GOAL Post 2015-3: Legislative Update from Olympia 23 January 2015

GOAL Post 2015-3
Legislative Update from Olympia 23 January 2015

CUT-OFF CALENDAR ADOPTED

NEW BILLS FILED

PUBLIC HEARINGS HELD

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED

The legislature adopted the cut-off calendar for the session, the dates by which bills must pass certain hurdles or be considered dead for the session (although no bill is ever truly dead if leadership wants to revive it)

The dates for the 2015 regular session are:

12 Jan First day of 105-day session

20 Feb First policy committee cut-off

27 Feb First fiscal committee cut-off (if required)

11 Mar Chamber (House or Senate) cut-off (5 p.m.)

1 Apr Second chamber policy committee cut-off

7 Apr Second chamber fiscal committee cut-off (if required)

15 Apr Second chamber cut-off

26 Apr Legislature adjourns sine die

Several new firearm-related bills have been filed

HB 1324 (Shea, R-4) would put into statute the existing “castle doctrine” and “stand your ground/no duty to retreat” laws currently recognized by judicial decision; HB 1433 (Scott, R-38) modifies the state Gun Free School Zone law to more closely match federal law; HB 1474 (Taylor, R-15) would add defense against animal attack to existing self defense law; HB 1506 (Kirby, D-29) would exempt firearm transfers between licensed security guards from the background check provision of I-594; HB 1521 (Taylor, R-15) would restore the previous federal three day wait on a “delay” response from NICS from the 10 or more dfays imposed by I-594; and HB 1535 (Klippert, R-8) would waive the current three day waiting period on handgun deliveries for law enforcement officers

(This is previous law, not I-594 related.)

SB 5381 (Billig, D-3) creates a procedure whereby firearms seized or otherwise taken from citizens by law enforcement could ne returned, to include a mandatory three-day waiting period; SB 5476 (Dammeier, R-25) is the Senate counterpart to HB 1535; SB 5500 (Roach, R-31) allows retired law enforcement officer to carry firearms on school grounds; SB 5539, (Roach, R-31) also exempts law enforcement officers from the three day waiting period for handgun delivery; SB 5579 (Dammeier, R-25) also exempts licensed security guards from the background check provision of I-594; and SB 5615 (Benton, R-17) exempts military members from the background check provision of I-594.

As you can see, some of these bills are an attempt to nibble away around the edges of I-594

How successful they will be remains to be seen.

Public hearings were held on four bills this past week, HBs 1119 (Blake D-19), 1131 (Pettigrew D-37), HB 1191 (Taylor R-15) and SB 5036 (O’Ban R-28)

I normally try to provide information on the hearing, but my travel schedule precludes it at this time

Keep in mind you can listen to hearings and floor sessions streamed live on TVWashington (see details below) or listed to archive podcasts of the hearings

At this time, public hearings are scheduled for three bills next week: a second hearing for HB 1131 (Pettigrew) D-37) in House Agriculture, a hearing for SB 5241 (Litzow R-41) in Senate Natural Resources, and a hearing for SB 5500 (Roach, R-31) in Senate Law & Justice.

Regarding hearings on bills, committee chairs choose which bills to hear and which to ignore, although sometimes heavy public input can force a hearing on a bill

The next week’s schedule is published on Wednesday, so bills filed later in the current week aren’t even considered for a hearing at this time

As you can see in the bill introduction schedule for this week, most new bills filed failed to make the scheduling cut-off

We have four more weeks for bills to pass out of the first policy committee, plenty of time

Executive action (a committee vote) is expected on at least two bills next week: HBs 1119 and 1191

As or when bills move out of committee, the “status” data will change in “Bill Status” below.

Given the fact that leadership controls which bills move and which bills die, and the fact that the liberal side of the Democratic Party controls the House, I am not optimistic that any bills repealing or limiting the impact of I-594 will move

An exception might be an attempt to horse-trade minor fixes to 594 in return for pro-gunners’ support of or simply silence on additional “common sense” gun control bills

The next time a Democrat tells you he or she simply wants “gun safety” legislation, ask him or her to show you their safety instructor certification or even just a gun safety course completion certificate.

Bill Status

Bill #	Subject	Sponsor	Status	GOAL Position
HB 1119	Hunter education issues	Blake (D-19)	H. AGR & NAT RES	Pending
HB 1131	Prohibits sale/purchase of ivory	Pettigrew (D-37)	H. AGR & NAT RES	Oppose
HB 1191	CPL renewal notices	Taylor (R-15)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1193	Prohibiting gun owner data base	Taylor (R-15)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1245	Repeals I-594	Shea (R-4)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1324	Codifies castle doctrine and stand your ground	Shea (R-4)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1433	Modifies Gun Free School Zone law	Scott (R-39)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1474	Defense against animal attack	Taylor (R-15)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1506	Exempts security guard transfers from I-594	Kirby (D-29)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1521	Returns NICS “delay” to three days (I-594)	Taylor (R-15)	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1533	Exempting the transfer of a firearm donated to a historical society or museum for temporary exhibition and the transfer of the firearm back to the donor from the background check requirement	Van Werven	H Judiciary	Support
HB 1535	Exempts active LEOs from waiting period	Klippert (R-8)	H Judiciary	Support
SB 5036	Penalizes criminal misuse of body armor	O’ban (R-28)	S. Law & Justice	Neutral
SB 5241	Prohibits sale/transfer of ivory	Litzow (R-41)	S. Nat Res/Parks	Oppose
SB 5381	Return of firearms held by law enforcement	Billig (D-3)	S. Law & Justice	Oppose
SB 5476	Exempts active LEOs from waiting period	Dammeier (R-25)	S. Law & Justice	Support
SB 5500	Permitting retired law enforcement officers to carry firearms on school facilities	Roach (R-31)	S. Law & Justice	Support
SB 5539	Concerning delivery of a pistol to a current law enforcement officer.	Roach (R-31)	S. Law & Justice	Support
SB 5579	Exempts licensed scty guards from b/g checks	Dammeier (R-25)	S. Law & Justice	Support
SB 5615	Exempts military members from b/g checks	Benton (R-17)	S. Law & Justice	Support

Key to abbreviations: S. = Senate, H. = House, Ag/NatRes = Agriculture/Natural Resources, HS&C = Human Services & Corrections, Jud = Judiciary, L&J = Law & Justice, , W&M = Ways and Means

HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

Bill	Committee	Room	Building
HB 1131	House Ag/Nat Res	HHR “B,”	John L. O’Brien
27 Jan	10:00 a.m.
SB 5241	Senate Nat Res	SHR “B”	John A. Cherberg
28 Jan	2:00 p.m.
SB 5500	Senate L&J	SHR “1,”	John A. Cherberg
29 Jan	8: a.m.

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!!!

1-800-562-6000 TDD 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.

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“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