I want to hear from you!

I am introducing legislation to address student safety in our state. This Wednesday, I will be holding a news conference with stakeholders to discuss the Student Safety and Protection Act. It is a simple concept that will make our students safer, tomorrow!

My legislation is not a mandate to arm teachers. It simply gives grant funding to school districts that choose to participate. They can send any interested staff to be trained to respond to an active shooter threat. The training could include de-escalation, firearms training, and psychological evaluation. Again, this is completely voluntary, but when seconds matter, having an armed and trained staff on campus can make all the difference.

I am proposing that we provide funding to the Criminal Justice Training Commission, the organization that trains our police, to develop a voluntary program to train teachers and administrators to protect our students. There are already schools in Washington that are doing this at their own expense.

We protect our banks, politicians and celebrities with guns, but we put up a “gun free zone” sign on school grounds to “protect” our students. That is unacceptable.

I want to hear from you. If you are a teacher, administrator or school staff, or know someone who is, please have them call my office at  (360) 786-7660. Leave me a voice mail or send me an audio file with your thoughts. You can remain anonymous if you’d like, but I’d like to share these with the media at our news conference.

STAY CONNECTED!

Due to election year restrictions, I will be limited in how I can communicate with you about what is going on in Olympia. Please be sure to subscribe to my newsletter if you already haven’t. You can also unsubscribe at anytime by clicking here. Feel free to share this with others that live in our district.

It’s an honor to serve as your state Senator. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office with any questions or concerns about your state government.

Sincerely,

Phil Fortunato,

Your 31st District State Senator

Contact Me:

Mail: PO Box 40431 Olympia, WA 98504

Olympia Office: 201 Irv Newhouse Building Olympia, WA 98504

Phone: (360) 786-7660

Email: Phil.Fortunato@leg.wa.gov

www.SenatorPhilFortunato.com

Committee assignments

Government guide

We have updated the 31st Legislative District government guide to make it easy for you to contact your federal, state and local officials. It’s a one-stop tool that gives you the phone numbers, emails and information you need for everything from schools and senior centers to members of Congress and the President.

You can access the online version of the guide anytime by clicking here or you can call my office for a physical copy while supplies last.

Let’s have coffee

I always appreciate constituents coming down to Olympia to visit. It is my pleasure to meet with you and hear about your concerns. When the 60-day legislative session concludes, I want to connect back in district. Feel free to reach out to my office to schedule a time to grab coffee and talk.

Connect with me on Facebook!

Please follow me @SenatorPhilFortunato to receive updates on my work here in Olympia. Invite others in our district to follow and like my new page!