From Paben
John Stark already highlighted some bill that are basically dead in Olympia. I thought I’d copy and paste a list of notable bill that are likely to die this session. This is from an e-mail sent out by the Senate Democrats.
Let me know if there are any you’re particularly interested in. I may be able to find time to blog on them separately. It’s going to get even crazier that it already is over here. I’ve got County Council stuff to report this week, and tomorrow the Census Bureau will release our local-level data, which I need to cover. And, to top it all off, I’m one of the hordes of people right now who are getting sick.
Anyway, here are the dead bills:
The following is a list of notable bills – not meant to be comprehensive – considered “dead” in the Senate for the remainder of the 2011 legislative unless they are revived by parliamentary procedure:
Agriculture & Rural Economic Development Committee
SB 5146 – An act relating to disclosure of production and export information on patented or trademarked fruit (Honeyford)
SB 5570 – An act relating to prohibiting the impoundment of farm vehicles under certain conditions (Honeyford)
SB 5648 – An act regarding the sale of milk at small dairies (Ranker)
SB 5759 – An act relating to animal disease traceability (Shin)
SB 5814 – An act relating to extending current use valuation to the residential property of small farms that is integral to the use of classified land for agricultural purposes (Fraser)
Early Learning & K-12 Committee
SB 5479 – Process for school districts to develop, implement, and report on three year growth targets for high school mathematics and science is created. (McAuliffe)
SB 5621 – Establishing the voting age for school board elections (White)
SB 5220 – Authorizing advertising on school buses (Shin)
SB 5226 – Regarding science end-of-course assessments (McAuliffe)
SB 5227 – Regarding mathematics end-of-course assessments (McAuliffe)
Environment, Water & Energy Committee
SB 5210 – Creating a water commission (Delvin)
SB 5564 – Promoting the development and construction of nuclear energy facilities (Delvin)
SB 5778 – Providing incentives for the collection and recycling of beverage bottles (Chase)
Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee
SB 5768 – Creating the department of heritage, arts, and culture (Haugen)
SB 5512 – Increasing public access to public records (Roach)
SB 5338 – Concerning lawful legal presence in the United States (Stevens)
SJR 8207 – Declares that English must be the language of all official proceedings. (Stevens)
Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee
SB 5609 – An act relating to health care financing Kohl-Welles)
SB 5653 – An act relating to Washington state food purchasing policy (Kohl-Welles)
SB 5666 – An act relating to accountability for tax exempt hospitals (Pflug)
SB 5818 – An act requiring certain long-term care facilities to report incidents of death caused by health care-associated infections to the department of social and health services (Litzow)
Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee
SB 5234 – Requires US citizenship to be eligible for state financial assistance programs (Stevens)
SB 5287 – Snohomish Polytech College is authorized. Snohomish County is authorized to establish a taxing district for financing a new college (Hobbs)
SB 5443 – Requiring HECB to develop a grant program to encourage training for students studying in the medical field to work with individuals with developmental disabilities (Chase)
SB 5608 – Increasing assistance for student veterans at institutions of higher education (Kilmer)
SB 5719 – Regarding tuition at institutions of higher education for students with disabilities (Shin)
Human Services & Corrections
SB 5099 – Concerning the inspection or copying of nonexempt public records by persons incarcerated (Carrell)
SB 5104 – Authorizing criminal defendants to plead “guilty and mentally ill” (Carrell)
SB 5178 – Addressing access to original birth certificates after adoption finalization (Carrell)
SB 5328 – Requiring verification of eligibility for public assistance (Zarelli)
SB 5330 – Requiring the temporary assistance for needy families grant to be dispensed as an electronic voucher benefit and limited to purposes benefiting children (Zarelli)
SB 5331 – Implementing an audit program for working connections child care providers (Carrell)
SB 5513 – Requiring that child protective service workers be licensed as social workers and bonded (Roach)
SB 5527 – Directing creation of an electronic benefit transfer system for the delivery of subsidized child care (Hargrove)
Judiciary Committee
SB 5014 – Placing restrictions on pro se defendants when questioning witnesses (White)
SB 5048 – Creating the Washington enhanced intelligence act (Kline)
SB 5144 – Requiring registration of animal abusers (McAuliffe)
SB 5240 – Addressing the submission of DNA markers to a database accessible only to qualified laboratory personnel (Fraser)
SB 5270 – Providing a procedure for discretionary inquests conducted by a county for deaths involving a member of a law enforcement agency (Kline)
SB 5456 – Eliminating the death penalty (Murray)
SB 5598 – Regulating the production, distribution, and sale of cannabis (Prentice)
SB 5697 – Addressing the minimum standards for firearms safety devices and gun safes used by certain governmental agencies that purchase, receive, possess, use, or issue firearms and government agents who receive, possess, or use a firearm issued to the agent by the agency (Hargrove)
SB 5799 – Concerning criminal street gangs (King)
Labor Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee
SB 5349 – Eliminating collective bargaining for state employees and certain other groups (Honeyford)
SB 5277 – Requiring annual adjustments to workers’ compensation premium rates (Holmquist-Newbry)
SB 5111 – Privatizing the sale of liquor (Sheldon)
SB 5285 – Concerning the issuance of liquor licenses for businesses located near schools (Ranker)
SB 5257 – Concerning craft wine and wineries (Kline)
Natural Resources & Marine Waters Committee
SB 5001 – Addresses the revocation of this state’s disclaimer of rights to unappropriated public lands (Stevens)
SB 5002 – An act authorizing acquisition of federal property by eminent domain (Stevens)
SB 5453 – An act enhancing the production of Pacific salmon (Fraser)
SB 8002 – Requests that the federal government delist the gray wolf from the federal Endangered Species Act (Morton)
There are some biggies in there.
Eliminate the death penalty and require citizenship for state welfare.
Promote nuclear power and require DSHS workers to be privately bonded.
Registering animal abusers and eliminating collective bargaining for state workers.
Limiting the use of EBT benefits to those ‘benefiting children’.
Recycle efforts for bottles and eminent domain for federal properties.
And increasing public access to FOI documents.
Great ideas and not-so ones dead all the same.
Our state’s penal system leaves much to be desired, as we are all painfully aware. Most of it could be remedied with government grants, etc.
Long story short here…I recently learned, through watching a relative being released from Monroe Correctional Institute, that ex-cons have virtually nowhere to go to start their lives over in our society. Although these people have already paid their debt to society, furthering their education is somewhat iffy, at best. IF they can get funding (with their status), and IF they are able to obtain gainful employment upon graduation, an ex-con MIGHT avoid re-offending and become a contributing member of society. These people are expected to reintegrate back into the “real world”, and are left to figure it out alone. So families or friends are the ones who ultimately are saddled with the responsibility of housing these people if, or when, they are financed by some other source.
Aren’t there any programs out there for an ex-con who only wants another chance to prove himself now that he’s paid his debt to society?? Are we going to punish these individuals over and over again???
The short answer is yes,
we are punishing offenders for a lifetime.
There’s no such thing as paying your debt to society,
once a felon, always a felon.
Why is that?
To allow an ongoing sanction,
justified or not.
Imagine the reduction in recidivism if an offender knew,
at the end of their sentence,
they would be a free person again.
If another offense was charged later,
the record could always be resurrected in court.
But for all intents and purposes,
the ex-con would be just as any other person – free and clear of all guilt and eligible for aid.
Many years ago I was on the board of directors of this group which did help to get people back into society:
http://www.sponsorsinc.org/pg1.cfm
Sister Janice made a difference!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!