GOAL Post, 2013-10
Legislative Update from Olympia, 2 March 2013
PUBLIC HEARING HELD ON SB 5282
THREE PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED
SECOND CHAMBER POLICY COMMITTEE CUT-OFF 3 APRIL
D. C. ACTIVITY
This has been a relatively slow week in the legislature. A public hearing was held on SSB 5282, with no surprises in testimony. It is scheduled for a committee vote on March 27th.
Three public hearings are scheduled next week: SHB 1840 in Senate Law & Justice on 25 March, SHB 1382 in Senate Human Services & Corrections and SSB 5452 in House Judiciary, both on 28 March.
Wednesday, 3 April is the second chamber policy committee cut-off, The five bills we are tracking must all come out of committee by that date or die for this session.
Again, I normally don't address the "other" Washington in GOAL Post, but we've had some interesting developments in the past week. Senator Feinstein's (D-CA) "assault weapon" and magazine ban bill passed out of U. S. Senate Judiciary on a straight 10-8 party line vote, as did Senator Schumer's (D-NY) universal background check bill. Senate majority Leader Harry Reid then had a meeting with Senator Feinstein, where he told her he did not have the votes necessary to pass the gun/magazine ban bills out of the Senate.
Reid is currently working to draft a bill that stands a chance of passage. The consolidated bill will likely include the anti-gun trafficking bill passed out of committee two weeks ago, along with Schumer's background check language and likely some addressal of mental health records as part of the background check. Feinstein will be allowed to offer the gun and magazine bans as separate amendments when the full Senate votes on the final; version of a Senate gun bill. That vote will likely come in the second week of April.
The problem for Senate Democrats is the 2014 election. Of the 33 Senate seats up for election/reelection, 20 are held by Democrats. Of those 20, 13 are in states with a strong pro-gun culture, and 10 voted for Romney in the past presidential election. Those senators don't want to go anywhere near a controversial gun vote.
How any Senate gun bill will fare in the House remains to be seen as well. Speaker Boehner recently stated he would prefer to see better enforcement of existing law. The House is unlikely to take any action until late April or early May.
Recent polling has indicated a decline in support for gun bans, although a majority appear to continue to support universal background checks. (Unfortunately the polling data does not reveal the link between universal background checks and gun registration.)
BILL STATUS:
The following bills remain under consideration in the 2013 session
Bill # Subject Sponsor Status
SHB 1383 Stalking protection orders Goodman (D-45) S. HS&C
SHB 1612 Firearm offender registry Hope (R-44) S. L&J
SHB 1840 Firearms/restraining orders Goodman (D-45) S. L&J
SSB 5282 DSHS/WSP info exchange Carrell (R-28) H. Jud
SSB 5452 Stalking protection orders Conway (D- H. Jud
Key to abbreviations: SB = Senate Bill, HB = House Bill, Jud = Judiciary, L&J = Law & Justice, HS&C = Human Services & Corrections, Trans = Transportation, Approp = Appropriations, Early Learn = Early Learning and K-12 Education, W&M = Ways & Means
GOAL POSITION ON BILLS
HB 1383 CONCERNS
HB 1612 CONCERNS
HB 1840 OPPOSE
SB 5282 SUPPORT
SB 5452 CONCERNS
HEARING(S) SCHEDULED
SHB 1840 Senate Law & Justice Senate Hearing Room "1"
25 Mar 1:30 p.m. John A. Cherberg Building
SHB 1383 Senate Human Svcs & Corr Senate Hearing Room "1"
28 Mar 10:00 a.m. John A. Cherberg Building
SSB 5452 House Judiciary House Hearing Room "A"
28 Mar 1:30 p.m. John L. O'Brien Building
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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Upcoming WAC gun show(s):
Puyallup 23-24 March
Monroe 6-7 April
"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
