ANDREW BARKIS APPOINTED STATE REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE 2ND LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT

Andrew Barkis was appointed state representative for the 2nd Legislative District by the Thurston County Commission andPierce County Council today. Barkis was immediately sworn in by Judge Grant Blinn at DuPont City Hall.

“It is an honor to represent the people and communities of the Second Legislative District. I appreciate the confidence that both the Thurston County Commission and Pierce County Council have placed in me,” said Barkis, R-Olympia. “I’m ready to work hard for my constituents and look forward to meeting all of my new colleagues in the Legislature.”

Barkis, 47, replaces Graham Hunt, who resigned Feb. 2. The 2nd Legislative District includes parts of Thurston and Pierce counties, including the communities of Eatonville, Fort Lewis, Graham, McKenna, Orting, Rainier, Roy and Yelm.

Barkis can be contacted at andrew.barkis@leg.wa.gov or (360) 786-7824. His legislative assistant is Barb Peters. Their legislative office is located at 406 John L. O’Brien Building, 504 15th Avenue SW, Olympia, WA 98501.

BARKIS ANNOUNCES RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

State Representative Andrew Barkis announced he will run for re-election to the State House of Representatives.  Representative Andrew Barkis was appointed to the House on a bi-partisan vote in 2016, and later that year our community voted overwhelmingly to keep him as our Representative.  

He immediately became a trusted voice for our district, for small business, and housing issues – and was made the ranking member of the House Community Development, Housing and Tribal Affairs Committee.  Andrew has passed several key bills to promote affordable housing.

Andrew and his wife, Lisa, live in Thurston County and have been married for 25 years. They are the proud parents of two sons, Cameron, 24, and Evan, 15. The family enjoys doing anything outdoors, especially hiking the trails on their favorite Pacific Northwest mountains, and taking vacations together.

BARKIS REPORTS ON SESSION SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES

State Representative Andrew Barkis reports on some of the successes of the 2018 session.

This last session was a mixed bag.  With Democrats in sole control in Olympia we saw a major push to spend recklessly and tax aggressively.  Like all fiscal conservatives – and the Seattle Times – I was very concerned that the majority party decided to raid the rainy-day fund instead of using part of the $2.6 B in new revenue to save for the future.

I was happy that we undid much of the harm of the state Supreme Court’s disastrous Hirst ruling, restoring water rights to tens of thousands of people across our state.  The failure to fix Hirst in 2017 also led to the failure to adopt the Capital Budget, which we passed in 2018.  This budget helps build facilities and improvements across the state, and I worked to secure several important projects for our community.