Latest news with #TravisCouture
Fox News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Washington state bill opens housing assistance to illegal immigrants, critics warn
A bill recently passed by lawmakers in Washington state could open the door for illegal immigrants to receive cash assistance under a program designed to provide housing assistance and other essential items to certain low-income residents unable to work, critics say. The state's Democratic-controlled Legislature last month passed SB 5232, which has been delivered to Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson. The bill updates provisions related to the state's Housing and Essential Needs Referral Program (HEN), which provides assistance to low-income U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and victims of human trafficking if they can't work due to their physical or mental condition. Lawmakers amended the bill to remove the eligibility requirement that recipients be "citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise residing in the United States under color of law." "This year seems to be the year for noncitizens," Republican state Sen. Leonard Christian, a ranking member of the Senate Human Services Committee, told Fox News Digital. "We have no problem giving direct money, housing money to noncitizens, along with $150 million in Medicaid for noncitizens." "It just seems like the state is trying really hard to pick a fight with the Trump administration," he added. The state has set aside roughly $130 million for the HEN program in an effort to address homelessness and housing. In a social media post, state Rep. Travis Couture also criticized SB 5232, calling it the "same budget" with "more recipients." "That means our people get kicked out of line in favor of illegal immigrants," he wrote last week. "Gov. Ferguson — veto this. It's unfair and it's wrong. Put our own people first!" Ferguson hasn't signaled whether he will sign the legislation. Fox News Digital has reached out to the sponsors of the bill and the governor's office. Christian characterized the government handing out funds for housing as a "gift of taxpayer dollars," noting the money doesn't have many "guardrails around it." He cited his own life experience, recalling his mother once leaving him and his 12-year-old brother at home to go cross-country trucking. "He used the money that was given to my mom to buy groceries and food for us kids, to buy marijuana and alcohol at the age of 12," he said. "I saw first hand (the impact of) substance abuse and handing money to somebody." Statewide, Democrats have favored higher taxes on businesses and the rich, which ultimately trickle down to middle- and lower-class residents and programs that benefit illegal immigrants over American citizens, Christian said. "A lot of times, the Democratic Party thinks more with their hearts than with their head," he said. "It's the idea that they see a problem, and they think they can fix it." Republicans want to address the same issues but look at how potential solutions will affect the overall population, he said. "They don't get the fact that somebody else has got to pay for that crazy program," he said. "I would certainly like to go around with a card and have fun and save the world, but who's going to pay that Visa bill, and that's when they don't seem to care." SB 5232 was passed as the state faces a $16 billion budget shortfall. In addition, Ferguson recently signed a handful of bills to protect immigrants' rights, including measures to allow the state to inspect private detention centers and prohibit bail bond agents from enforcing immigration laws.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WA lawmakers shift approach on closing center for people with disabilities
The Washington state Capitol on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) A highly contested bill around the closure of a residential center for people with disabilities passed the Washington state House and Senate this weekend with mixed support from lawmakers and some major changes. Senate Bill 5393 intended to shutter Rainier School, a rehabilitation center in Pierce County for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, by June 30, 2027. But a Republican amendment approved on the House floor, and agreed to by the Senate, will instead prohibit new long-term admissions starting July 27 this year and stop short-term admissions starting June 30, 2027. Under the amended version, the center would close when there are no more long-term residents. Former long-term residents would have the ability to return within one year of transitioning out of the center. The rewrite gained some Republican support but lost some among Democrats. Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, was one of the lawmakers concerned that the bill was rushing the closure and didn't have enough safeguards. He and other GOP legislators walked out of a House committee hearing this week when the panel advanced the legislation. After the amendment, he felt better about the bill, even though he still voted against it. 'This is a pill I can swallow,' Couture said. The bill would also require the Department of Social and Health Services to provide regular reports to the Legislature until June 1, 2030, and offer residents the choice of alternative placements with careful planning. It now heads to Gov. Bob Ferguson's desk. Debates around the closure of the Rainier School and the similar Yakima Valley School have been a hot topic in the Legislature this session. Rainier School has faced scrutiny in recent years over incidents of abuse, neglect and safety lapses. Some disability rights advocates have pushed for its closure. The facilities are also expensive, with a year of services for a patient at Rainier running around $775,000. Proponents of closing them said it could allow for resources to be shifted in a way that gives people improved options for services and reduces costs for the state. 