washington business
In Their Words
As state Sen . Andy Billig , D-Spokane , prepares to retire from the Legislature , he spoke with AWB ’ s Brian Mittge about his 14 years in the Legislature , including his six years as Senate majority leader , the third-longest tenure in state history . The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity .
From the perspective of six years as Senate majority leader , what role do bipartisanship and partisanship play in Olympia ?
One of the surprising things to me when I first got to Olympia is how much bipartisan collaboration there is . Ninety percent of the bills we passed are bipartisan , and that ’ s good . That ’ s not to say we ’ re going to shy away when there ’ s something that we know is best addressed and supported by a majority of Washingtonians . There are a few issues like gun violence prevention , combatting climate change , reproductive rights — those are partisan issues , and we ’ re not going to back down on those . But that ’ s the exception . Most of the time we work across the aisle , and that works out great .
Some partisanship is good . The system is designed to have each side stake out their position and make their arguments . Out of that friction comes compromise and new ideas . Where the system breaks down , and I think this happens maybe more in Washington , D . C ., is where each side stakes out their side , and nobody ever comes middle to make that compromise or work out those differences .
As a business owner and operator yourself , do you think it ’ s important to have employer participation in the Legislature , specifically for having legislators be business owners and operators ?
I think it ’ s vital to have business owners as legislators , just as it ’ s vital to have legislators to represent farmers and nurses and firefighters and teachers . One of the great things in Washington is that we have a citizen Legislature . We bring those experiences from being a small business owner or any other job , and that makes the policy-making better . I wouldn ’ t want to have a Legislature that ’ s just business owners or just attorneys or any profession , but to have some business owners is really important , and to have some business owners in each caucus is really important .
How can employers best participate in the political process ?
I ’ ll share a frustration as a business owner . Often people think if you want to be pro-business , you should be conservative , be a Republican . I feel the opposite . I think that many of the Democratic priorities are actually business priorities as well . And I feel like it ’ s a disservice to the business community to be so heavily focused as Republicans , when many of the things that the Democrats are advocating for are so good for business : child care , K-12
Sen . Andy Billig
education , higher education . Tax incentives to help spur innovation , protecting our clean air and clean water , investing in infrastructure like roads and bridges — these aren ’ t Republican priorities . Some of them aren ’ t even Democratic priorities . They ’ re just priorities .
What advice would you have for anyone thinking about running for office , especially an employer ?
Get involved in the community so you can see it from many different angles , not just your one angle as a business owner . Go serve on the board of a human service nonprofit . Go volunteer at different organizations . Spend time volunteering in the school or spending time close to public education . Make sure your experience is as broad as possible , because while it ’ s important to have people with different backgrounds , it ’ s also important that people have a broad appreciation of their community . And volunteer on a campaign to learn the process . Also , take a trip with an organization to Olympia to try to learn a little bit about the legislative process .
20 association of washington business