Washington State Senate Democrats: Rosa Franklin

Health Committee honors Sen. Franklin

Senate Democrats — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:05:00 GMT

The Senate Health and Long-term Care Committee opened its Assembly Days hearing this just now with a tribute to Sen. Rosa Franklin, the committee vice chair, who retires this year.

Sen. Karen Keiser, the committee chair, noted that Franklin served 17 years on the committee and provided its institutional memory. “I can’t tell you how many times I turned to Rosa and asked, ‘What happened,’ and she filled me in,” Keiser said.

Keiser also credited Franklin for her focus on preventative measures. “She knew prevention was the way to avoid so much suffering and so much cost,” Keiser said.

On a lighter note, Keiser described Franklin affectionately as “a nag” for her persistence in fighting for health care disparities and other issues. “She never gave up,” Keiser said.

For her part, Franklin said she was “not walking away to retirement, I’m going to kick a few folks to the curb.” She added, “This has been wonderful. Public service is great. Everybody should try it once.”

Comparing the two tax reform bills

Senate Democrats — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:46:00 GMT

I'm hearing a lot of people are having trouble finding the details of the Senate's recent high-earners income tax proposal. I think the confusion stems from the fact the high-earners tax was introduced in a substitute bill for my original Senate Bill 6250, which focuses more broadly on overall tax structure reform. The two proposals are fundamentally different, so I can understand why people who call up the wrong version would be confused.

To make it easier to tell the bills apart, you can read my original tax reform bill by clicking on Senate Bill 6250. You can read the proposal that creates a high-earners income tax and lowers the state income tax by clicking on Proposed Senate Substitute Bill 6250.

I hope that helps clear up any confusion.

Franklin bill would tax high-wage income, roll back state sales tax

Senate Democrats — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:14:00 GMT

Olympia -- Each year for the better part of a decade, Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-South Tacoma, has called for a dialogue on reforming the state's tax structure. Today, in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, that dialogue began.

The starting point for that dialogue is Franklin's Senate Bill 6250, which would give Washington voters the option of creating an income tax on high-wage earners while rolling back the state sales tax to the 5.5 percent Washingtonians were paying 30 years ago.

“This is a modest first step to bring our antiquated tax structure in line with our state’s 21st Century needs,” Franklin said. “This will give the public the ultimate say on how we pay for public services.”

Franklin has long argued that the state’s existing tax system was created a century ago for an economy that bears little resemblance to today’s needs.

“Our tax structure is long overdue for modernization, and we are equally long overdue in addressing this problem,” she said. “Today’s hearing is the start of what I hope will be an open, thoughtful discussion of our state’s economic needs and the best ways to address them.”

Franklin said a key component of the legislation is that it lets the people choose the tax structure they believe is best for them — and to make that choice, they will first have to learn the pros and cons of each structure.

As an example, she pointed out that several speakers who testified at the hearing that the new tax structure would raise their taxes appeared to be moderate wage earners who actually would pay less taxes if the tax restructuring passed.

“Certain segments of our society have spent years demonizing the concept of taxes, to the point that many people base their views more on misinformation than facts,” Franklin said. “This is an opportunity for people to learn how taxation really works and whether our existing tax structure benefits or hurts them.”

Legislature passes life-saving drug-overdose legislation

Senate Democrats — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:18:44 GMT

Olympia - Lives could be saved by legislation passed Sunday by the Legislature.

Senate Bill 5516, sponsored by Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-South Tacoma, would cut down on deaths from drug-related overdoses by discontinuing the prosecution of people who alert hospitals or police if they think someone needs medical help.

The legislation was prompted by the tragic case of a Puyallup teenager who died on New Year’s Day 2007 after a night of partying in Edmonds and Seattle. Although the young woman showed signs of overdosing for hours, no one who was with her called for medical aid.

“This happens more often than you think,” Franklin said. “Drug overdoses are second only to motor vehicle accidents as a leading cause of death. In our state, nearly two people die every day from unintentional drug overdoses. Many of these people could be saved, but their friends are scared of prosecution and gamble that their friends will make it through without medical help.”

The bill does not spare drug criminals from prosecution. Anyone who gives drugs to someone who dies from using those drugs would still be prosecuted, and anyone who manufactures or sells the drugs would be prosecuted as well.

