ISSUES

ABORTION AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Gerry's been a long-time advocate for abortion rights and reproductive healthcare in Washington. As a faculty member at the UW School of Public Health, he knows how important access to reproductive health care is for women in our state. He has served as volunteer legal counsel for NARAL-Washington (now Pro-Choice WA). Gerry's been a leader working for school-based health clinics (like the one at Roosevelt High School) that include access to reproductive health care, contraception, and comprehensive sex education. All of which are threatened by the US Supreme Court's decision.

Following the shameful rollback of US constitutional protections by the right-wing supermajority on the US Supreme Court, Gerry wrote:

"The right to abortion in Washington is only as good as access. While our state laws protect the right to abortion, half of all hospital beds in our state are now controlled by religious institutions that do not allow for abortion and the full range of medical practice to offer gender confirming care, protect the health of women, or persons at the end of their lives. Hospitals that receive state funding should not be allowed to restrict medical procedures or training of UW and WSU medical students based on the religious directive of the hospital’s owner."

"I have led efforts to ensure that our public medical schools' students are trained in the full range of medical practice, including abortion, EC, all reproductive health, and end of life care as part of their training - regardless of religious directives at hospitals they intern at. I have been a leader for Medicaid funding of gender affirming care and surgery services as part of managed care (not pay as you go) and expanded training to meet the extreme shortage of medical providers.”

In addition to funding broader access for persons seeking care in Washington, Gerry’s proposed that the State take civil and criminal action against officials from other states who use threats to prevent women and transgender persons from obtaining medical services here in Washington, or if they threaten medical providers here in Washington.

As a UW School of Public Health faculty member, Gerry saw the need to ensure that college students across Washington (including the colleges near Idaho) had 24/7 access to emergency contraception. Gerry proposed and won passage for Washington to be the first state in the nation to provide free 24/7 access to emergency contraception at every public college campus.

K-12 EDUCATION & SPECIAL EDUCATION

Most of the deficit facing Seattle Public Schools is from the state’s failure to fully fund the education of our children with disabilities, typically referred to as special education. That deficit is a major (but not only) factor in the drive to close elementary schools.

For many years, Gerry has been widely recognized as the “legislature’s leading advocate for special education,” according to KING5 News.

In 2023, Gerry worked with State Schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal to introduce HB 1436 to remove what he considered to be an “unconscionable and unconstitutional cap” on how many children with disabilities the State would fund education services for. He also introduced HB 1305 to greatly improve access to special education services and evaluations for children with disabilities.

The Seattle Times editorialized on January 17, 2023:

“it’s hard to stomach the implications of Washington’s long-inadequate funding plans for the 151,000 students who need extra help to become well educated. The state Office of Public Instruction says schools are spending $400 million more than lawmakers provide each year on these legally mandated special education services — everything from speech therapy to full-time aides.

“The reason for this shortfall is that Washington uses a somewhat arbitrary cap — 13.5% of a district’s student population — to determine how many special-needs kids the state will pay for. Any amount beyond that is funded by local levies, that is, local taxpayers. And sometimes those levies fail.

“This is surely not what the writers of Washington’s constitution intended when they said it was the state’s duty ‘to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.’”

In a major victory for our children, Gerry and his House colleagues passed HB 1436 with an additional $200 million per year for special education, as well as increasing the percentage of children with disabilities that the state will provide funding for. Unfortunately, the Senate refused to eliminate this unconscionable cap and, although this was the largest funding boost in state history, it covered only 40% of the deficit for Seattle and other school districts.

In 2025, Gerry will be introducing legislation to fully meet our constitutional duty to our children and end the cap on how many children with disabilities that the state will fund.

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION & COLLEGE

The opportunities of post-secondary education must be available to every resident of Washington who wants to improve their future and their families’ futures.

Gerry understands the challenges to provide expanded access to those opportunities and meet the needs of faculty and staff at our colleges and universities. He’s the only UW faculty member in the Legislature and also teaches at Western Washington University.

