PORT ANGELES – The Clallam County Economic Development Corporation is helping relaunch an effort to get specific issues concerning the north Olympic Peninsula before state lawmakers.
The North Olympic Legislative Alliance, or NOLA, features more than a hundred local business, government and non-profit representatives. They’re developing a list of three or four issues that specifically concern this region and then will lobby the entire state legislature about them.
Brian Garrett is Vice Chair of the EDC and is helping lead the NOLA effort
And the idea was to present a unified voice on topics. For instance, you have economic development; you have workforce; you have health care and others. So we’re trying through these committees subcommittees to identify areas that concern the entire county.
Garrett says there are a half dozen subcommittees now meeting to develop the issues list. The entire roster of NOLA participants will then vote on the proposals. EDC executive director Colleen McAleer says the EDC will then hire a lobbyist to take the top-voted issues to Olympia.
The EDC that is just facilitating this effort. We have a voice no more powerful than any others, but we are acting as the administrator for this for the county and then from there everybody will be able to vote. And then we’ll take those top three, hand it to the lobbyists, and hand that list also to our legislative delegation.
Jefferson County’s EDC is also joining in the effort and will help pay for the lobbyist. McAleer says she expects the lobbyist will cost about $36,000 for the year.
It’s a reboot of a similar NOLA effort that started a couple of years ago, but lost momentum. Supporters say rural areas, like the north Olympic Peninsula, need ways to get issues before all legislators and the governor, not just the local legislative delegation.