Progression of Bad Bills – Action needed now – Session Ends in a Few Weeks!

Mar 16, 2021 | 2021 Olympia Bills to Watch, Olympia News & Views 2021

by Ruth Peterson

Last Tuesday evening was an important cut-off date. All bills must be voted off the floor of the chamber they were introduced in or they are dead. This is called the “house of origin.” All Senate bills have to have been passed by the Senate and sent to the House and vice versa. But wait, that isn’t the full story. I never tell people a bill is dead for two reasons. First, if the bill is “Needed To Implement the Budget” (NTIB), it isn’t dead till the last gavel goes down. Example – say there is a bill that provides increased benefits for government employees. Even if it doesn’t pass by the cutoff date, it’s not dead, because if the final budget has the funding for those benefits, the bill must be passed. Or if you have a bill that increases a fee for some license. If the budget includes the money from that fee, the bill can still pass.

The other way a bill stays alive is if it is moved directly to the floor by a special motion. This doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s usually in the dark of night during the last days of the legislative session. It requires breaking pretty much all the rules, but if the majority wants it badly enough, and they have the votes to pass it, they can do it. So my mantra is this – If a bill doesn’t pass off the floor of the house of origin by cut-off, it is not likely to pass this year unless it’s NTIB. How’s that for definite? Lots of wiggle room, so please do not let up on your diligence!

Now for the chart of bad bills. I am listing the number with a link that will take you to the bill history on the legislative site (click on “Bill Report” to get the layman’s explanation of the bill), so you can read more about it, a short explanation about the bill, and finally, the action you need to take to make your voice heard. If you click on the link beside the bill, the top button on the page allows you to offer your comment on the bill. Please take a few minutes to do so. It does matter! Also, if you want to testify, check out the hearing date and time on that same page.

Increased Taxes being heard in the House – Contact your Representatives:

ESSB 5096
 
 		 Capital Gains Income Tax
 
 		 Hearing on March 15th (tomorrow) at 10:00 am in the House Finance Committee

 
2nd Amendment bills in the House – Contact your Representatives:
 

ESSB 5038 Banning Open-Carrying on the Capitol Campus Hearing on Mar. 19th in the House Civil Rights & Judiciary committee

 
 
Law & Justice bills that are being heard in the House (all of these either make it harder for Law Enforcement to do their jobs or let prisoners go free early, lessening the consequences of criminal acts – Contact your Representatives:
 

E2SSB 5051 Changes oversight an accountability of peace officers and corrections officers – oversight by civilians with no training or experience as police officers. Takes away confidentiality of complaints (whether the complaints are based on fact or not). Hearing on Mar 18th in House Public Safety Committee
SSB 5035 Concerning offender scoring of drug offenses – currently, a criminal’s drug-related felony past will influence a current penalty (repeat offender). This changes it, so all convictions 5 years and prior will be ignored. Not scheduled yet, but it’s in the House Public Safety Committee
E2SSB 5036 Concerning conditional commutation by the clemency and pardons board – expansion of the program to release prisoners from prison early. Hearing on Mar 16th in the House Public Safety Committee
SSB 5066 Concerning a peace officer’s duty to intervene. Requires police officers to tell on fellow officers and to intervene when “excessive force” is used. (poor definition of the terms – which means if you get it wrong, and you don’t intervene, you get into trouble) Hearing on Mar 18th in the House Public Safety Committee
ESB 5164 Resentencing of individuals sentenced as a persistent offender due to a robbery in the second degree conviction – gutting the 3-strikes-you’re-out law Hearing on Mar 19th in the House Public Safety Committee
ESSB 5118 Supporting successful reentry – letting more people out of prison early. Hearing on Mar 19th in the House Public Safety Committee

 
Social Engineering bills that are now in the House. All of these involve teaching critical race theory or create an unfair advantage based on skin color or race. – Contact your Representatives:
 

