Randy Gordon - 2009-10 Session

2009-10 Session

In 2010 he was nominated to the Washington State Senate by Democratic Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs) and confirmed by the King County Council to replace Sen. Fred Jarrett who resigned to serve as King County deputy executive.

During the short spring 2010 session, Gordon received three committee appointments: Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee (JLARC), Early Learning & K-12 Education and Judiciary.

Gordon sponsored seven bills during the session, co-sponsored forty bills, one senate joint memorial, twenty-two senate resolutions.

• SB 6512, Increasing school safety.
• SB 6593, Infant & toddler program. This bill provides children from birth to 3 with developmental disabilities educational support. It was passed into law on March 29, 2010.
• SB 6686, Changing the election and appointment provisions for municipal court judges. Passed out of the Senate, but died in the house.
• SB 6694, Residential foreclosure.
• SB 6728, Electrical trainee training.
• SB 6764, Judgments/tortious conduct. This bill raises the interest rate on civil judgments from 2 percent to 12 percent. The interest rate was amended in the House to prime plus two points. It was passed into law on March 19, 2010.
• SB 6796, Automatic teller fees/B&O taxes.

In his first speech on the Senate floor, Gordon voted with other Democrats in order to suspend a voter-approved initiative so that so-called tax loopholes could be closed in order to pay for mandatory budget items required by the state Constitution. A two-thirds majority was not needed in order to amend I-960 because lawmakers can amend initiatives with a simple majority vote after they've been on the books for two years. SB 6843 was passed into law. Within the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, the committee that works to make state government operations more effective, efficient and accountable by auditing and evaluating how money is spent, Gordon reviewed a book of tax exemptions. He signed on to two major bills that hope to close some of these tax loopholes amounting to a half of a billion dollars - SB 6853 and SB 6873.

As part of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gordon helped SB 5838 through committee that would result in tougher infraction for drivers whose violation of traffic laws results in the death or substantial bodily injury of a pedestrian, bicyclist or any other "vulnerable" roadway user.

As part of the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, Sen. Gordon sponsored SB 6593 which would transfer the Infant and Toddler Early Intervention Program to DEL from DSHS. Gordon testified in behalf of the bill

The session ended with Gordon voting for 2ESSB 6143 to close a $2.8 billion budget shortfall by a combination of cutting state services and increasing taxes. Taxes were increased on non-essentials - beer, soda, bottled water, and candy. Cuts were made in K-12 and higher education, and other state services.