I worked hard this past legislative session to make sure local tax dollars came back to serve our local communities, businesses, schools, and families and took the lead tackling local environmental challenges and reducing congestion on our roads.
Since becoming your Representative, I have fought to bring home key funding for the City of Issaquah. For my environmental funding accomplishments, I have championed acquiring $125,000 to assist planning and developing for Lake Sammamish State Park, funding $400,000 for the City of Issaquah to begin PFAS chemical cleanup with the assistance of the Department of Ecology, and $116,000 for the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery to repair and replace educational exhibits.
I fought for vital community investments specifically in the areas of transportation and traffic congestion. The re-construction of the I-90 and Highway 18 interchange, which should begin this spring, and we passed big funding projects like $25 million to design the widening of SR-18 between Issaquah-Hobart Road and Deep Creek, to 4 lanes. I also sponsored HB 2362 that ensures municipalities determine how to best use transportation dollars so that local dollars build local projects. And now, I am one of the key legislators designing the next Transportation Package, ensuring it will include Issaquah priorities like $250 million for the new construction and final completion of SR-18 to 4 lanes.
In education, we helped the Issaquah School District develop an early learning center in Central Issaquah and support education at the Echo Glen Children's center. Combined, this is over half a million dollars for education in our school district.
Beyond environmental, traffic and education successes, I am proud to have played a key role securing three million dollars for the Issaquah Opportunity Center, which will provide behavioral, medical and dental care for our community, especially accessible for low-income residents.
That is a total of over $29 million dollars that will directly benefit the greater Issaquah community. In the next session, I will continue to prioritize our community and the challenges we face: providing critical recovery dollars for our small businesses and working to make our transportation system work better for all of us.