Hello 46th District Democrats ­– 

We got a lot done in this short month! Here’s what happened in February for the 46th District Dems:

🚨 Preferred Meetings Dates Survey - LAST DAY TO RESPOND

As shared at the February Membership Meeting, we’ve opened a survey to collect feedback on your preferred 46th District Dems Regular Membership Meeting Dates. With the new composition of the district, we would like to determine if a different meeting day will work best for our membership.

** The survey closes at noon on Wednesday, March 1: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6NH6DTL

We will share the results with the Executive Board on March 1, and at the March 15 Regular Membership Meeting. 

Speaking of meetings …

⭐ February Membership Meeting Recap

Our first Membership Meeting of the year was held on February 15, on Zoom, with an in-person accommodation at Thornton Place, and had a total attendance of nearly 100 members and guests.

Some highlights from the meeting were:

• The use of a Consent Agenda to approve the Meeting Agenda, Reorg Meeting Minutes, Appointment of Melissa Taylor as Treasurer; and the appointment of PCOs Matthew Mitnick, Rob Jenks, Erica (Bryce) Cannatelli and Jeffrey L. Cox.
• Our first time live streaming our meeting to our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@46dems. Subscribe today!
• We heard from our Legislative Delegation (who are also having a town hall on March 16), and four candidates for public offices that will be up for election later this year:
  • King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay
  • King County Council candidate Sarah Reyneveld
  • Port Commissioner Fred Felleman
  • Port Commissioner candidate Todd Curtis
• We approved two E-Board Recommended Motions:
  • Motion to adopt primarily virtual general meetings with in person accommodations, until rescinded by the body (same as this meeting)
  • Motion to postpone ratification of actions taken during virtual meetings until the March meeting
• We received Committee Updates, and shared how you can sign up to serve on one.
• We adopted a slate of resolutions from the 46th LD Environment and Climate Caucus:
  • Resolution in Support of Compost, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Legislation
  • Resolution in Support of Electrification and Energy Efficiency Improvements in Buildings
  • Resolution in Support of a Transition of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Zero Emissions Vehicles

Missed the meeting? No problem! You can watch the recording on our 46th District Dems YouTube Channel, and click here to get the links and important comments from our meeting chat.

And none of this could have been possible without our amazing crew of meeting volunteers …

⭐ Thank you, February Membership Meeting Volunteers

Many shout-outs are in order, to:

• Melissa Taylor, who helped organize our efforts and ran the screen sharing during the February meeting.
• Alex Phillips-White, who created our voting codes and voting systems.
• Kathy Bentson, for helping with credentials and for tracking the speaking order.
• Julie Conklin, Melanie Jorgenson, and Nilu Jenks, our credentials volunteers.
• Scott Alspach, for being our Sergeant at Arms for the zoom call.
• Galaxy Marshall, for being our Sergeant at Arms for the in-person meeting.
• Rob Jenks, Debbie Carleson, and Drew Pollom, for being voting volunteers.
• Tara Gallagher for helping with credentialing and voting in-person.
• Marc Auerbach and Wes Mills, for running tech at the in-person location.
• Margaret Shield, for helping with Zoom tech support; and
• Scott Forbes, for being our timekeeper and parliamentarian.

Thank you all for your amazing work!

📢 Committees At Work

With over a dozen Standing Committees, it takes a lot of everyday volunteer-power to keep these engines of our organization running! Here’s what a few of our committees were up to this month:

• Bylawys & Rules Committee

Lead by Scott Forbes and Tara Gallaghar, the Bylaws & Rules Committee has been working this month to review and recommend changes to the 46th’s bylaws and standing rules. Next month, the committee will hold a Q&A session on March 8, and will meet on March 12 to review and make recommendations on any amendments to the committee's proposal that are submitted by members, ahead of the March 15 Regular Membership Meeting. See the 46th Dems calendar for meeting details and registration links.

• Effective Meetings Committee:

Under the leadership of Chair Bryce Cannateli, the Effective Meetings Committee has been hard at work setting up our tools and processes for making our meetings as accessible, clear, and effective as possible. For the February Membership Meeting, they worked to identify volunteers, define volunteer roles, and figure out what tools we need to make things run smoothly. This month, they’re taking the experience from the last meeting, and member feedback, and are working on improving their work! Contact Bryce at [email protected] if you want to get involved.

• Technology Committee:

This month, committee member Wes Mills was hard at work, moving and consolidating our technology infrastructure to newer, more flexible and secure services. The biggest change has been migrating email and group lists to Google Workspace, away from the prior service that was creaking under the complex tasks we asked of it. Changes to our website back-end and security management are moving along nicely, setting us up for better information security (something all-volunteer groups need more than ever!) and to bring long-requested features to the membership. If you have suggestions for what you'd like to see as part of our digital footprint, please reach out to the Technology Committee at [email protected].

