Official daily action for Wednesday, February 26, 2020

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VOTE!!!!!

Have you voted yet in the Washington State Primary? If not, do it right now. There is only one thing on the ballot, the presidential primary. Your ballot is postage-paid, so you don’t even need a stamp. You do need to declare a party on the envelope, but the whole thing should take about a minute. Get it done!

While you have until 8pm March 10 to mail your ballot or drop it in a dropbox, early ballots will get counted before election night, and the election night results will set the press narrative for our primary. We are early this year, and have a chance to really impact candidate momentum and the outcome of the primary.

Haven’t received a ballot? Can’t find it? Fix that here https://kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/how-to-vote/ballots/replacing-a-ballot-or-envelope.aspx

Not registered? You can register in person until election day at the King County Elections Office in Renton, the Elections Annex in downtown Seattle, or at a Vote Center.

VOTE!!!!

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ACTION: Pass comprehensive sex education bill out of committee, and keep this bill alive

SB 5395: Comprehensive Sex Ed continues to be a challenging bill to get through the legislature. It requires public schools to offer medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex ed, with an emphasis on consent and inclusion. The House Education Committee is holding an executive session on 2/27 on this bill. Please ask them to pass it out of committee without changing the intent of the bill.

Sample Script

I live in the _____ LD. Please pass SB 5395, the comprehensive sex ed bill, out of committee without changing the intent of this bill. The emphasis on consent and being inclusive of gender diversity and LGBTQ communities are key components of fostering good health and safety among our students. Thank you.

1. Call your own representatives at the Washington Legislative Hotline
   1-800-562-6000 (TTY for Hearing Impaired 800.833.6388)

2. Call members of the House Education Committee

• Steve Bergquist  D / 11  [email protected] 360-786-7862

• Sharon Santos D / 37   [email protected]  360-786-7944

• My-Linh Thai   D / 41   [email protected]  360-786-7926

• Javier Valdez D / 46   [email protected]  360-786-7818

Background

• https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5395&Year=2019

• https://www.seattleindivisible.com/daily-actions/2020/1/31/support-sb-5395hb-2184-requiring-comprehensive-sexual-health-education-in-public-schools

• https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/washington-may-mandate-comprehensive-sex-education-for-all-public-schools-what-does-that-mean-and-other-faqs/

GOOD NEWS

Continuing with our education theme today, the City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning reports that more than HALF of graduating seniors in Seattle Public Schools applied for the Seattle Promise Scholarship, which offers two years of free tuition at any of the Seattle Colleges.

Seattle Colleges received nearly 1,800 applications for the college scholarship and success program by the Feb. 15 midnight deadline, marking the first major milestone in the program’s expansion from six Seattle public high schools to all 17 schools.

https://education.seattle.gov/more-than-half-of-seattle-public-schools-graduating-seniors-apply-for-seattle-promise/