Sen. Brad Hawkins Previews the 2020 Session

The 2020 Washington State Legislative Session begins Monday in Olympia.

12th District Senator Brad Hawkins says he has a couple of bills he thinks he'll be able to get passed including the new apple license plate and a bill that could help our local PUDs.

"Wind, solar, tidal, geothermal; all those clean energy sources get certain tax preferences in our state. I want to make sure that since hydro is a non-greenhouse gas emitting resource as well that we enjoy those same tax benefits."

He says that will be a heavy lift to get through.

He says his bill to create community forests for the benefit of Nason Ridge might have to wait until 2021.

Hawkins noted they will also be tackling homelessness, and suspects an income tax could also be discussed amongst their priorities.

"I think mental health is one. Wildfires, even though we had a good year this past summer. I think that continues to be an issue. Education funding [also] continues to be a challenge."

Hawkins says they are still working on where the responsibilities of the state, the districts and a student's family lie.

Hear the full interview: