Summary

Today we gathered to mourn the untimely death of State Senator Scott White, and to celebrate his many contributions. A young man of just 41 years, he leaves behind a wife and two young children. My condolences and continuing thoughts are with Scott’s wife Alison, his family, and his many friends.

Story

Today we gathered to mourn the untimely death of State Senator Scott White, and to celebrate his many contributions. A young man of just 41 years, he leaves behind a wife and two young children. My condolences and continuing thoughts are with Scott’s wife Alison, his family, and his many friends.

Scott’s death is a blow for Seattle, King County and all of Washington, as our state government struggles to negotiate the treacherous financial waters of the ongoing recession. In his first session as a state senator, Scott established himself as a prolific agent of policy change, sponsoring seven bills that became law. As Majority Whip and Vice Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, Scott pulled together the votes to grant the authority for King County to assess a $20 Congestion Reduction Charge to save Metro Transit. Without his efforts, King County residents would have suffered dramatic cuts to their bus service.

Scott was a great legislative supporter of higher education, working to maintain excellence and enrollment at the University of Washington and other four-year universities even in the face of drastic state funding reductions. He invested countless hours to draft and pass a bill that saved 4Culture, helping to preserve a vibrant, culturally-rich quality of life for the people of King County. He sponsored legislation to help counties preserve precious farmland and focus new development into livable, thriving cities and towns.

Scott’s values—education, public transit, vibrant cities, the arts, economic opportunity for all—are the values we in this community share. His impressive legislative successes would undoubtedly have been mere footnotes to a stellar, lengthy career of service. Scott White did a lot for the people of his city, county and state in a full but all too brief life.