Hunt accepts leadership post with Council of State Governments

Olympia lawmaker will help write future of western legislatures

February 26, 2009

OLYMPIA – State Rep. Sam Hunt is about to take on a leading role in helping shape the future of not just the Washington State House of Representatives and Senate, but also the legislatures of 12 other western states.

Hunt, D-Olympia, has been tapped for the position of Vice Chair of the Future of Western Legislatures Committee of the Council of State Governments-WEST – a nonpartisan organization founded six decades ago.

Speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, appointed Hunt to the CSG-WEST position.

The organization promotes an exchange of ideas and experiences among legislative officials from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Associate members include the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and the Pacific islands of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

“I look forward to hearing what other folks are doing and thinking in the legislative branches of their state governments,” said Hunt, who chairs the House State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee here in the Washington State Capital.

“Especially in these days of a nightmarish economy for most every state, as well as for our nation as a whole, it’s so important that we exchange ideas and cooperate with one another in finding the best courses of action to get through these awfully trying times.”

Hunt’s term as Vice Chair of the CSG-WEST committee will run during the 2009-2011 biennium, which starts this coming July 1.

As a new member of the CSG leadership team, the 22nd Legislative District legislator will also serve on the Executive Committee of the regional organization.

Here in the Washington State House of Representatives, Hunt is also a member of the House Ways & Means Committee and the House Education Committee.

A former North Thurston Public Schools Board member, Hunt is a member of the
Olympia Kiwanis Club, the North Thurston Education Foundation Board and the South Sound Cougar Club (WSU). He serves on The Nature Conservancy Washington Board and the Washington State Historical Society Board.

Hunt and his wife, Charlene Hunt, have lived in Olympia more than 25 years.