It is an honor to serve as your newest 8th District state representative. As part of my efforts to keep you informed about everything I’m doing here in Olympia, I’ll be sending out email updates every two weeks during session. Please feel free to share them with your family and friends, or have them visit my legislative website to sign up for future updates. For those of you who don’t want to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe here.

If there was one word I would use to describe these first two weeks of the 2019 legislative session, it would be “whirlwind.” Every day has been a little different, but one thing has remained constant: the pace. We only have 105 days to tackle some really important issues, so members and staff are working as quickly as possible to complete tasks and meet legislative deadlines.

Each of the 20 House committees are hard at work offering legislation up for debate, and people are coming from all over the state to provide their input on the issues most important to them. It’s great to see.

The issues I’ll be heavily focused on this year are education, energy, cybersecurity, job creation, economic growth, and transportation. Due to my extensive cybersecurity background, I was chosen by House Republican leadership to serve as the assistant ranking member of the House Innovation, Technology and Economic Development Committee. The committee considers all legislation related to technology and/or digital communications.

I am also serving on the House Transportation Committee, as well as the House Environment and Energy Committee. Outside of these policy committees, I’ve been invited to join the Aviation Caucus, the Veterans and Military Families Caucus, and the Joint Legislative Systems Committee.

Interview on KONA Radio

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to join KONA Radio’s Ed Dawson to chat a little about my first week in the Legislature and my priorities for the year. You can listen to that interview here. I want to thank Ed for the opportunity to be on his program, and look forward to speaking with him again soon.

House Page Program

Here in the House, students ages 14 to 16 have an excellent opportunity to get involved in their state government by serving as a page for a week. To become a page, applicants must have a legislative sponsor and obtain written permission from their parents and school. If you know of a student who would be a good applicant, please reach out to me at matt.boehnke@leg.wa.gov. To learn more about the House Page Program, click here.

Contacting me

I have already met with several constituents from our district, and am looking forward to meeting many more over the next few months. If you would like to set up a time to meet with me at my Olympia office, please reach out to my legislative assistant Jennifer Palmer. Her email address is jennifer.palmer@leg.wa.gov. I also encourage you to email me directly with any comments, questions or concerns you have about state government or particular bills.

It is an honor to serve you. Thank you for the privilege.