20th Legislative District Lawmakers Talk Guns, a ‘Bad Bill,’ Taxes and More During Virtual Town Hall

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During a virtual town hall on Tuesday night, the 20th Legislative District’s three lawmakers answered questions from constituents about a wide array of issues. 

State Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, and Reps. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, and Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, discussed topics ranging from gun violence to funding for people with disabilities. The town hall began around 6:15 p.m. with each legislator providing a brief update on their view of the legislative session.

Braun, who serves as the Republican leader in the state Senate, called public safety, affordability and education the top priorities for the legislative session. 

“When it comes to public safety, this is the top issue,” Braun said.

According to Braun, some of the most significant bills of the legislative session have dealt with issues related to the Washington state Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in State v. Blake, which he said has led to an increase in addiction and overdoses, and vehicular pursuits by law enforcement. 

Regarding affordability, Braun said the biggest issue has been housing. He also mentioned hospital finances as an affordability issue, specifically describing rural hospitals as “teetering.” Braun called for legislation to be passed to ensure hospitals can stay in place at an affordable price. 

On the issue of education, Braun said the biggest issue is addressing learning loss from the COVID-19 pandemic. Braun also raised the importance of special education funding, mentioning proposals from both the state Senate and House have included “significant new funding” for children with special needs. 

Orcutt, who serves as the top Republican on the House Finance Committee which deals with tax issues, discussed recent budget projections. According to Orcutt, the projections show continuing to spend at current levels would still leave the state with a large amount of what he called “extra revenue” even without increased taxes. He argued tax increases were unnecessary based on revenue forecasts.

“We need to make sure that the budgets that come out respect the taxpayers and provide the needed services and not a lot extra,” Orcutt said. 

Abbarno, who serves as one of two assistant ranking members on the House Capital Budget Committee, said the capital budget often brings legislators from both parties together. Abbarno told the town hall attendees the capital budget is a bond budget, and requires a supermajority to pass. 

“I call it a ‘happy budget’ because it means Republicans need Democrats and Democrats need Republicans to get things done,” Abbarno said. “It really creates some good dialogue between Republicans and Democrats and between both chambers.”

Abbarno told the town hall attendees his top issues as a legislator are public safety and household finances. 

Firearm regulations were also discussed. All three legislators expressed opposition to proposals to restrict firearms, often criticizing bills for placing limits on people they argued obeyed laws. 

“These are all bills that are misaimed. They affect legal gun owners, and let's be candid — legal gun owners are not the source of our problems in Washington state,” Braun said. “It’s a real problem, but taking away rights from legal gun owners is just not the way you solve it.”

Orcutt argued it’s important to focus on the underlying causes of violence involving guns, rather than focusing on the methods by which the violence is carried out. 

“Yes we need to understand and listen to what the students are saying, their concerns about safety. But my concern is that when they pass these bills, they may make people feel safe in the short term, but ultimately there’s going to be another shooting. Because somebody’s going to get a gun illegally and go do another shooting, and there goes the feeling of safety and security,” Orcutt said. “It’s not a matter of what’s the means by which they’re inflicting this violence and this injury and death on these students and quite frankly others in our communities. And once we do that, once we understand the underlying cause, address the underlying issues, then we’ll see a drop in these and we won’t have to worry about them moving to some other way of doing it or some other mass attack methodology or just finding the firearms in some illegal manner. That would be a better approach than putting restrictions on law-abiding gun owners. And that’s the approach I think we should take. Let’s address the underlying problem that’s leading to the anger that’s manifesting itself this way.”

Abbarno argued Democrats in the Legislature are predominantly from urban areas and often don’t see what he called the “history and tradition” involved in “responsible gun use.” Abbarno said residents in rural areas often lack options for protection and may have to rely on firearms. 

Abbarno also specifically mentioned House Bill 1143, which he criticized by arguing it would create a database of gun owners.

“One of the big concerns about 1143 is that it creates additional barriers for law-abiding individuals to own firearms. It alludes to creating a database, not just of those who are possessing firearms legally, but on the other side of it it’s also creating a database of all the households that don’t have firearms to protect themselves, which I thought was concerning as well,” Abbarno said.

Abbarno also pointed to House Bill 1268, which he argued would lessen penalties for some crimes. Abbarno said there are crimes that should prevent individuals from owning guns legally. 



“We’ve got a House majority that’s very focused on taking guns away from law-abiding citizens without holding criminals accountable,” Abbarno said.

One town hall attendee asked why the Legislature was moving in the direction of passing what they viewed as bad policies. 

“You asked why, and it’s a simple but not very satisfying answer … and it’s that the Democrats have had a majority of both chambers for a while now … Since then they have moved further and further to the left,” Braun said. 

Braun said there has been a movement to the left among Democrats in the Legislature, a change he said he’s noticed in his time as a state senator, telling attendees it’s become more difficult to work across the aisle. 

“It’s harder to find common ground. And they’re more aggressive frankly in pushing their far-left, in some cases even socialist, policies, that I believe are bad for the state of Washington and certainly do not reflect all of the state of Washington,” Braun said. “There’s a small group of folks in the central Puget Sound that I think don’t understand the problem.”

Braun said part of the issue is “a numbers problem,” referring to the number of legislators from each party. Braun said voters determine the party makeup of both chambers of the Legislature, though he said he didn’t want to speak further on the topic because of laws regulating discussing elections while using government resources. 

“We fight hard on every bill we think is bad for the state of Washington, but you can’t get to a majority with 20 votes,” Braun said. “Those numbers are simply determined by the voters of the state of Washington.”

One topic that was asked about multiple times was Senate Bill 5599, which would change the law so shelters for children aren’t required to inform parents of a child’s whereabouts if there are concerns related to gender dysphoria or other protected health care services. 

“5599 is a bad bill, maybe the worst bill proposed this session,” Braun said. “Parents have a right, an obligation, to be there, to help their children during these difficult times.”

According to Braun, current law already allows shelters to not inform parents of their child’s whereabouts if there are concerns about abuse.

Braun claimed 96% of people who signed in with the state Senate during SB 5599’s committee hearing were opposed to its passage.

He also mentioned the bill was passed out of the state Senate on a party line vote. He hopes the state House will amend it to provide parents a greater role.

“All I’d say is, don’t give up. We need to keep fighting on this bill. … The reality is, we may lose this year. But you can’t give up. This is too important,” Braun said.

Abbarno said the government should leave parenting to parents. 

“I know government shouldn’t be in the parental role and it often feels like it is,” said Abbarno, who pointed to SB 5599. “Government should stay out of the parenting business. I think in those uncomfortable moments when parents deal with kids, whether we’re talking about sexual education or we’re talking about body dysmorphia or where we’re talking about homeless shelters, when we’re talking about youth, government should be trying to encourage parents to engage with their children and really strengthen those relationships. … Morals and values start and end at the home.”

After a constituent asked whether the Legislature was seeking to improve services for the disabled, Braun said there is a bipartisan agreement in the Legislature regarding improving disability services and criticized Washington as being “out of date” on the issue.

“Frankly, Washington, when you look to compare us to the rest of the country, we’re not doing that well. We’re kind of out of date. … It’s the right thing to do … and frankly, it’s more fiscally responsible,” Braun said. “There’s a lot of folks on both sides of the aisle who are working hard on this issue. Here in Olympia we recognize we’re not where we need to be.”

According to Braun, one priority legislators have is reducing the wait time for disability services. He said the issue requires both fiscal and policy changes. 

The town hall lasted about one hour and 15 minutes, slightly longer than the one hour that had been originally scheduled.