The Legislative District 23 state Senate race has familiar issues that resonate not only locally, but statewide.

Affordable housing, job growth and cost of living, crime and policing, and ferry service are what state Sen. Drew Hansen-D and his opponent, Lance Byrd-R, hear from constituents regularly.

Hansen, a trial lawyer and law professor, said he will continue his record of creating new jobs and educational pathways if re-elected. “I’m responsible for new cybersecurity, early childhood education and electrical engineering degrees at Olympic College,” he said. “I’ve supported expanding internships, especially for electricians, for example because these are good jobs on which you can support a family.”

Byrd, an IT professional, said he’s less focused on job creation than on economic issues, particularly inflation and on reforming a number of practices. “One of the first things we can do to immediately help people is lower the state’s gas tax,” Byrd said. “With a median income of around $68,000, and a two- or three-bedroom apartment costing around $2,100, people have to drive to get to work and that gets expensive.

“I do not believe that funds from the gas tax are being used to save the environment,” Byrd added. “I believe that money is being spread out to organizations who were friendly to the previous administration.”

Hansen said that he’s worked with Western Washington University on its plan to bring 1,000 new degree opportunities to the Kitsap peninsula. “If you have a decent job and can support your family, you can handle a lot of what life throws at you,” he said. “And good jobs don’t have to have a college degree—education can be offered at a lot of levels.”

Byrd said that the county is “lucky” to have the professional law enforcement that it does, and what’s needed is reform of some current laws that may hamstring the jobs that officers do. “I rode with the Bremerton police just last week, for example, and I found out that the one thing they need to help take people to jail is a doctor,” he said.

Currently, in order to jail someone who’s been arrested, Byrd said officers are often required to take those in custody to the emergency room. “If they have an open wound, or if they complain about a pain or an issue, they have to go there first,” he said. “Well, the officers don’t have time to sit in the emergency room with someone in custody, so often, they’ll be released.” Byrd said there is also a need to add more law enforcement officers.

Hansen voiced frustration about the ferry system and said: “It’s embarrassing at this point. It makes it very difficult for us on the Kitsap peninsula to visit family or friends or go to work, when we’re sitting waiting for boats.” Hansen said he’s working to help increase staff and acquire more boats to increase service.

Byrd said ferry service is understaffed, and much of the blame can be traced to the state’s original COVID policies. “Governor Inslee decided that people should be forced to have injections that they do not want,” Byrd said. While many of ferry crews retired rather than adhere to the vaccine mandate, some were fired and Byrd said those crew members haven’t been hired back. “The very first thing we should do is give those people a call and ask them to come back to work, and do our best to make them whole.” Hansen said he favors an amendment to the state’s constitution that would prevent lawmakers from mandating medical interventions.

In addition, Byrd said that attempts to electrify the ferry fleet were ill-considered, and diesel boats should be brought online, switching over to hybrid engines only when those boats are built and put into service.

As for cost of living, Hansen said he’s a strong supporter of the idea that the county needs a lot more homes in areas that are already zoned for population density. “During the pandemic, I was very active in trying to get residential construction back up and running even while a lot of other sectors of the economy were closed,” Hansen said.

Like Hansen, Byrd said that affordability and crime are the No. 1 issues he hears about from voters. “I think the decisions made in the past were over concerns of violations of people’s rights, and I don’t dismiss that,” Byrd said. “And I’ve talked to officers and residents about that and what we’ve come up with is something like a citizen review board that also had law enforcement officers on the board.”

Hansen said that he thinks there is general agreement that communities want well-trained, professional law enforcement officers. “I’ve been a big supporter of the regional law enforcement academies which are opening up all around the state,” he said. Currently, officers in Kitsap are trained in Burien, and Hansen said the county needs an academy closer to home.