Legislative Update from Olympia
17 May 2013
SPECIAL SESSION CONVENES
NOMINAL 30-DAY SESSION
GUNS OFF THE TABLE?
DISTRACTED IN D.C. (Benghazi, IRS, AP)
The special session of the legislature convened earlier this week. Called by the governor specifically to pass a biennial budget, once they convene, the legislature can work any issues they choose. All of the
bills filed in the regular session are still in the hopper, and may be called up for reconsideration.
The first week of the special session ended with no action taken on any firearms-related bills.Even Governor Inslee acknowledges that not much -- if anything -- will be done concerning guns during the special session. The legislature remains split on the budget, with the Republican coalition controlled Senate insisting on no new taxes and the Democrat House pushing for a more-than-$1-BILLION tax increase (which some analysts believe will be even larger).
Most of the focus in Olympia right now is back room negotiating as legislators try to reach consensus on the budget.While it does not appear they will take up the gun issue this time around, we can never be sure. The 24 Republican-2 Democrat ruling coalition in the Senate appears to be holding, but if it should break up, we could be in big trouble. As I noted in a previous GOAL Post, we're just one major shooting incident away from all the gun bills they can pass.
Nor are we out of the woods in the other Washington -- D.C.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could bring S. 649 back for a vote any time he thinks he has the votes to pass the bill. President Obama and VP Biden remain committed to passing as much of the Obama gun control agenda as they can push through the system.
Fortunately for gun owners (and probably all Americans), the administration is distracted at the moment with the crisis du jour. The Benghazi hearings and release of e-mails concerning the Benghazi cover-up, the IRS admission that they were giving "extra scrutiny" to applications for tax exempt status from conservative groups, and the revelation of the seizure of telephone records of several Associated Press reporters has kept the White House spin machine in overdrive. The phrase of the day appears to be "I do not recall," followed closely by "I had no knowledge..." When your hand is caught in the cookie jar, deny, deny, deny. It didn't happen, we didn't do it, we won't do it again, and besides that was a long time ago.
For a change the mainstream media appears to be greeting the administrations denials with a healthy dose of skepticism, but I don't expect that to last. They've given Obama & Company their blind support for more than four years now -0- it's hard to admit you were wrong. Time will tell.
Hopefully the next few GOAL Posts will be as boring as this one!
BILL STATUS:
As noted above, all bills filed in the previous regular session are available and may be acted upon. At this time there are no new gun bills.
GOAL POSITION ON BILLS
No active bills at this time
HEARING(S) SCHEDULED
None
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 <http://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 "jwaldron@halcyon.com". 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 "jwaldron@halcyon.com" 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.
If you believe you have received this e-mail in error, please e-mail me at "jwaldron@halcyon.com" with the words "Unsubscribe GOAL Post" in the subject line. I will remove your name immediately.Keep in mind GOAL Post is also published on several gun lists. If you received GP via a list, you must contact that list's admin to unsubscribe.
Upcoming WAC gun show(s):
Monroe 8-9 June
Puyallup 22-23 June
"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 2013 Gun Owners Action League of WA
