Looking at Olympia...

...State Representatives from the 32nd District are making news. As part of a re-organization that has eliminated four House committees, the Committee on Early Learning and Children's services has been merged with the Human Services Committee under the leadership of Rep. Ruth Kagi. For Kagi, longtime chair of Early Learning and Children Services, it's a dramatic expansion of responsibility. According to Shoreline Area News, the new committee is charged with...

...early learning, temporary assistance for needy families (welfare), child welfare, developmental disabilities, drug and alcohol treatment issues, children's mental health, disability lifeline and vocational rehabilitation and juvenile rehabilitation.

It's a tough portfolio in a time of tight and tightening budgets. These are areas where dollar decisions can be life and death decisions for some Washingtonians. Credit the Democratic leadership and caucus for choosing the right leader for these issues in these times.

My other State Rep. (we get two Representatives and a Senator each up here in the upper left), Cindy Ryu, is being recognized as the first Korean-American woman to serve in the legislature. She was preceded by Senator Paul Shin (D-21), our state's first Korean-American legislator. While serving on the Shoreline City Council, Cindy also earned the distinction of being the first Korean-American woman to serve as mayor of an American city.

Congratulations to Cindy and the Korean-American community in Washington.