Dear Friends and Neighbors,

   I wanted you to know some great news regarding the safety of our community. Last year, my prison and reentry reform bill, Senate Bill 6157, was signed into law, and it’s already having a positive effect on Pierce County. When the bill took effect in July, it effectively shut off the felon faucet that was dumping criminals from all over the state onto our streets. After several months, we’re beginning to see felons who would have been released into our Pierce County neighborhoods now being sent back to the county where they committed their first felony, requiring the rest of the counties in Washington to take back their fair share of the burden. My bill is making our community safer.

   I’m also working on a number of other diverse issues this year, including bills to:

• require people in supervisory positions to report suspected child abuse;
• prevent sex offenders at the special commitment center on McNeil Island from using computers to view child pornography;
• encourage the use of native plants in landscaping by eliminating the sales tax;
• regulate bounty hunters;
• require the Department of Natural Resources to use good science when siting geoduck farms on our shorelines; and
• deal with eminent domain issues.

   I’m always interested in ways to better represent you, and while I hear from special interest groups all the time, I really want to hear more from the people in my district. That’s why I’ve formed a “kitchen cabinet” of the people I represent that I’d like you to join. This kitchen cabinet will be advising me about the issues coming before the Legislature. If you’d like to be a part of this kitchen cabinet, I’d invite you to contact me at my home e-mail address, mcarrell@hotmail.com, and let me know you’re interested. I’ll need your name, home address and phone number so I can add you to my kitchen cabinet. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on legislation, your biggest concerns facing the state and what you think I should be focusing on in Olympia.

   As always, I greatly appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the Washington State Legislature. I am honored to serve you, it is truly a privilege and again, I always appreciate your input, so please don’t hesitate to contact me via my office or at home.

   Sincerely,

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