Representative Reuven Carlyle is entering his second year as a 36th District Representative to the state legislature. Before the session starts next week, Carlyle is reaching out to find out what’s important to you and give you an idea of what he’s planning for the session.

The following is written by Rep. Carlyle:

The bang of the gavel opens the 2010 session of the Legislature on January 11, and the depth of the challenges we face in the 60-day sprint reflect the seriousness that people are feeling in their daily lives.

Before I put my life as a husband, father and entrepreneur on hold to serve in Olympia as your citizen legislator, I wanted to reach out and connect about the pressing issues facing our state as we enter the legislative session.

What are the policy issues that inspire you to act, and what can state government do to be more responsive to your values and interests? Please make suggestions in the thread, spend some time on my active blog at www.reuvencarlyle36.com or email me anytime at carlyle.reuven@leg.wa.gov. Friend me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter where I’m working to keep you informed from inside your government. My goal is to be the first ‘paperless’ legislative office.

This year, given the difficult economic times in which we live, there is little besides the budget on the table. But how we handle the budget is a moral question not just a financial one. The state’s $32 billion two-year budget (driven by consumer-purchasing related taxes) is staggering under the weight of the economic downturn. This year’s projected $2.6 billion budget deficit–following a projected $9 billion gap last year that we balanced–has forced the most substantive reassessment of our public priorities in generations.