ESSB 5044 Concerning professional learning, equity, cultural competency, and dismantling institutional racism in the public school system Hearing on Mar 18th in the House Education Committee
E2SSB 5141 Implementing the recommendations of the environmental justice task force Hearing on Mar 19th in the House Environment and Energy committee
SB 5227 Requiring diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism training and assessments at institutions of higher education Hearing on Mar 18th in the House College & Workforce committee

 
Life issues being heard in the House. These either force hospitals and doctors to perform abortions or allow children to be taken for abortion without even letting parents know. – Contact your Representatives:
 

SSB 5140 Protecting pregnancy and miscarriage-related patient care Hearing on Mar 17th in the House Healthcare and Wellness committee
SSB 5185 Concerning capacity to provide informed consent for health care decisions Hearing on Mar. 19th in the House Civil Rights & Judiciary committee

 
Expansion of existing programs. Many programs are good – they help those in need. But the goal of the Democrats is free college, free day care, free school from the age of 3, free healthcare, and increased benefits for all businesses – even those that are very small and cannot afford those benefits. These are all expansions of these programs well past those who are in need and they all come with a huge price tag – one that will only increase. Contact your Representatives
 

E2SSB 5237 Expanding accessible, affordable child care and early childhood development programs Hearing on Mar 18th in House Children, Youth & Families Committee
ESSB 5321 Expanding access to the college bound scholarship Hearing on Mar 17th in House College & Workforce Devlp. Committee
ESB 5097 Expanding coverage of the paid family and medical leave program Hearing on Mar 19th in House Labor & Workplace Committee

 
 
This last one is just a flat-out bad idea. It’s a State Bank. There are a lot of damaging consequences for this. Call your Representatives
 

E2SSB 5188 Concerning the creation of the Washington state public bank Hearing on Mar 17th in the House Consumer protection & Business committee

 
Here is a Senate Bill that is still in the Senate – It will be heard today. Cap and Trade (we call it Cap and Tax) will increase every price of every item, because it increases the price of all energy from your fuel to your heating bill (and that’s on top of the gas tax and low carbon fuel standards!) – Call your Senators on this one!
 

SB 5126 Cap and Trade – will increase all energy costs everywhere which will increase prices in all areas Hearing on Mar 15th (Today!) in Senate Ways and Means

 
Here are the House bills that will be heard in the Senate – Please contact your senator on these
 
Environmental bills that will increase the price of everything – and of course, they will have to tax you to pay for the increases to government, as a result. It’s a double whammy!
 

E2SHB 1099 More over-the-top regulatory restrictions on development for the sake of the environment. Will make housing prices sky-rocket even more. Hearing on Mar 16 in Senate Housing & Local Government
E3SHB 1091 Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuel – Low Carbon Fuel Standards – Cost of gas will go up as much as 50 cents per gallon Hearing on Mar 16 in Senate Env, Energy & Tech
HB 1280 Greenhouse gas emissions reduction in design of public facilities – read this as every public building will cost triple what it would normally cost to build Hearing on Mar. 18th in Senate Env, Energy, & Tech
HB 1287 Preparing for zero emissions transportation future – Think about this. Everyone will have to go electric. Think of the cost of the infrastructure and the vehicles. Your kids will have to have a mortgage to get a car! Hearing on Mar. 18th in Senate Env, Energy, & Tech

 
This is the Law & Justice bill that most people have heard of – it even outlawed the use of K-9 when apprehending a criminal in a dangerous situation.
 

E2SHB 1310 Permissible uses of force by LEOs – this removes many of the non-lethal methods of dealing with dangerous situations. Ties the hands of law enforcement and puts them in danger Hearing on Mar 18th in Senate Law & Justice

 
Here is another bill that affects your kids – Contact your senators!
 

SHB 1225 Concerning school-based health centers – putting health centers in schools means removing parents from health decisions Hearing on Mar 15th in the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee

 

Don’t delay.  Call TODAY and let your representatives know what your wishes are about these bills. 

CALL THE HOTLINE AT 800-562-6000.  Just make a list of the bills you want passed or not passed, then let them know.  They will guide you through the rest.  It’s easy.

or click here to learn more about contacting your representatives.