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Ross Hunter
Ross Hunter is a former Democratic member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing District 48-Position 1 from 2002 to September 8, 2015.
On August 31, 2015, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) appointed Rep. Hunter as the new Director of the Department of Early Learning. Hunter started his new job on September 8.[1]
Biography
Hunter earned his B.S. in Computer Science from Yale University in 1983. His professional experience included working as a program manager for the Microsoft Corporation from 1984 to 2000.[2]
Committee assignments
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Hunter served on the following committees:
| Washington committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Appropriations, Chair |
2013-2014
In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Hunter served on the following committees:
| Washington committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Appropriations, Chair |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Hunter served on the following committees:
| Washington committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Ways & Means, Chair |
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Hunter served on the following committees:
| Washington committee assignments, 2009 |
|---|
| • Education Appropriations |
| • Finance, Chair |
| • Ways & Means |
Issues
Debt negotiations
Hunter is one of the members of a bipartisan group organized by the National Conference of Legislatures called the Task Force on Federal Deficit Reduction (TFFDR). Consisting of 23 state lawmakers from 17 states,[3] the group went to Capitol Hill on September 21, 2011 to urge the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to cut the nation's debt but not impose severe budget cuts on the states.
TFFDR urged the Committee to consider new revenue as a possibility, instead of just focusing on budget cuts as House Speaker John Boehner has proposed. The group specifically proposed passage of the "Main Street Fairness Act," which would allow states to tax online retailers.[4]
Sponsored legislation
Elections
2014
Elections for the Washington House of Representatives took place in 2014. A blanket primary election took place on August 5, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was May 17, 2014. Incumbent Ross Hunter (D) and Bill Hirt (R) were unopposed in the primary. Hunter defeated Hirt in the general election.[5][6][7]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Ross Hunter Incumbent |
69.5% | 26,168 | |
| Republican | Bill Hirt | 30.5% | 11,473 | |
| Total Votes | 37,641 | |||
2012
Hunter won re-election in the 2012 election for Washington House of Representatives District 48-Position 1. Hunter was unopposed in the blanket primary on August 7, 2012, and defeated Bill Hirt (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[8][9]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ross Hunter Incumbent |
69.3% | 39,362 | |
| Republican | Bill Hirt | 30.7% | 17,463 | |
| Total Votes | 56,825 | |||
2010
Ross Hunter was re-elected to the Washington House of Representatives District 48-Position 1. He ran unopposed in the August 17, 2010, primary. In the November 2, 2010, general election he defeated Republican Diane Tebelius.
| Washington House of Representatives, District 48-Position 1 General Election (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Ross Hunter (D)
|
24,981 | |||
| Diane Tebelius (R) | 21,283 | |||
| Washington House of Representatives, District 48-Position 1 Primary (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Ross Hunter (D)
|
14,142 | 54.96% | ||
| Diane Tebelius (R)
|
11,590 | 45.04% | ||
2008
On November 4, 2008, Democrat Ross Hunter won re-election to the Washington House of Representatives, District 48-Position 1 receiving 64.32% of the vote (32,586 votes), defeating Republican Larry Cooney who received 35.68% of the vote (18,074 votes).
| Washington House of Representatives, District 48-Position 1 (2008) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Ross Hunter (D)
|
32,586 | 64.32% | ||
| Charles A. Lapp (R) | 18,074 | 35.68% | ||
Campaign themes
2012
Hunter's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[10]
Ensuring a Balanced Budget
- Excerpt: "It’s our constitutional requirement to produce a balanced budget, and we did so with relatively little drama and with no significant budget gimmicks."
Jobs
- Excerpt: "I propose focusing on growing sectors that require a highly-educated workforce and pay well."
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Washington scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2015
In 2015, the 64th Washington State Legislature, first session, was in session from January 12 through April 24. The legislature was in special session from April 29 to May 28, May 29 to June 27 and June 28 to July 10.[11]
- Association of Washington Business: 2015 Voting Record
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to the state’s business community.
- Greater Spokane Incorporated: 2015 Scorecard
- Legislators from the greater-Spokane area are scored on if they voted for/against funding for projects in the Spokane area.
- The American Conservative Union: 2015 Scorecard
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
- Washington Conservation Voters: 2015-2016 scorecard
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues.
- Washington State Labor Council: 2015 Voting Record
- Legislators are scored on whether they voted for or against WSLC's position.
