Candidate Profile: Mark Mullet, Running for re-election in 5th District Senate

Sen. Mark Mullet is running for re-election based on a record that includes support for Labor and health care transparency, among other issues.

Mullet supports WSNA priorities such as critical Public Health Nursing services, increased designated nursing enrollment slots for nursing programs and increased scholarship and loan repayment funding, continued financial support for nursing students and new graduate nurses working in rural communities, and support for mental health services.

Mullet holds a master’s degree in Public Affairs from the Evans School at the University of Washington and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in finance from Indiana University.

In the health care arena, Mullet has been a supporter of Affordable Care Act implementation in Washington. He passed a health care transparency bill to require all insurance companies to build tools that will go on their websites so people can look up how much a procedure will cost before the procedure occurs. He also helped pass a law that allows doctors to prescribe an Epi Pen directly to a school so the office or nurse would have an Epi Pen on hand in case a student without a pre-diagnosed allergy ends up suffering from an allergic reaction at school.

Mullet’s support for Labor earned him this year’s endorsement from the Washington State Labor Council. He opposes all so-called Right to Work legislation. He supports collective bargaining as the means for nurses to achieve limits on mandatory overtime, minimum nurse staffing standards, and the required implementation of staffing plans developed jointly by direct care nurses and hospital administration.