• Membership Committee:

Chair Scott Alspach reports that our membership number climbed to 257 paid members and PCOs this month! He’s also working on a way to allow members to check their membership status on their own, and he welcomes anyone interested in helping with that. If you’d like to lend a hand, please reach out to Scott at [email protected].

• Platforms & Resolutions Committee:

While they didn’t have any meetings this past month, Co-Chairs Debbie Carlsen and Erica Lee are planning to meet in early March to consider a number of submitted Resolutions for the membership to consider at the March 15 Membership Meeting. If you'd like to participate on the Platforms & Resolutions Committee, email them at [email protected].

• Programs

While not yet diving into programs for our Membership Meetings, Lisa Rivera Smith, Galaxy Marshall and Aidan Carroll are working on plans for a social event in April. Stay tuned for more details on that, and until then, put Saturday, March 18 on your calendar for a 46th Dems Social & Service Event: Soup Making @ Melissa Taylor's House. Each Sunday, Stop the Sweeps Community Hours takes place downtown, so we'll gather on Saturday to prep a big batch of soup to share with our unhoused neighbors there. No cooking skills required, just the desire to help out and socialize with your fellow 46th members (masks will be required). Details are posted to the 46th Dems calendar.

These and other committee opportunities are available! See what the choices are, and let us know if you’re interested, at https://forms.gle/PkQmt8kPJPrRR6xx6

🗳️ I-135 Brings ‘Home’ a Win!

Seattle proved it's ready for big, bold solutions to our housing crisis, with the passage of I-135 in the February 14 election!! HUGE thanks to everyone who talked to friends, knocked on doors, and helped make this success possible, including many members of the 46th Legislative District!

Final precinct-level results show:

• I-135 won with 57% of the vote
• I-135 won in every Seattle Legislative District
• I-135 won the 46th LD with a 55% yes vote
• I-135 won more than 2/3 of the precincts in the 46th LD

So, be proud, 46th LD members!! And be ready to keep the work going.

Over the next few weeks, I-135 stakeholders will gather for a series of debriefs and strategy sessions and communicate this out to all supporters. Keep an eye on the House Our Neighbors website and Twitter feed @houseRneighbors, to learn more.

🌲 King Conservation District Supervisor Elected

The special election for King Conservation District Supervisor Position #3 was held via virtual ballot, which closed on Tuesday, February 14. This year’s election saw record turnout, with 13,749 voters casting their ballots. Congratulations to Csenka Favorini-Csorba who won with 50.98% of total votes. And appreciation for the other candidates, April Brown and Chris Porter, for their willingness to serve our county.

👥 Alternatives Still Needed for the KCDCC Endorsement Committee

We stil have an opportunity to send one more Alternative member to the KCDems Endorsement Committee. Help represent our LD’s voice on the committee! Along with KCDCC Delegates, Galaxy Marshall and Sylvia Haven, the alternatives (if called upon) will be responsible for interviewing candidates and making recommendations for endorsement.

If you’re considering volunteering, here is additional information you should consider:

• All meetings will be held via Zoom
• Meetings typically run 1-3 hours, usually weekday evenings or weekends
• Appointees are responsible for gathering input from their district and representing their district in making recommendations on candidates.
• Family members, staff and key volunteers of active candidates must disclose involvement in advance and recuse themselves from related decisions
• Only 1 person from our LD will have vote and voice in any given meeting
• KCD encourages appointments of people with lived experiences that have not been historically represented in our political system.

If this sounds like a job for you, please contact Chair Hunter Brown to express interest, at [email protected]

📌 Last but not least ….

It’s (still) never too late to renew your membership! (or start a new one)

Dues support the costs associated with running the 46th Legislative District, and give you voting power at Membership Meetings, for such items as endorsing candidates, ballot measures and resolutions; electing some executive board positions like At-Large Members of the Executive Board; and adopting and amending our budget.

We have several contribution levels:

• Student / Limited Income ($10)
• Individual ($30)
• Couple/Family ($46)
• 4600 Club ($100)
• Friend of the 46th ($146)
• Supporter of the 46th ($246)
• Benefactor of the 46th ($546)

Join at https://www.46dems.org/become_a_member_today

THANK YOU to everyone who was able to attend the first membership meeting, organized by our newly elected Executive Board, and to everyone who helped make it a success! We look forward to serving you at our future meetings and hope that you will join one, or more, of our many committees, to make them stronger. 

We look forward to seeing you at our next EBoard Meeting on March 15th.

Hunter Brown and Lisa Rivera Smith

Chair and Vice-Chair

46th District Democrats