Gerry is the author and prime sponsor of the “Washington Promise” for tuition-free community and technical colleges in Washington coupled with the supports to enable students to succeed and complete degrees or workforce training programs, particularly first-generation and non-traditional students (e.g., parents who need childcare). Gerry first offered this legislation with then-State Senators Pramila Jayapal, who is now our U.S. Congress Member, and David Frockt. The Seattle Promise is based on the work we did introducing this legislation, which we now need to adopt statewide.

Gerry’s work to open the opportunities of post-secondary education to all residents, including with the Washington College Grant, has been repeatedly honored as “Legislator of the Year”.

When the UW was exposed allowing an athletic administrator to quietly move on to work at another higher ed institution after being found likely to have committed a sexual assault, Gerry worked with advocates and survivors of assault and harassment to develop and pass the first legislation in the US to end “pass the harasser” practices that allow faculty and administrators to move from school to school and continue harassing or assaulting students and staff. Watch Gerry’s floor speech.

Gerry developed and passed the first legislation in the US to protect student consumers from incurring massive debts to attend for-profit colleges and require truth in their advertising.

Gerry continues to work to protect Washington students enrolling in online colleges from predatory practices and the online colleges seeking to hide behind and interstate agreement that attempts to prevent Washington state from investigating and enforcing our strong student consumer protections.

ADDRESSING THE OPIOID, FENTANYL, & MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS IN OUR COMMUNITY

We are losing youth to the opioid and fentanyl overdose epidemic every week.

When pediatricians in the 46th District discussed the data that 2/3 of young adult and teen overdoses occurred in their home with someone else present in the room, often a roommate, friend or sibling, Gerry proposed that Washington become the first state in the nation to provide free, no-questions-asked access to opioid overdose reversal nasal spray (Narcan or naloxone) to high school and college students.

Gerry’s public health knowledge and leadership is reflected in his securing the funding for Washington state to be the first state in the nation to offer naloxone / Narcan access to high school and college students. This followed his successful passage of legislation to ensure that overdose reversal medication was accessible in every high school in districts with over 2,000 students and every college dorm.

Proactively, we should be investing in mental health facilities connected with our schools which should be able to serve families.

We must stop “boarding” children and adults in mental health crisis in emergency rooms for weeks at a time, where they do not get care because there aren’t enough residential or high acuity treatment facilities. In the 46th, Gerry’s partnered with Ryther as well as Children’s Hospital to address the dire needs of our children for mental health services.

Gerry believes we must rapidly expand community-based behavioral health treatment – including coupling drug treatment with mental health – for youth and adults across Washington. That access is crippled by the lack of professionals. Gerry continues to lead in developing expanded training programs for behavioral and mental health professionals at all levels, including having worked to support the opening of the new 160 bed UW Center for Behavioral Health and Learning based right here in the 46th District at Northwest Hospital.

ENVIRONMENT & FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

Gerry led the State ballot initiatives that stopped the federal government from using Hanford as a national radioactive waste dump. After graduating from UW Law School, Gerry chose to dedicate his career to fighting for environmental justice. He took on the nuclear weapons industry to end Plutonium production at Hanford and forcing the US Department of Energy to clean up the most contaminated area in North America by founding and continuing to lead the region’s leading citizens’ group working for the cleanup of Hanford (Heart of America Northwest Hanfordcleanup.org).

Gerry has been a leader to fight climate change for over 20 years. He was one of the leaders of the multi-year legislative effort to end Washington State’s use of fossil fuels for electricity. He worked with Sierra Club, 350, Columbia Riverkeeper and other organizations to develop groundbreaking legislation to require Washington State to consider the “life-cycle” methane emissions from fossil fuel facilities, which has helped end the threat of new coal or methane export facilities in Washington.

As Chair of the House Local Government Committee, Gerry moved legislation to have all local government land use and traffic plans include reducing our local contributions to climate change through the Growth Management Act, as well as increasing density in urban areas near transit.

