Meet two guests of honor at Inslee’s annual state legislature address this year

OLYMPIA – Elisa Garcia traveled from Toppenish, Washington, with her daughter, Jasmin Alcantar, to Olympia on Tuesday for Gov. Jay Inslee’s final State of the State address.

Garcia was invited because her home is one of more than 30 farmworker households in the state that was reportedly outfitted with rooftop solar panels through a Department of Commerce pilot program. Garcia, a farmworker, supports her two daughters and one of her parents in their home.

The solar panels have helped the Toppenish woman save money on her family’s power bill, Garcia, who speaks only Spanish, told The Spokesman–Review.

“I am very grateful,” Garcia said. “This program has really improved my life.”

Garcia said she heard about the solar panel program on the Granger, Washington-based Spanish language radio station, KDNA 91.9-FM.

In his speech Monday, Inslee thanked Garcia and her daughter for their attendance.

“Thanks to this Legislature’s budget priorities, we can help more people like Elisa Garcia,” Inslee said. “Her home now produces 100% of its energy from her own roof. Her family’s energy bills are zero and it would not have been possible without this Legislature.”

Another guest of honor invited to Tuesday’s address was Pasco Police Officer Claudia Fuentes.

Fuentes, who was also mentioned in Inslee’s State of the State address, benefits from the new Pasco Criminal Justice Training Center opened in 2023.

Instead of attending four months of training in King County away from her two children, Fuentes is able to stay close to home and care for them throughout her completion of the program and build meaningful relationships with her colleagues.

“Another thing aside from me being a mom and all that, you go to the academy with people you’re going to end up working really closely with on patrol, so you get to kind of build those relationships in the academy,” Fuentes said.

With one final left to take, Fuentes is almost done with the training program. She’s hopeful that she can soon be on solo patrol.