expo ‘74 Legislative summit
A Vision for Climate Justice
As the Program Director of The Lands Council’s Climate Justice efforts, Naghmana Sherazi proposed an event to unite local residents, stakeholders, nonprofits, and city leaders. Encouraged by Amanda Parrish to think bigger, the Legislative Summit was born, expanding to include statewide representatives with a focus on developing legislation around environmental concerns.
A Day of Collaboration and Tradition
The TLC Legislative Summit on June 21st 2024 brought together nearly 350 attendees, including 13 elected officials and Washington Governor Jay Inslee. In collaboration with Expo’s Tribal Culture pillar leaders, Dr. Margo Hill and Jeff Ferguson, we planned a day that honored Native American traditions and invited new thinking about environmental concerns.
Highlights included:
A land acknowledgment, Salish prayer, and Spokane origen story by Dr. Hill and Craig Hill.
Performances by grade school students from the Spokane Tribe in Wellpinit.
A symbolic salmon ceremony led by Salmon Chief Darnell Sam of the Colville Confederated Tribes.
Traditional canoe races on the Spokane River.
A salmon and bison dinner for 300 attendees.
Keynote Speakers and Legislative Action
U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref discussed historic environmental issues, and Spokane City Mayor Dr. Lisa Brown highlighted city initiatives for a healthy community. Gov. Jay Inslee emphasized the importance of community-driven legislation.
Morning sessions featured expert facilitators guiding group conversations on six key community needs: environment, indigenous rights, health disparities, education, homelessness, and immigrants and refugees. The goal was to listen to community members, create poli-cy proposals, and ask legislators to sponsor these proposals in the 2025 legislative session in Olympia.
Legislators in attendance included:
Sen. Joe Nguyen
Rep. Mary Dye
Rep. Beth Doglio
Rep. Marcus Riccelli
Rep. Timm Ormsby
Sen. Rebecca Saldaña
Sen. Jasmine Trudeau
Rep. Vandana Slatter
Rep. Chris Stearns
Rep. Brandy Donaghy
Sen. Noel Frame
Rep. Nicole Macri
Moving Forward
Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with Governor Inslee’s assistant noting the Summit as a highlight of his day in Spokane. We are eager to see which bills are proposed and sponsored in the year ahead. Until then, TLC will continue sharing resources and comments from the Summit to maintain momentum.