Gerry is committed to developing and mentoring a new generation of attorneys working to protect the environment, protect Treaty rights and promote environmental justice. He runs the region’s only Tribal and Environmental law program for law students in collaboration with the Yakama Nation and Center for Indian Law and Policy.

Gerry is advocating to ensure that Washington State monitors the air pollution of the most vulnerable communities across our state, including Lake City and Northgate here in the 46th. Without monitoring, the state can’t begin to take the actions to improve the health of children and vulnerable adults breathing polluted air. He exposed that air monitoring results claimed to represent exposures for Lake City, Northgate and Bitter Lake residents was based on monitoring miles away in high-income neighborhoods with much cleaner air.

FIGHTING RACISM

We need to recognize that institutionalized racism benefits and represents each person with privilege. It is up to us to dedicate ourselves to dismantling racism, not to be comfortable in privilege we benefit from.

Gerry has been committed to working, throughout his adult life, to undo systemic and institutionalized racism.

Gerry teaches at the UW School of Public Health. The most important thing he does is to inspire in a new generation of public health professionals is that the social determinants of health start with poverty and racism. The MPH program, Community Oriented Public Health Practice, is the only program in the US with an explicit mission to undoing racism in all aspects of public health and our own program.

Poverty and racism are totally connected. Race is a major cause of intergenerational poverty. Thus, both are the major social determinants of health in the US.

The COVID 19 Pandemic reflected how race and poverty disparately impact the health of communities of color. Those communities have never had access to the health care that should be the basic right of everyone living in America. These communities already suffer from high rates of diabetes, heart disease. Lung disease, obesity--all greatly increase the risk for anyone who is infected with the Coronavirus.

Policing is the highly visible branch springing from the many interconnected roots of institutional racism. We need to recognize that race determines who will come into contact with police, and that this is connected to every other aspect of life in our nation.

Staffing and training police to reduce violence requires investment. Gerry also strongly supports expanding trained crisis intervention, mental / behavioral health and emergency medical specialists respond to 911 calls.

A just and equitable society recognizes that housing, healthcare and education are basic human rights. Race sadly determines access to each in our society. Our State’s regressive tax system contributes to, and perpetuates, inequality. We impose the greatest tax burden to pay for housing, healthcare and education on those with the greatest need.

We need to understand that systemic racism that shows its effects in policing and jailing of people of color starts with our education system and the grossly unequal access that children of color begin life with from lack of health care to not having life-changing early learning through our public schools and postsecondary opportunities. That is why Gerry supports universal early learning and greatly increasing support for public education, transforming curriculum (including being a supporter of ethnic studies in all public schools) and championing free public access to all qualified residents (regardless of immigration status) to postsecondary education and workforce training.

Gerry has been deeply engaged for several years in developing environmental justice legislation and ensuring that our budgets reflect environment justice principles. This work includes not only advocating for consideration of disparate impacts of new proposed projects on People of Color (including efforts to ensure there is meaningful participation and formal consultation with Tribes) but also proposing that communities of color have enforceable legal rights (cause of action) when communities suffer disparate impacts to health.

ENDING GUN VIOLENCE

Gerry works closely with the dedicated advocates in our community to reduce gun violence. He is endorsed again in 2024 by the Alliance for Gun Responsibility.

Gun violence is a public health crisis in our state and nation. Far too many children die from gun violence, often due to the failure of adults to secure guns. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for our children and teens in Washington.

Gerry strongly supports efforts to have gun owners bear responsibility when their guns are taken by children or others who should not have them; and, for gun sellers to be required to sell a gun safe or with a secure locking jacket. We need to recognize that the epidemic of youth suicide is greatly increased by access to guns.

90% of initial suicide attempts by gun are fatal while over 90% from all other efforts do not succeed and allow us to work with youth for treatment.

Gerry will continue to stand up to say that assault weapons and high-capacity magazines belong in the military, not in homes or our parks, streets, or schools.

Gerry has been a champion to pass legislation to bar guns from public meetings such as school board meetings, where they are used to intimidate.

