The halfway mark of the 2025 legislative session | S02 EP06

[Music] fix Washington now from the state capital here's Hannah Scott welcome to another edition of the fix Washington podcast I'm your host this week Peter robno state representative in the 20th legislative district and the house Republican caucus chair my special guest this week is state representative Mark clicker how are you Mark well great Peter it's great to be with you all right so tell uh all our fix Washington podcast viewers a little bit about who you are and your District well I come from Walla Wala Washington and I am serve the 16th District and I come from a multi-generational family and that's kind of where I come from it's a it's a farm family and uh we go way back yeah so you're come from a whole long line of farmers we do and uh we're gener we're a diversified farm and uh uh everything from mountains to down in the wawah valley and and uh we spend a lot of our time working in the mountains and and and down in the the Valley Farm so farming is U vast right it's a big farming is a big word in reality um so what do you farm is it crops is it do do you harvest do you have animals what what kind of farming do you do right very Diversified and over the years as as the younger Generations have grown up some of the Farms we've sold off but uh everything from wheat cattle strawberries Timber Alfalfa uh just cherries I used to raise cherries myself and so we uh very Diversified both dry land and irrigated properties so what kind of cherries are Rainer cherries what what bing cherries what kind yeah our cherries were the the earliest in the state for a number of years we had a variety called Chalan uh they're just like a bing uh they probably aren't as flavorful as as the Bing is but we also raised uh reers as pollinators but uh these cherries were were early because the key to it is is trying to get an early Harvest right after the California to to you know take advantage of the market and then we also had some Mountain cherries that were actually Dryland Mountain cherries uh way up high in the mountains and they were at one time were the the latest basically in the lower 48 so we took advantage of both our early cherries and our late cherries try to take advantage of the price well I guarantee our fix Washington podcast listeners uh did not know that they were going to get a cherry education today um so tell us a little bit about what committees you serve on I serve on local government as ranking member okay and there's not very many people on our our side there's uh four on the majority and three uh that serve on our side and I serve uh as the ranking member I'm also on the environment energy uh committee serve on the same one as you do and uh I serve as a vice ranking member and then I serve on the transportation committee and uh out of my district uh there there's the surrounding diff districts around where I live out of wallwall in the Tri Cities uh there are a number of districts and I am the only one within all those districts that serve on Transportation so that's really critical that I'm in those uh in on that committee well talk a little bit about some of your other committees because transportation is a very important fiscal committee um but I think most of our fix washingon podcasters are uh know what transportation is right and what it covers uh talk about some of your other uh your other committees and what issues you deal with in those and so the local government committee is is really a very important one it's actually one I wanted to be on uh even though I've never served in local government uh I go way back with the growth management act uh actually from the Inception of the growth management act and uh that was a law that was passed that uh really forced different counties to uh opt in and uh even though if they didn't want to they if they didn't opt in then they wouldn't be able to get any type of State help from from from the state uh then there have been different levels that have been added on to the bureaucracy of the growth management act and uh I believe it's something that needs to be fixed so I really wanted to be a part of it knowing that we won't be able to maybe get too much fixed but but it's important to be on and then and the energy environment committee uh that is so crucial to what we're dealing with primarily because my district we have Hamford we have the hydroelectric dams and uh energy is huge and as we're trying to cut back and there's the threat are trying to take out the dams we need to make sure we protect at least our district but the rest of the state yeah so these committees really fit not just you but really fit your community I would I mean you're kind of fashioning yourself as a local government Champion with all these committees that you're on absolutely it it really seems to fit my wheelhouse maybe I don't know the details of what how local government operates but local government is so important to the people that operate within it and and outside of it and so we have to help people and and help them better understand uh what local government can do and what they can't do and so I'm I'm really a a I really believe First in private property rights then local government and then state government then the federal government in that in that order uh a lot of time they times they work with you know federal government comes first and then uh hand things down to state government then local government then private property rights are kind of the last in the in the in the food food chain and I think it's really important we look at it the other way because private property rights are so important yeah and so what are some of the things that you want to talk tell your constituents uh back in your District back in Wala Wala about what you do here like how what what is the if you had to give them one thing that you do here uh that is the most impactful what would you tell them you know I love to build Bridges and being in a minority party which is we're we've we've lost some members and so we're in a minority party and so we're trying to help get legislation across the line and and so many times there's some controversial bills uh or bills are really struggling and I like to bring people together I like to to put together meetings on both sides the aisle which include also the lobbyists that are involved that don't like it that may hurt their either organization or their businesses and uh I I try to get the the person that's introducing the bill that is sponsoring the bill together with either the lobbyist or other members that are disagreeing with it and and