HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2020-4665

HR 4665

ByRepresentatives Wilcox, Appleton, Barkis, Bergquist, Blake, Boehnke, Caldier, Callan, Chambers, Chandler, Chapman, Chopp, Cody, Corry, Davis, DeBolt, Dent, Doglio, Dolan, Duerr, Dufault, Dye, Entenman, Eslick, Fey, Fitzgibbon, Frame, Gildon, Goehner, Goodman, Graham, Gregerson, Griffey, Hansen, Harris, Hoff, Hudgins, Irwin, Jenkin, Jinkins, J. Johnson, Kilduff, Kirby, Klippert, Kloba, Kretz, Leavitt, Lekanoff, Lovick, MacEwen, Macri, Maycumber, McCaslin, Mead, Morgan, Mosbrucker, Orcutt, Ormsby, Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Paul, Pellicciotti, Peterson, Pettigrew, Pollet, Ramel, Ramos, Riccelli, Robinson, Rude, Ryu, Santos, Schmick, Sells, Senn, Shea, Shewmake, Slatter, Smith, Springer, Steele, Stokesbary, Stonier, Sullivan, Sutherland, Tarleton, Thai, Tharinger, Valdez, Van Werven, Vick, Volz, Walen, Walsh, Wylie, Ybarra, and Young

WHEREAS, For 25 years TVW has opened state government to the people of Washington, offering unedited "gavel-to-gavel" coverage of government deliberations and public policy events of statewide significance since signal activation on April 10, 1995; and

WHEREAS, TVW's founders believed the people of Washington deserved to be able to watch their elected officials in action, even if they could not be physically present in Olympia; and

WHEREAS, Since its inception, TVW has captured and archived well over 60,000 hours of public policy proceedings including coverage of: The legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government; state agencies; statewide elections; and public policy events hosted by nongovernmental organizations; and

WHEREAS, The first event televised by TVW was a death penalty case before the Washington State Supreme Court, through which TVW also made history with the first-ever televised state court proceeding; and

WHEREAS, TVW televises all floor debates in the Washington State Senate and House of Representatives and offers live and archived coverage of all committee hearings in the Senate and House of Representatives via TV or web-streaming live and on-demand, and TVW archives all of its coverage for citizens to view online, on-demand; and

WHEREAS, The cable television industry carries TVW at no cost resulting in an annual in-kind contribution of approximately 7 million dollars each year and enabling TVW to provide content to all cable subscribers in Washington via television; and

WHEREAS, TVW has made the vision of "anytime, anywhere, any device" a reality through the innovative use of technology tools such as web site streaming at TVW.org, Roku, Amazon Fire, mobile device applications, and other technologies as they become viable; and

WHEREAS, When the Legislature is not meeting in Olympia, TVW's mobile camera units cover legislative and public policy events across Washington; and

WHEREAS, TVW allows the traditional news media free access to its footage, making it easier for TV, radio, and newspapers to cover state government even when not physically present at the Capitol; and

WHEREAS, TVW educates young people about state government and civic engagement through its free civics education programs for teachers and students throughout the state via "Teach with TVW" programs including the innovative, hands-on "Capitol Classroom" program and award-winning documentary series, "Engaged: Students Becoming Citizens"; and

WHEREAS, In addition to "gavel-to-gavel" programming, TVW creates six regularly produced shows and a variety of informative interstitial short videos highlighting the work of state government and Washington's beautiful and historic landscapes; and

WHEREAS, The quality of TVW's produced programming has been recognized with numerous regional and national awards; and

WHEREAS, In it's 25-year history, TVW has had four distinguished presidents, all of whom have ties to the House of Representatives, including Congressman Denny Heck (former member), Cindy Zehnder (former Chief Clerk), Greg Lane (former staff member), and Renee Radcliff Sinclair (former member); and

WHEREAS, TVW has employed a highly talented and dedicated staff who share a commitment to the organization's mission and gives special recognition to its longest serving staff members Scott Chisa (25 years), programming coordinator, and Anthony Arenas (22 years), operations supervisor;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State House of Representatives congratulate TVW on 25 years of continuous service in bringing the work of state government to the citizens of Washington; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be immediately transmitted by the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives to TVW's President and CEO, and to the TVW Board of Directors.