GOAL Post 2016-1

Legislative Update from Olympia8 January 2016

LEGISLATURE CONVENES MONDAY, 13 JANUARY

LEGISLATIVE TUTORIAL

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF ELECTION YEAR

34 BILLS HELD OVER FROM 2015 SESSION

NEW PRE-FILED BILLS

NO PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED YET

LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR

LEGISLATOR DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBERS

(Note:There’s a lot going on with regard to the President’s “gun
violence initiative.”Few details are available at this time.But GOAL
Post has an Olympia focus and will not cover the other Washington.)

The second regular session of the 64th (biennial) Washington state
legislature convenes Monday, January 11th for its short (60 day)
session.Control of the legislature remains split, with Democrats
controlling the House of Representatives with 50 seats, while the
minority Republicans have 48.From a gun owner’s perspective, this view
is skewed by the fact that a small handful of Democrats side solidly
with gun owners on those issues.While we would have the votes necessary
to pass good or block bad bills, House Democrats still control
leadership positions in that chamber, and thus control which bills get
votes.The Senate remains controlled by a Majority Coalition of 25
Republicans and one Democrat.From a standpoint of stopping bad bills, we
should be all right, but it will be difficult to move pro-gun
legislation forward.

Legislation 101.For those of you not familiar with how the legislative
process works, this page has links to several quick tutorials, including
how a bill becomes a law, how to read a bill, where to access bill
language and how to testify in public
hearings:http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/ComingToTheLegislature.aspx

2016 is a major election year.To a limited degree, that might influence
how elected officials vote on controversial issues.They’ll certainly be
paying more attention to public opinion than in non-election years.Your
calls, e-mails and letters DO MATTER.It’s called “grassroots lobbying.”

As this is the second year of the biennium, bills that were filed last
year and not passed by the legislature remain available for
consideration.34 firearm-related bills, good and bad, from 2015 are
still in the hopper (see list below).In addition, four additional
gun-related bills were pre-filed before the session started (at the end
of the list below)

At this point, three days before the start of the session, no public
hearings have been scheduled on any firearm-related bills.

One of the first items of business in each session is the adoption of
the session calendar, identifying dates by which bills must clear
various hurdles.A bill that fails to clear the policy committee or
chamber floor by the designated date is generally considered dead for
the year, although they may be “resurrected” by parliamentary
procedure.I’ll post the cut-off dates for the 2014 session in the next
issue of GOAL Post.

The Democrat caucus has extended its reach from urban and suburban areas
to rural areas.In these districts, the enthusiasm for gun control is
diluted.If the Democrats expect to hold these rural districts in the
next election, they will have to tread carefully on the gun issue.If you
live in a rural or even suburban district with Democrat Representatives
or a Democrat Senator, it is important that you call their office and
express concern about your gun rights.Ask them to keep you informed of
any gun-related legislation.This lets them know that you are watching
them on this issue.

The Legislature has not yet published new telephone and office
directories because legislators are not sworn in until Monday, 11
January.The following links can be used at that time to identify direct
contact information:

http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/

http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Representatives/

2016 Legislative Session

Key to abbreviations:S. = Senate, H. = House, Jud = Judiciary, K-12 =
Education, L&J = Law & Justice, Trans = Transportation, W&M = Ways and Means

HEARING(S) SCHEDULED:

At this point there are no hearings scheduled on firearm-related bills.

LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE:You may reach your Representatives and Senator by
calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000.Toll free!!!The
hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993.Also toll free!!!

1-800-562-6000TDD 1-800-635-9993

OTHER DATA:Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules
and other information are available on the legislature’s web site at
“www.leg.wa.gov”.Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf) format.You may
download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe’s web site
(http://www.adobe.com).You may also obtain hard copy bills, initiatives,
etc, in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF CHARGE by
calling 1-360-786-7573.Copies of bills may also be ordered toll free by
calling the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000.You may also hear
floor and committee hearing action live at http://www.tvw.org/ (you need
“RealAudio” to do this, available free at the TVW web site).

By reading the House and Senate “bill reports” (hbr, sbr) for each bill,
you can see how individual committee members voted.By reading the “roll
call” for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate voted on
any bill.The beauty of the web site is that ALL this information is
available, on line, to any citizen.

GET THE WORD OUT:If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail,
send a message to “[email protected]” or to “[email protected].”.Please
pass GOAL Post on to anyone you believe may have an interest in
protecting our rights.Better yet, make a couple of copies of this
message, post it on your gun club’s bulletin board, and leave copies
with your local gun shop(s).PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR
REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT
TEXTUAL MODIFICATION AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at
“[email protected]” or by telephone at (425) 985-4867.Unfortunately,
I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to individuals.Limited numbers
of hard copies MAY be available at the Second Amendment Foundation book
table at WAC gun shows.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Puyallup9-10 January

Monroe23-24 January

“The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself,
or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall
be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize,
maintain or employ an armed body of men.”

Article 1, Section 24

Constitution of the State of Washington

Copyright 2016 Gun Owners Action League of WA