Republican State Sen. Perry Dozier (16th LD) joins us for this week’s Newsmaker Interview. Sen. Dozier shares his priorities for the 2024 legislative session, including addressing the cost of living, public safety, and supporting parental rights in education. From his perspective working in the agricultural industry for over 40 years, Sen. Dozier also emphasizes the need to address significant challenges facing farmers through the “Cultivate Washington” agenda – and criticizes the ongoing failure to exempt farmers from the carbon tax.
What are your top three goals for the 2024 legislative session?
I hear most from my constituents about the cost of living and public safety, so of course those are on the list. As we’re only supposed to be adjusting the biennial budgets this session, the tax-relief bill I want to get through (SB 6238) is a simple and affordable change that would treat military widows/widowers fairly. On public safety I am co-sponsoring several good bills – a few that go after human traffickers, one that offers clarity about the use of force by officers, and a couple that target the drug-overdose epidemic. I will also be on defense against big tax hikes and criminal-friendly legislation.
Education is also in my top three – not only is it our paramount duty under the state constitution but I’ve really appreciated being on the Senate education committee and digging into early-learning and K-12 issues. It has been harder than anticipated to get support for helping students recover the learning opportunities they lost during the pandemic; I’m co-sponsoring SB 6049 to provide intensive tutoring and other tools that should have been available a year or two ago.
What is your perspective on the “Cultivate Washington” agenda proposed by Senate Republicans to support agriculture in our state?
Having owned and/or operated farming operations for 40-plus years I’m more than a little biased in favor of agriculture, so it was great to be part of creating the Cultivate WA agenda. It calls out seven things, and I know Washington’s agricultural sector faces more challenges than that, but we need to start somewhere. Some of our proposed solutions would help agriculture as a whole, and some lean toward a particular industry or region of our state. The word “equity” gets thrown around a lot at the Capitol – well, this agenda is equitable. It’s a well-rounded approach.
In light of the increasing challenges facing farmers in our state, how do you plan to collaborate with your Democrat colleagues during the 2024 legislative session to address the concerns raised in the “Cultivate Washington” agenda?
“Increasing challenges” is an understatement. Believe it or not there was a time when water availability was a concern primarily during drought – meaning the Snake River dams weren’t being threatened. The state also did a better job of managing its wildlife and no one talked about cows in terms of the climate. Now those are stacked on top of the traditional concerns like caring for the land and keeping the equipment running and, of course, the weather.
I think it’s fair to say bipartisan collaboration begins with bipartisan awareness. While many of my colleagues know by now what I do for a living, I can’t assume they are aware of what goes into running a business and how agriculture is not like other businesses. The Puget Sounders who drive to Walla Walla County for a wine tour or other fun in the sun get a good look at some of Washington’s agricultural commodities along the way, and I also appreciate when legislators from urban areas go on the various ag tours. Things like that and the work I and others are doing to build relationships across the aisle can only help to build awareness – and by extension the collaboration that will get our Cultivate WA bills in front of committees, the public and news media.
The Climate Commitment Act – or carbon tax – has been a major topic of concern across the state, with specific attention to the exemptions which the agricultural sector was promised but which have not materialized so far. How do you plan to address the challenges posed by the administration’s unwillingness to find a way to exempt farmers from the carbon tax, and what legislative or policy changes do you believe are necessary to mitigate its impact on the agricultural community?
There’s something very wrong when you need more legislation just to get the executive branch to follow the law. Even so, I filed SB 5728 in 2023 to basically hold the Department of Ecology to the promises made in the CCA. That bill went nowhere before our session ended, but still, maybe it drove the formation of the stakeholder workgroup that met this past summer. I wish I could be more positive about how that turned out. What Ecology calls “substantial progress” isn’t going to pay the higher fuel bills.
Initiative 2117 would repeal the law so it certainly mitigates the CCA’s effect on the agricultural community. Now that it’s been certified I will go out on a limb and suggest a) the Legislature will pass I-2117 on through to the ballot and b) further talk about fuel-surcharge exemptions is on hold until later in November.
Are there any specific measures or policies that you are proposing to improve transparency and/or advance parental rights in our public schools?
The parental-rights bill I prime-sponsored in 2023 has been reintroduced for this session – it’s SB 5024 – but I am not seeing a need to push it because one of the six initiatives submitted to the Legislature for this session covers the same ground. As Initiative 2081 received final certification today [Jan. 19] we may now consider it like any other legislation. The state constitution ranks initiatives to the legislature second only to budget bills in terms of priority; we should follow that and at least give I-2081 a public hearing. Initiatives that are certified but not enacted go on through to the ballot. So, one way or another, a discussion about parental rights in schools will happen this year, we just don’t know at which level.
While that plays out, I hope we can get something done this session on learning recovery, as I mentioned, and updating what’s called “local effort assistance” to public schools. That bill, SB 6096, also brings in public charter schools.
Which political figure has most inspired your approach to governance?
I’ll have to go with two people: Mike Hewitt and the late Bill Grant, both of whom served the 16th District.
Bill Grant was a House member and fellow farmer. I lobbied him in 1999 as the new secretary-treasurer for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers – as I recall it was about a sales-tax exemption for veterinary supplies and farm-equipment parts. I had known Bill many years but never really been in a position to see him wear his legislator hat.
And of course there was Mike Hewitt, who was elected to the Senate four times starting in 2000. His sound advice contributed to my serving as a county commissioner for 8 years before running for the Senate.
My takeaway from both of them was the importance of being approachable. I think that’s essential to earning and maintaining the trust of my neighbors and being effective on their behalf.
Leave a Reply