Thank you to the 600 attendees who celebrated with the Regional Chamber at the 2023 Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, March 22 at the Three Rivers Convention Center. 

Thanks to Breshears Professional Photography for snapping these wonderful photos!

Thank you to the 600 attendees who celebrated with the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce (TCRCC) at the 2023 Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, March 22 at the Three Rivers Convention Center. 

The Annual Meeting & Awards Luncheon is a celebration of the accomplishments of TCRCC and its members. Click on the awards below to learn about the winners and why they were selected.

Click the award categories below to learn more about this year's recipients.

Congratulations to Kindred Spirits on their ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, March 15. Check out their shop at 430 George Washington Way in Richland.

Thank you to everyone who attended Business After Hours at Jacobs and Rhodes on March 9!

Sen. Matt Boehnke, Rep. April Connors, and Rep. Stephanie Barnard, will host a town hall meeting at The Arc of the Tri-Cities (1455 SE Fowler St. Richland, WA 99352) on Saturday, March 11, from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
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The 8th District legislative team will answer questions and provide constituents with an update on the 2023 legislative session.

As the deadline approaches for the last day to consider bills in their house of origin we've seen several notable bills reach their final vote and pave the way for introduction in the opposite chamber for consideration. At this midpoint of the 105-day session Friday, February 24, 2023 was the final day to move bills out of fiscal committees and on to the floor.  This session has garnered bipartisan support for workforce and education, with several bills meant to expand knowledge and access to statewide career training and development. Additional information is included below on specific measures within various topic areas.

Wide bipartisan support continues to be championed for workforce development in both chambers of the State Legislature. With wide support and application of three programs West of the Cascades and another three programs East of the Cascades SHB 1013 - Establishing Regional Apprenticeship Programs continues on to the Senate. If it moves forward, the bill would direct the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Educational Service Districts to establish Regional Apprenticeship Preparation Pilot Program with six program sites statewide.

Senate Bill 5617 has passed the Senate and moved on to the House of Representatives allowing for greater equivalency of programs between school districts and skill centers, requiring any course equivalencies approved by OSPI to be honored by other participating school districts. The bill would also require schools to notify enrolled student's parents from 8th through 12th grade about what opportunities exist for students to meet credit-based graduation requirements through regional skill centers.

HB 1216 has moved out of fiscal committees and is pending a floor vote by the February 8, 2023 deadline. The Clean Energy Siting bill considered in the House would create an Interagency Clean Energy Siting Coordinating Council chaired by the Department of Ecology and Department of Commerce. The proposed process identifies a more comprehensive process for siting of significant clean energy projects; however, the stalled companion Senate Bill and the introduced House Bill have eliminated language that would have required projects to demonstrate need and/or utility for the type and scale of the installation.

Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1293 has passed the House of Representatives with minor opposition paving the way to exempt residential development from additional State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review under certain conditions where sited within an Urban Growth Area. This would largely apply to all housing development within City limits across the Tri-Cities, and exempt further environmental review where the proposed residential development is otherwise compliant with all existing development regulations, the City or County within the Urban Growth Area has previously had its comprehensive plan subjected to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), such plan fully addresses transportation impacts, and the proposed development is located where there are not existing or anticipated transportation safety or operational deficiencies.

House Bill 1258 has already advanced to the Senate for consideration to increase funding to the Statewide Tourism Marketing Account and reducing requisite match requirements for eligible entities. This proposal increases the cap from $3M to $9M for revenues able to be accumulated on the tax of retail sales on lodging, car rentals and restaurants (without raising said tax), and reduces the match to access funding from 2-to-1 to 1-to-1.

Thank you to everyone who attended the relaunch of the Ask the Experts program on February 28 - both in-person and virtually. If you weren't able to attend, you can view the session on our YouTube channel.

The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce (TCRCC) has hired Miles Thomas, AICP, as the organization’s Government and Regional Affairs Director. In this position, Thomas will lead the Regional Chamber’s advocacy efforts, the myTRI 2030 Regional Vision Project, and much more.

Thomas brings more than a decade of experience in community and economic development to his new position. Within the Tri-Cities, Thomas has extensive policy advocacy and project planning experience through Economic Development roles in City and Port governance. His work has contributed to collaboratively funding workforce development and reskilling programs at Washington State University Tri-Cities, designation and promotion of federal Opportunity Zones, and expanding access to local business development and assistance programs.

“We’re thrilled to add Miles to the Regional Chamber team,” said TCRCC President and CEO Lori Mattson, IOM. “Miles’ experience in bringing private and public partnerships to fruition, building strong community and business relationships, and working to augment public policy that supports and inspires entrepreneurship make him the ideal Government and Regional Affairs Director for the Tri-City Regional Chamber.”

Thomas currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Tri-Cities Diversity and Inclusion Council and Sagebrush Montessori School in addition to committee roles for the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and Washington State Small Business Development Center Advisory Board. He is an alumnus of the University of Illinois and holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning.
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Thomas can be reached at 509.940.4004 or miles.thomas@tricityregionalchamber.com.

Austin Regimbal, the Marketing & Communications Director at the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce, was among the 19 chamber executives to graduate February 15 from Academy, a professional development program presented by the Western Association of Chamber Executives (W.A.C.E.).
 
Academy is an interactive 3-day (three-year) training program on chamber management essentials designed for today’s chamber executives and staff professionals.
 
“We congratulate all of the graduates and their chambers for having the vision to invest in professional development,” said W.A.C.E. President Dave Kilby.
 
During the three-year Academy program, graduates participated in 18 three-hour classes and must successfully complete additional independent study outside of the classroom.
 
W.A.C.E is an association of chamber of commerce executives and staff professionals designed to promote and enhance professional development. With over 800 members from twenty-one Western states and Canada, W.A.C.E. is the largest state or regional association of chamber of commerce executives in the United States.