Open carry gun ban bill passes state House on party-line vote after lengthy Sunday debate. Senate unanimously passes $11.8 billion transportation budget.
State lawmakers continue to focus on major tax and spending proposals, as this year’s 105-day legislative session heads into its final month.
The Senate on Monday unanimously approved SB 5165, a $11.8 billion transportation spending plan for the 2021-23 biennium. House Democrats will reveal their transportation budget proposal this week when they provide content to HB 1564, a blank, “title-only” bill that was introduced by Rep. Jake Fey (D-Tacoma) on Sunday. It is scheduled for a public hearing by the House Transportation Committee at 9:00 a.m. this Thursday.
The Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens), described the Senate proposal as a “bare bones” $11.8 billion budget that would continue critical project work while considering the decline in expected gas tax revenues during the state’s economic lockdown imposed by Governor Inslee.
Late last week, House Democrats announced their proposed 2021-23 operating budget (HB 1094) a $58.3 million spending plan that is nearly $1.0 billion lower than the $59.2 plan also made public by Senate Democrats last week. Both plans far exceed the governor’s proposal for a $53.7 biennial operating budget, and a House Republican proposal that would fully fund state services without any tax increases.
The Senate budget proposal (SB 5092) is tentatively scheduled for a floor vote by the full Senate on Thursday, while the House version is headed for a floor vote on Saturday.
After a five-hour debate, the House passed SB 5038, a controversial bill to limit civil rights by banning the open carry of weapons on state capitol grounds and within 250 feet of public demonstrations. The bill passed by a straight party-line 57-40 vote in the House, after passing the Senate by a similarly partisan 28-20 vote a month ago.
More than a dozen amendments proposed by Republicans were voted down, but the House did adopt four amendments, including an amendment by Rep. Jenny Graham (R-Spokane) to exempt people with a valid concealed pistol permits from the bill’s restrictions. An amendment by Rep. Drew Hansen (D-Kitsap) to add an emergency clause to the bill was also adopted.
Critics of the bill say it violates the constitutional rights of citizens under the Second Amendment, and that the emergency clause is designed to prevent a referendum vote by the people on this new restrictive measure.
In a press conference on Monday, House Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma) said that the Washington State Patrol (WSP) asked for the emergency clause to be added to the bill due to “the violence that has been seen on or around the Capitol campus over the course of the last year.”
However, according to a report by Washington State Wire quoting a WSP spokesperson, “The WSP did not ask the legislature to add an emergency clause to SB 5038. The WSP received several inquiries regarding the amendment after March 28 floor action when a statement was made that WSP had requested it. WSP spoke with legislative personnel involved and re-iterated that the WSP did not make, and was not planning to make, any such request.”
Sen. Patty Kuderer (D-Bellevue), the prime sponsor of the original bill, who had claimed that the WSP asked for an emergency clause, said it was a misunderstanding, “In the remote session, we haven’t had the ability to talk to people face-to-face, and unfortunately this was a misunderstanding, and that’s what happened,” she said.
Because the House adopted amendments to the bill, the bill must now go back to the Senate for approval or rejection of the amendments.
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