“Who among us does not have a friend or family member who made an unwise choice at some time in life? Should they pay for it with their lives?” Franklin said. “Under this bill, many people who would otherwise die will get a second chance to live, learn from their mistakes and enjoy long, productive lives.”

SB 5516 passed the House today on a 57-39 vote. Having already passed the Senate 47-1, it now goes to the governor to be signed into law.

Floor Speech: SB 6843

Senate Democrats — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:36:59 GMT

Sen. Franklin – Legislative Update – Jan. 21

Senate Democrats — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:56:32 GMT

Sen. Franklin – Op-Ed on “Kids at hope”

Senate Democrats — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:48:00 GMT

Patrick O'Callahan's column in The News Tribune (1-14) misinterpreted the intent and means of my legislation to discontinue the widespread use of a number of negative labels that discourage children from aspiring to make the most of themselves.

O'Callahan, along with similar critics, concluded the purpose of Senate Bill 6249 is to simply replace labels that have acquired pejorative meanings with a new label that will inevitably take on the negative connotations of its predecessor. That would simply be an exercise in semantics and would accomplish little good. But that’s not what the bill proposes.

The point of my bill is not to paste a feel-good phrase in place of a negative one; it is to stop the practice of labeling children in ways that stunt their expectations and consciously and unconsciously encourage others to view them as destined to fail. I hope to break a paradigm that’s in place throughout society, to the detriment of kids everywhere.

At the risk of oversimplifying, here’s what my bill actually proposes:

• We retire the use of terms like “at risk” or “free-lunch recipients” and other labels that negatively identify children as troubled or disadvantaged.

The News Tribune and others correctly point out that these labels carry negative connotations that diminish how the kids view themselves and how others view them. These attitudes tend to lead to self-fulfilling prophecies where no one expects the child to succeed and, to the surprise of few, the child fails. It’s also an added burden to a child who is in circumstances not of his or her choosing.

• If we use any label at all in referring to children – and I’m talking about all children, not about specific groups – we should use a single term that acknowledges and reaffirms the potential in all children: “Children at Hope.”

Again, this is not a substitute label for kids who face defined challenges. It should be how we address all children from all walks of life – in a manner that reminds them (and us) of their ability and need to achieve and grow in positive ways. In other words, focus on a child’s assets.

The concept of “Kids at hope” arose in 1993 to address the corrosive effects of subliminal priming – or the ways in which our unconscious impressions about others influence their behaviors.

This problem was recognized as early as 1969, when a study of the Pygmalion Effect revealed that teachers’ expectations of their students, whether valid or invalid, determined the students’ achievement levels. In other words, kids do as well or as poorly as we expect them to, regardless of their backgrounds. And the way we address or label children conveys those expectations, often without us even being aware we’re doing it.

Researchers have confirmed two things:

• When children are labeled negatively, they feel defeated and helpless to do anything about it.

• When children are addressed positively, they tend to live up to those expectations.

Day in and day out, many of us let negative labels consciously and unconsciously shape how we interact with kids. Sure, all of us like to think we treat everyone fairly, but let’s be honest – who among us doesn’t change our tone or choice of words based on who we’re talking to and what we expect of them? We try to control our thoughts and actions, but I know from my years of working with children and youth that they interpret our actions and nonverbal feelings on the spin of a dime.

If we want kids to succeed, we need to quit labeling them in ways that destroy hope. It’s not about substituting one label for another. It’s about addressing all kids — our own, our kids’ friends, our neighbors’ kids — in a way that encourages them to be all they can be.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave all of us hope. Why not pass it on to all of our children?

State Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma, is president pro-tempore of the Senate and represents the 29th Legislative District.

Let’s meet and talk

Senate Democrats — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:36:00 GMT

I hope to see you at my town hall meeting on Saturday, Jan. 9, from 10:00 a.m. - Noon at the Bates Community College south campus in Tacoma. I look forward to discussing expectations for the 2010 legislative session and to hear your questions and concerns. Joining me will be Rep. Steve Conway and a representative of the state Department of Social and Health Services to field questions.

Video update for Aug. 20

Senate Democrats — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:54:00 GMT

Video: Legislative Update - July 14

Senate Democrats — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:12:55 GMT