Senate adopts Padden’s comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation

Brianna was 17, residing in a small Washington town near Interstate 5 and working at the local café when she met the man who acted like a friend but turned out to be a pimp. It’s men like that, participants in a commercial sex industry that views girls as nothing more...

Law and justice panel passes 42 bills before committee deadline

From tightly-written legislation related to marijuana use and school searches to bills that took on broader issues such as eminent domain and human trafficking, the 42 measures endorsed by the Senate Law and Justice Committee so far in the 2013 legislative session...

Comprehensive anti-trafficking bill to have public hearing Wednesday

Bipartisan measure focused on protecting children, combating commercial sex trade OLYMPIA… The state Senate’s latest salvo in the ongoing fight against human trafficking will be heard Wednesday when Senate Bill 5669 goes before the Senate Law and Justice Committee....

Holy’s statute of limitations legislation receives public hearing

A proposal to extend the time limits on prosecuting child sex crimes received a public hearing Feb. 5. House Bill 1352, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Holy, R-Spokane, would extend the time victims of sex crimes as children have to bring a predator to justice. If the bill...

Padden schedules Feb. 6 hearing for parental-notification bill

OLYMPIA… The Senate Law and Justice Committee will have a public hearing next week on legislation that would require an underage girl’s parent or guardian to be notified before she can have an abortion. Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, said Senate Bill 5156  will...