Madam Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for allowing me to speak in support of Senate Bill 6694. My name is Thomas Veatch, with Sound Alliance and Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 32, which is a member of Sound Alliance. Sound Alliance is a broad-based organization of 40 community institutions representing more than 100,000 households in King, Pierce, and Thurston Counties, including churches, synagogues, unions, teachers associations, and non-profits, all united and organizing for the common good. As State Senators I know you consider yourselves public servant. But I want you to know that we ... are the public.

So why should a foreclosure grace period apply to those going on unemployment instead of to everybody?

People on unemployment are America's workers, they've been working, they're still looking for work. Hard workers are a good financial and credit bet. We're not talking about subprime borrowers who need to be helped out of their inappropriate debts, we're talking about the engine of America, we're talking people like me, if I can be so bold.

My story is this. I have degrees from Stanford and Penn and I was a visiting assistant professor also at Stanford; I started an internet software business in 1995. When my own internet bubble finally burst in 2005, I still had many choices, but I had just gotten married and I needed a career with a respectable middle class income which most importantly is highly predictable and reliable. Plumbing is one of the most reliable of businesses, it's not going to get exported to Bangalore. And the union is a way to further reduce the risks of fickle employment.

Yet the best laid plans may fail, and in America today that is happening a lot, and I am just an example, I find myself unemployed since September. If I can come to this with my good choices, I know I am not alone. Our entire union is comprised of on-time detail-oriented hard-working members, and yet more than half of commercial plumber apprentices like myself are at present unemployed. Many other folks who have entered unemployment in this downturn are reliable workers, reliable mortgage payers, as I've said the engine of America. Our American Dream is perfectly realistic if not for a downturn beyond any of our control.

While America is on the ropes, we need some help. I'm asking you, please help us.