Debates, votes and bad legislation…Oh my!
The eighth week of this session was full of debates and votes on bad bills that made it to the Senate floor. The first bill listed below has passed in the Senate and is now under consideration in the House. The other two bills have yet to come to the floor for a vote, but we expect to see the majority bring them up this week.
Senate Bill 5041: Unemployment benefits for striking workers
Workers have a right to strike, but striking is not the same as being laid off or fired. Unemployment benefits are for those who do not choose to be out of work, even temporarily. Providing the same benefits to those who choose to go on strike is unfair. It’s also too expensive for the state unemployment-insurance program to bear, especially when it makes other workers pay for the striking workers.
Senate Bill 5179: OSPI power to punish school districts
Republicans support local control for school districts. Individual school boards and district administrators know best what is appropriate for their students. All schools need to teach academics with common standards and common expectations for graduation. But the majority in the Legislature often mandates that schools teach non-academic topics that fit a specific social agenda, some of which are controversial and not supported by parents statewide.
Sometimes, the issue is that school districts are struggling under the weight of teaching so many new mandated materials and their non-compliance isn’t intentional.
Democrats want the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to have the power to punish school districts that do not comply with all of those mandates. This is heavy-handed, unhelpful, and wrong.
Senate Bill 5266: Early release for juvenile murderers
Someone who commits murder should not be eligible for early release, even if they committed their crime as a juvenile. SB 5266 would allow those who were convicted before the age of 18 to petition for early release when they reach the age of 24.
This includes convicted murderers who have committed fewer than three murders. Three-time murders can also apply if they wait 20 years. Those who commit aggravated murder and certain sex crimes also aren’t eligible.
People convicted of murder, sex crimes and violent crimes should serve their full sentence. They are there to pay a debt to society for the harm they caused, and allowing them to get out early is a slap in the face to their victims. The only reason for this bill is to try to alleviate overcrowding at juvenile facilities like Green Hill School where most of the inmates are allowed to stay there until age 25 — a policy that has been disastrous for inmate and staff safety. Sen. John Braun tried to repeal the JR-25 policy this session, but the majority killed the bill.
What happens now?
As bills pass in the Senate, they will move to the House of Representatives for consideration. If any of them are given a hearing, we will notify you with a bill alert that will give you the information and links you need to sign in CON, testify, or submit written testimony.
Wednesday is the deadline for legislators to pass bills that originated in their own chamber. Beginning on Thursday, March 13, the Senate will resume committee meetings to consider bills that passed in the House and Senate bills necessary to implement one of the budgets.
Learn how to testify on bills in committee.
Committee Highlights for March 13-14
Thursday, March 13
Business, Financial Services & Trade
8:00 AM SHR 2
Public Hearing
- SHB 1080 – Concerning fee disclosure for lodging accommodations.
Early Learning & K-12 Education
10:30 AM SHR 1
Public Hearing
- SHB 1827 – Concerning the effective delivery and administration of basic education services to justice-involved students.
Law & Justice
10:30 AM SHR 4
Public Hearing
- HB 1046 – Protecting the vulnerable by providing immunity from civil liability for damage to a motor vehicle arising from the rescue of vulnerable persons or domestic animals.
- EHB 1052 – Clarifying a hate crime offense.
Local Government
1:30 PM SHR 3
Public Hearing
- ESHB 1135 – Ensuring that local government planning complies with the growth management act.
Ways & Means
4:00 PM SHR 4
Public Hearing
- HB 1494 – Concerning the property tax exemptions for new and rehabilitated multiple-unit dwellings in urban centers.
- SB 5711 – Levying a tax on storage units, harming renters.
- SB 5393 – Closing the Yakima Valley school and Rainier school.
- SB 5780 – Concerning reimbursement payments for replacing student transportation vehicles. GILDON
- SB 5737 – Suspending the national board for professional standards certification bonuses for certificated instructional staff.
Executive Session
- SHB 1488 – Concerning conservation district revenue limitations.
Friday, March 14
Labor & Commerce
8:30 AM SHR 1
Public Hearing
- HB 1069 – Allowing collective bargaining over contributions for certain supplemental retirement benefits.
Environment, Energy, & Technology
10:30 AM SHR 1
Executive Session
- HB 1018 – Adding fusion energy to facilities that may obtain site certification for the purposes of chapter 80.50 RCW.
Housing
10:30 AM SHR 4
Public Hearing
- E2SHB 1096 – Increasing housing options through lot splitting. BARKIS
- 3SHB 1491 – Promoting transit-oriented housing development.
State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections
10:30 AM SHR 2
Public Hearing
- HB 1759 – Designating the twelfth day of December as the day of the 12s.
Democrats’ troubling last-minute constitutional amendment
A constitutional amendment proposed at what amounts to the last minute is cause for concern because it would allow minors to get irreversible gender-altering surgery at any age without parental notification or consent.
Senate Joint Resolution 8204 was introduced this past Monday, with 28 Senate Democrats signed onto it as cosponsors.
SJR 8204 would prevent the Legislature from enacting laws in the future that would protect children from predatory medical ideology. Such bills would “interfere” with the individual’s [child’s] choice to undergo mutilation of their genitalia and other reproductive organs.
SJR 8204 is an exploitative “anything goes” measure that would preempt other laws protecting parents’ rights where their children’s medical decisions are concerned. This makes our children more vulnerable to the influence of coercive activists who seek to push children with gender confusion into having irreversible procedures.
No other state in the country has a constitutional amendment like what SJR 8204 would implement.
The good news is that SJR 8204 doesn’t have a chance of passing in the Legislature. Because it would amend the state constitution, it would require two-thirds support to pass. In the Senate, that would mean three Republicans would have to vote for it. In the House of Representatives, it would mean seven Republicans would need to vote yes.
That’s not going to happen.
CALL TO ACTION
- Tell Senate Democrats how terrible this bill is and call on them to let it die before ever getting a vote.
- Find Senate Democrat members here.
- If this bill gets a hearing, we will notify you so you can sign in CON on the bill, testify against it or submit written testimony. Let the majority know that your children will not be victims of reckless medical intervention.
GOOD/BAD BILLS MOVING FORWARD
GOOD BILLS STILL ALIVE
- SB 5036: Annual reporting of emissions data (Boehnke)
- SB 5050: Law enforcement hiring grants (Holy)
- SB 5434: Emergency powers reform (Wagoner)
BAD BILLS STILL ALIVE
- HB 1217: Imposing rent Control
- SB 5296: Revising sentencing for juvenile offenses
- SB 5179: Allowing OSPI punish schools/officials who don’t comply with legislative mandates
- SB 5186: Statutory implementation of the 50% school bond measure resulting in BILLIONS in new property taxes from the lower threshold for issuing bonds.
- SB 5266: Allowing murderers to petition for early release
- SB 5726/HB 1921: Taxing people for every mile they drive
- SJR 8200: A constitutional amendment allowing school districts to increase property taxes to pay for school bonds, and to exceed the debt limit with a simple majority.