2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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|
In 2014, the 63rd Washington State Legislature, second session, was in session from January 13 to March 14.[12]
|
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the 63rd Washington State Legislature, first session, was in session from January 14 to April 29.
|
2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the 62nd Washington State Legislature, second session, was in session from January 9 to March 8.[13]
|
2011
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
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In 2011, the 62nd Washington State Legislature, first session, was in session from January 10 through April 24.
|
Missed Votes Report
- See also: Washington House of Representatives and Washington State Senate
In March 2014, Washington Votes, a legislative information website, released its annual Missed Votes Report, which provides detailed missed roll call votes on bills for every state legislator during the 2014 legislative session.[14] The 2014 regular session included a total of 515 votes in the State House and 396 in the State Senate, as well as 1,372 bills introduced total in the legislature and 237 bills passed. Out of all roll call votes, 90 individual legislators did not miss any votes. Three individual legislators missed more than 50 votes.[14] Hunter missed 2 votes in a total of 1211 roll calls.
Freedom Foundation
The Freedom Foundation releases its Big Spender List annually. The Institute ranks all Washington legislators based on their total proposed tax and fee increases. To find each legislator’s total, the Institute adds up the 10-year tax increases or decreases, as estimated by Washington’s Office of Financial Management, of all bills sponsored or co-sponsored by that legislator.[15]
2012
Hunter proposed a 10-year increase in state taxes and fees of $149.7 million, the 53rd highest amount of proposed new taxes and fees of the 93 Washington state representatives on the Freedom Foundation’s 2012 Big Spender List.
- See also: Washington Freedom Foundation Legislative Scorecard (2012)
The Freedom Foundation also issued its 2012 Informed Voter Guide for Washington State voters, including a legislative score card documenting how Washington State legislators voted upon bills the Foundation deemed important legislation. The legislation analyzed covered budget, taxation, and pension issues.[16] A 
sign indicates a bill more in line with the Foundation's stated goals, and a 
sign indicates a bill out of step with the Foundation's values. Here's how Hunter voted on the specific pieces of legislation:
| 2012 House Scorecard - Ross Hunter | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill #6636 (Balanced budget requirement)
|
Bill #5967 (House Democrats budget)
|
Bill #6582 (Local transportation tax increases)
|
Bill #6378 (Pension reforms)
| ||||||||
| Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||||
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Hunter and his wife, Tricie, have two children.
Recent news
This section displays the most recent stories in a Google News search for the term "Ross + Hunter + Washington + House"
- All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.
See also
- Washington State Legislature
- Washington House of Representatives
- Washington House of Representatives Committees
- Washington Joint Committees
- Washington state legislative districts
External links
- Ross Hunter's campaign website
- Profile from Open States
- Profile by Vote-USA
- Project Vote Smart legislative profile
- Project Vote Smart biography
- Campaign Contributions: 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002
- Ross Hunter on Facebook
Footnotes
- ↑ nwprogressive.org, "Governor Jay Inslee appoints 48th LD’s Ross Hunter as new Director of Early Learning," accessed September 4, 2015
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Biography," accessed April 17, 2014
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Task Force on Federal Deficit Reduction," accessed May 15, 2014
- ↑ Stateline, "State legislators want revenue on table in debt talks," September 22, 2011
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "2014 Candidates Who Have Filed," accessed May 20, 2014
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "August 5, 2014, Official Primary Results," accessed August 5, 2014
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Official general election results, 2014," accessed December 2, 2014
- ↑ C-SPAN, "AP Election Results - Washington State House of Representatives," accessed August 7, 2012
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Candidates," accessed July 16, 2012
- ↑ rosshunter, "Official Campaign Website," accessed April 17, 2014
- ↑ Multi State, "2015 State Legislative Session Dates," accessed July 13, 2015
- ↑ StateScape, "Session schedules," accessed July 23, 2014
- ↑ StateScape, "Session schedules," accessed July 23, 2014
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Washington Policy Center, "2014 Missed Votes Report for Legislators Released," March 18, 2014
- ↑ Freedom Foundation, "2012 Big Spender List," accessed April 17, 2014
- ↑ My Freedom Foundation, "Home," accessed June 18, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Washington House of Representatives District 48-Position 1 2003–2015 |
Succeeded by Patricia Kuderer (D) |
