and current governor Christine Gregoire spent the weekend campaigning in Snohomish County.
