Luis Moscoso is running for the 1st District Senate seat left vacant after long-time state Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe decided not to run in November’s election.

Moscoso was a founding member of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1576 in Everett and was later elected as the Democratic Party Secretary in 2005. He ran for a House Representative seat in the 1st District and was elected for the 2011 term.

He said he is seeking the Senate seat this term because McAuliffe asked him to consider it. He said he also has more experience than his competitors in state government.

“My record is clear what I have done for the district as well as my responsibilities to the state,” he said.

Moscoso has been the prime sponsor for a voting rights act for the last four years and said he’s been watching the response from the city of Yakima as the former council spent some $3 million fighting a local equivalent.

Removing questions pertaining to criminal records on initial employment applications is also a high priority for Moscoso in legislation known as “Ban the Box.”

“Some very good people who paid their dues are educated and ready to come out and do good work are screened out,” he said.

Potential employees would disclose previous convictions, but only after the initial interview under the legislation, Moscoso said, which could help keep people employed and reduce recidivism.

Meeting the funding requirements for the McCleary decision are a top priority for Moscoso and he said it looks like a solid plan could be proposed in the 2017 legislative session.

Securing a sustainable source of funding for transportation repair and improvements are also high on his to-do list.

Moscoso said billions of dollars are needed to repair the states crumbling highway and road infrastructure and said a gas tax is becoming an antiquated way of funding these projects.

“We can’t run our roads off gas taxes, I think we know that,” he said.

Rural transit options, dilapidated bridges and increasing density clogging overburdened highways are all issues which need to be addressed through a solid funding source, he said.

The North Creek region of his district is the fastest growing residential development in the state, he said, and will require more transportation improvements.

“We have a particularly complex problem with the southeast part of the 1st district,” he said.

He also supports a Snohomish County initiative to raise additional funds for the county Sheriff’s Office for more funding. As it sits, he said the office doesn’t have funds to conduct all basic law enforcement training, which will become more important as the population living in unincorporated parts of the county grows.

And based on his previous reelections, Moscoso said he is optimistic he will be elected to the Senate seat.

“I think that people would be better served by continuing with the person who has been there for them,” he said. “I have to go on the assumption that if I have been returned in the past, I should go forward with the same, and even more agenda.”