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# Ethics board fines WA Sen. Dhingra after abortion news conference
- URL: https://www.cascadepbs.org/articles/briefs/2023/08/ethics-board-fines-wa-sen-dhingra-after-abortion-news-conference/
- Published: 2023-08-01T16:32:43.000Z
- Updated: 2025-06-19T11:18:47.000Z
- Author: Joseph O’Sullivan
- Tags: Politics, #brief, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-04-25 08:30, #Import 2025-05-09 14:33, #article

The Washington Legislative Ethics Board has fined state Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, $250 for using public resources at a speaking event where she urged people to register to vote and support pro-abortion candidates.

Dhingra,[ who is running for state attorney general](https://crosscut.com/politics/2023/07/former-us-attorney-nick-brown-announces-bid-washington-ag?ref=cascadepbs.org), must also pay back $92.43 in mileage expenses for the June 2022 news conference in Olympia with Gov. Jay Inslee and others to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of *Roe v. Wade* the day prior,[ according to the board’s ruling](https://www.cascadepbs.org/content/files/documents/23893927/ethicscom202214-15.pdf).

The ruling by the board – which helps enforce the state[ Ethics in Public Service Act](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.52.180&ref=cascadepbs.org#:~:text=PDF%20RCW%2042.52.180%20Use%20of%20public%20resources%20for,promotion%20of%20or%20opposition%20to%20a%20ballot%20proposition.) – came after complaints against several state lawmakers and Inslee for speaking at two events related to reproductive healthcare after the court’s ruling last year in *Dobbs*.

The public resources used in the June event included a loudspeaker system and podium from the state Department of Enterprises Services, which among other things oversees the Capitol campus. For various reasons, the other legislators cleared elements of a seven-factor test used to decide whether an elected official is heeding the law.

In a statement, Dhingra pointed out that the Ethics Board has never previously made a ruling on the use of resources by a lawmaker of another state agency, such as Enterprise Services.

“The governor invited me and several other key legislators to this press conference in my capacity as a state senator, to comment on the state response to the *Dobbs* decision,” she said in prepared remarks. “At that time, ethics rules allowed for mileage reimbursement for official events such as this one. With the rules now changed retroactively, I will be reimbursing the Senate for mileage expenses incurred for this event.”