Weinstein confirms retirement

OLYMPIA – Senator Brian Weinstein, D-Mercer Island, announced today that he will be sticking by his earlier decision to not seek reelection this November. Weinstein was elected in 2004 and serves as chair of the Senate Consumer Protection & Housing Committee. He will continue to serve out the remainder of his term. Weinstein had previously announced that he planned on returning to his law practice fulltime once his term ended in early January 2009, but he had agreed to reconsider his decision after being asked by numerous consumer protection advocates to run again.

“We made enormous progress in the field of consumer protection this past legislative session,” said Weinstein. “While the President and Congress debate what to do about the subprime debacle, we took the bull by the horns and passed some very meaningful legislation that will go a long way towards protecting homebuyers. Our foreclosure rescue legislation, our regulation of mortgage brokers and our title insurance legislation are some of the strongest in the nation.”

Weinstein said he was proud of what had been accomplished in education and consumer protection throughout his term.

“I am very proud of sponsoring, at the Governor’s request, the Washington Learns Bill. I believe this bill and the various studies generated by this bill, will lead to a complete overhaul of education funding in Washington,” Weinstein said. “The obvious eventual goal being the creation of the best education system in the United States.”

“My passion, though, is consumer protection, and I am most proud of sponsoring and passing the Fair Insurance Conduct Act, which survived a referendum challenge last year in the form of R67. I am also very pleased with the bill we passed this year requiring that mortgage brokers owe a fiduciary duty to their customers.”

When asked about his greatest disappointment, Weinstein answered, “Anyone who has read the newspaper or watched the evening news in the last year has to know that I was unable to secure for Washingtonians the Homebuyer’s Bill of Rights. Despite passing it in the Senate and the House Judiciary Committee for two consecutive years, the Speaker of the House refused to bring it up for a vote. I will spend the remaining time in my term continuing to bring awareness to the problem of the lack of builder accountability for shoddy construction.”

“I am very honored to have served the people of the 41st District. I want to wish the best to my constituents and to my colleagues in the Senate.”

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