Gerry joined in organizing fellow legislators to push our leadership to bring bills to reduce gun violence to the House floor for votes. He was one of the original co-sponsors of the legislation, finally passed in 2023, to ban the sale of assault weapons in Washington.

As a teacher in public health, he will keep working to recognize that guns, suicide (and efforts) and behavioral health are inter-related public health problems – and that Washington far exceeds the national average in regard to the percent of gun deaths which are by suicide.

A CHAMPION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING & PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS

We are losing affordable housing units far faster than we can build new housing. Long-time residents are being displaced, while young working parents can't afford to rent family units and buying is out of reach because new construction homes now cost what had been unthinkable amounts.

Gerry is a leader of efforts to prevent residents from losing their homes due to windfall rent increases. Skyrocketing rents increase homelessness. Gerry co-sponsored rent stabilization legislation and is the prime sponsor of legislation to end state preemption of Seattle and other cities from tailoring their own rent stabilization programs.

Gerry has been a leader to build permanent supportive housing, fund rapid rehousing, preventing displacement and for protecting tenants. His record reflects years of dedication.

Gerry's provided leadership to build hundreds of units of permanent supportive and workforce affordable housing here in the 46th District. He was widely recognized as a leader in building community support, obtaining funding and planning for hundreds of affordable housing units - with childcare and a health center - at Magnuson Park, including revitalizing old Naval buildings. He's also been a leader in funding tiny homes and rapid rehousing.

In order to provide thousands of persons experiencing homelessness with safe and healthy housing and wraparound services, we need "rapid rehousing," such as buying and converting hotels or existing apartments as well as "tiny home" villages. Gerry provided the leadership as Chair of the Local Government Committee to pass groundbreaking legislation that removed barriers to quickly renovating unused hotels and apartments for rapid rehousing; and, to require that local governments plan for the first time under the Growth Management Act to meet the housing needs of all economic segments of our communities - not just increasing housing for the top of the market.

We have to recognize that we need to prevent displacement of low-income residents and entire communities of color which has been occurring, and will increase, much faster than we can build new housing units. Gerry's led efforts to increase transit-oriented development and use of accessory dwelling units (ADUs aka "in-law apartments") while including tools and funding to prevent displacement of those current residents and communities due to gentrification and top of the market new construction (for rentals and homes).

New ADUs need to be built for affordable housing, not as investments by LLC corporations in Airbnb type tourist and business rentals in Seattle. That's why Gerry's legislation to authorize incentives for ADU construction did not allow for incentives to be extended if the builder does not commit to the unit being available to meet our needs for additional long-term housing.

WORKING WITH OUR FIREFIGHTERS

Gerry is committed to continuing to work with our firefighters to ensure that the State recognizes that they face huge health risks. Sadly, life expectancy for fire fighters is far shorter after retirement than for any other public profession. He pledges to continue working with fire fighters to ensure that we presumptively provide workers compensation and medical coverage for the cancers, respiratory and other illnesses that are closely associated with firefighting.

We need to increase and protect staffing levels on equipment to protect our communities as well as our firefighters. Gerry continues to work to provide local governments and fire districts with the revenues needed to support crucial safety investments.

EMTs, paramedics and crisis response teams within the Seattle Fire Department need support to expand to be able to serve more people in crisis and reduce the response of large fire equipment or police to calls that they are better suited to handle. Gerry advocates to expand support for “Health One,” the Seattle Fire Department's Mobile Integrated Health response unit. Health One combines case workers and firefighters in a multidisciplinary team to address both urgent and long-term needs. With expanded teams, we will be able to move more people into both housing and community-based treatment.

Our firefighters spend an inordinate amount of their time responding to calls from adult / retirement homes when residents fall. Many residents fall every day. For insurance purposes, the retirement homes do not help their residents get up – calling firefighters instead. We need to address this diversion of our firefighters while increasing support for our senior citizens who shouldn’t have to wait on the ground for a firefighter to help them back up. We should change insurance requirements and improve staff training and staffing levels.