'This isn't about buildings or dollars, this is about the people who live at Rainier, people who have been hurt, forgotten, ignored, and betrayed,' said Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle. 'If home means fear, being silenced, bruised, and even death, we have an obligation to show some better options,' Farivar added. But Republicans argued that centers like Rainier provide a crucial form of services and care and that people would be left with few nearby options if the center were to close. Workers at the facilities also opposed the closure plans. In 2017, the Legislature passed a bill that would close the Yakima Valley School once the number of permanent residents had dwindled to eight people. There are roughly 36 long-term residents at the center, according to figures presented to lawmakers. A House bill that stalled this year proposed closing both the Rainier and Yakima Valley schools by June 30, 2027. The amended version of Senate Bill 5393 does not change when the Yakima Valley School would close.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republicans walk out after WA House committee votes to close center for people with disabilities
Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, speaks on the House floor in an undated photo. He was among the Republicans who walked out of a House Appropriations Committee meeting this week in protest of a bill that would close a facility in Pierce County for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. (Photo courtesy of Legislative Support Services) Republican lawmakers walked out of a committee meeting in the Washington Legislature on Wednesday to protest approval of a bill that would close a residential center for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 'We voted no on the bill first and, when it was apparent that the bill was going to pass, we were upset and we just decided to leave,' said Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, the top GOP lawmaker on the House Appropriations Committee. Senate Bill 5393, which the committee voted out Wednesday, aims to close the Rainier School in Pierce County and relocate its residents by June 30, 2027. House Bill 1472 calls for the closure of both the Rainier School and the Yakima Valley School in Selah. Republicans say the centers are crucial for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, providing paths to educational and employment opportunities. And they say that there are limited options for where people could end up if these closures occur. But Democrats say the facilities are expensive to operate and that closing them could allow for resources to be shifted in a way that gives people improved options for services. The 'residential habilitation centers,' operated by the state's Department of Social and Health Services, have also faced scrutiny in recent years. Groups like Disability Rights Washington have documented extensive problems with abuse, neglect, and safety lapses. The group and other advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have called for the centers to be closed. 'Washington is one of the states that had the highest investment in folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities, yet with the poorest outcomes,' said Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle. 'When the RHCs were built, they were intended to be short-term placements,' Farivar said. 'The intent was not for these to be permanent placements, and so the facilities we are using, the level of care that we are using, is failing pretty horrifically for these individuals.' She also explained how the Rainier School is in an isolated location, compared to Fircrest School, in Shoreline, which allows residents greater access to the surrounding community. A new 120-bed facility is under construction at Fircrest, Farivar later noted in an email. Including the Rainier and Yakima Valley schools, the state operates four residential habilitation centers. An analysis of the Senate bill says that the Rainier School has 58 long-term residents. Farivar said she wants people to have the choice between a residential habilitation center and living in housing in the broader community, with support services. Both Fircrest and Lakeland Village, near Spokane, have the capacity to house more people and can provide services at a lower cost than the Rainier School, Farivar said. 'At $775,625 per person annually, Rainier is the most expensive care setting in the state,' she wrote in the email. Farivar said she and others are pressing to ensure there's funding in the budget for the staff needed at Fircrest and Lakeland Village so people can transition out of the Rainier School. But Couture said closing the Rainier School would raise the odds of people with disabilities ending up in hospitals, jails, or living on the streets without access to care. And, he said, 'the amount of abuse and neglect that happens in community care settings is just as great, if not greater, than what has ever happened at some of these RHC facilities.' Couture said that if the bill to close the Rainier School makes it to the House floor for a vote, Republicans 'will grind the brakes off of this place and do every procedural motion in the book, we will throw the kitchen sink at defeating this. It has to stop.' He derided the bill as the 'most cruel and disgusting' one introduced this year. The walkout after the House Appropriations Committee vote was not pre-planned, according to Couture, but rather a decision after Republican committee members became frustrated. 'Most of us had tears in our eyes and there's only just so much you can put up with,' Couture said. It is unclear when the House could take up the bill for a floor vote. Only a short time is left until the session is scheduled to end on Sunday, April 27.
