Camas city, school leaders mull 2023 legislative priorities

Camas city and school district leaders are in the process of nailing down their list of legislative priorities they hope state legislators from the newly redrawn 17th District will fight for during the 2023 Washington State Legislative session.

On Dec. 19, interim Camas City Administrator Jeff Swanson presented a list of possible 2023 legislative priorities to Mayor Steve Hogan and members of the Camas City Council.

• Funding for the Camas Slough Bridge replacement, which would likely take a multi-year package and would require money for right-of-way acquisitions;
• Additional funding to continue building a lake management plan — and to implement the plan — to protect Camas’ Lacamas, Round and Fallen Leaf lakes;
• Funding to help pay for the city’s planned upgrades to its historic Crown Park;
• Advocating with other local cities for a criminal justice training center to be built in Southwest Washington. Swanson said many city leaders and police chiefs in Washington have pushed for regional criminal justice centers to be placed around the state to help make a career in law enforcement more attractive for people who have family responsibilities and cannot easily be away from their homes for four to five months to attend the state’s one police academy;
• Funding assistance, possibly through the Washington Department of Commerce’s capital budget, to help replace two failing fire stations, including the Camas-Washougal Fire Department’s headquarters’ building in downtown Camas; and
• Funding for upgrading the city’s internet technology (IT) security.