I hope this letter finds you well. The governor held another press conference this afternoon regarding the reopening of our state. During this conference, the governor said he will extend the stay-at-home order through May 31 to continue the social distancing strategy against the new coronavirus pandemic. The governor also...

Joined by nearly 50 state lawmakers and county level officials throughout the state, Rep. Chris Gildon sent a letter to the governor calling for decentralization of some decision-making as the state begins recovering from the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order. “We need a decentralized recovery effort,” said Gildon, R-Puyallup. “Each...

I hope you are staying safe and healthy. I’d like to begin by saying thanks to all those who are working to keep our society running. Health care providers, grocery store workers, truckers, law enforcement and first responders among so many others are truly heroes in this battle. I’d also...

Just like that, 60 days have come and gone, and the 2020 legislative session officially adjourned on Thursday, March 12. It was a whirlwind two months. During this session we saw more than 2400 bills introduced in both the House and Senate with more than 380 passing both chambers and...

Can you believe the 2020 session is already more than halfway finished? We only have three weeks left to get bills through both chambers and to the governor’s desk. Wednesday is the last day to consider bills in their house of origin. Each bill has to pass through both the...

Last year, the majority party in all three branches of our government passed a package of last-minute bills that created $2.1 billion dollars more in taxes. One of those bills was House Bill 2158, which imposed the business and occupation (B&O) tax surcharge on certain businesses to pay for higher...

Senate Bill 6492 passed the Senate and the House last week and will now be signed into law. Numerous republicans introduced amendments to the bill during floor debate, including Rep. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup. Gildon introduced two amendments, including 1071, which would have exempted any business owned by a veteran from...

We’re now four weeks into the 2020 legislative session. Friday will be policy cut-off, which means lawmakers have been busy introducing, hearing, and passing legislation. To date, we’ve seen nearly 1,400 new bills introduced in the House and Senate. Before we get into some of the policies and issues, we...

The 2020 legislative session is underway and there’s a lot to talk about. Rep. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, discusses the new Speaker of the House, his higher education bills, $30 car-tabs, title-only bills, and making Washington more safe, more affordable, and more accountable.