try to find a solution that's what I I I feel I do best yeah so you're really the living proof that uh even in the minority party you can get things done here yeah it I I think I kind of found my place being able to do that uh I don't have I don't put out introduce a lot of bills I do any of the bills I do our bills have to fit within a uh the parameters of what the majority part part is going to you know allow us to do so what I try to do is work within those parameters introduce bills that are going to fit that we can pass and get get uh into law right and so once the 105 day session is over you go back to your District um what are some of the things that you are going to do when you get back to the district well so what I'll do is I'll have I'll have a town hall or two and then I really try to pay attention to my constituents I have meetings with them I go and tour the different businesses and different places that that uh need some of our attention and to find out what is it that that they need help on uh what are some of the issues they're dealing with with and it doesn't matter if it's a local issue or if it's a federal issue or Statewide issue I will go in work with my constituents it doesn't matter if they are liberal or conservative or whatever they may be uh I'm there to help that constituent and and it's really fun because you build those relationships right and before you get back before the session's over in the 105 day session uh there's a lot of policies that you've been advocating for and against you want to name a couple of those uh that people should know about well there's some great uh bills that are going out and people don't have don't realize that a lot of the bills that we pass in the legislature probably well over 70% we all agree on them and and so we get those bills out but then there are the controversial bills and and a couple of the bills that they have are one of them is is this rent control and people don't understand that they're putting a cap on on on housing and it's never worked uh in history it's never worked within uh the United States and different states are trying it or and and a perfect example is what's happened in Sweden uh it it really creates in the long run unaffordable housing so that really is tough there's a lot of people that are in really dire need of of uh of help on on their rents because they keep going up and I understand I agree and we have some solutions and we've introduced those Solutions but but they aren't being heard and so that that is probably one of the primary uh issues that we're working on right now and then there's some other bills out there some of them I've introduced that uh that are fund bills that people are are uh going to enjoy it's called a cafe bill that will allow uh little little cafes or coffee shops within neighborhoods and that really uh contributes to the area along the I5 Corridor and it's a real hit with the people in the urban areas and so those are those are good bills have a a a litter bill out there that's going to you know increase the infraction uh from a level three down to a class uh up to a class two that will put a little stiffer penalties on on littering in the state man there's littering going all over where you across the the river lot across the line and Oregon has a $6,250 or 62 $6,250 fine and you drive along their freeways and they're just totally CLE clean you drive into our freeways and you know the infractions uh $50 and we're going to bring it up to maybe 125 we need it more but we'll start with $125 yeah I mean you're I mean the bills you're mentioning encapsulate everything from the large bills rent control R right where that will you know reduce the amount of inventory can drive rents up to your Cafe bill which is a really cool bill and it's a smaller bill but will create Revenue improve quality of life folks in urban areas like that kind of stuff um it's really important for people I think to know that if they want to learn more about any of these bills and your views on them I mean I would go to representative Mark clicker.com that's the best way to learn about your priorities but there's the bigger looming issue of budgets so you know there's a a lot out there talking about the fact that we're in a budget crisis despite Revenue being up I mean what do you want to say to some of the fix Washington podcast listeners about that well we got a quick we got a quick spending and the money that was provided to us a few years ago from the federal government from the covid crisis um we just took that money and we went out to buy the new Cadillacs and the new airplanes and all the which I'm being a little factious there but we were putting into programs that that can't carry the weight now where we're kind of being brought back down to earth right and so we have to quit spending uh people cannot afford new taxes and that's what's being uh considered as new taxes we can't do that now getting back uh I can I can throw something in I I have one bill I introduce that has to do with affordability and that is my um uh housing affordable housing uh task force cost drivers and it what it does is brings people together throughout the state that are experiencing hardships and and have the information uh such as your Builders and your reers and your economists and Architects and utility companies and L uh tenants and landlords and and and people that are in labor the unions and they're going to come together and they're going to work with all the information they bring and they're we're going to develop a report to find out what really is it that is causing the high cost of housing it doesn't matter if we're building housing or we're we're creating uh rentals we are trying to find what the root of the problem is once we can do that then we have a found to build on and start introducing real legislation that will bring down the cost of housing well it sounds like you're really trying to fix Washington by solving uh these problems with real solutions right absolutely absolutely well Mark I want to thank you for coming on the fix Wasington podcast if you want to learn more about uh Mark clicker go to representative Mark clicker.com if you want to learn about the house Republican priorities go to house republicans. w.gov and if you want to stop some of the bad bills that Mark mentioned you can go to the top of house republicans. w.gov and click on the stop bad bills tab until next week this was the fix Wasington podcast fix Washington with Hannah Scott a podcast from Washington House Republicans go to our website house republicans. wa.gov find us on Facebook X Instagram and YouTube