A bill that would abolish the death penalty in Washington state is set to receive a public hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon.

Washington is one of 35 states that has capital punishment. The state’s current death penalty law was enacted in 1981; most recently, Cal Coburn Brown was executed by lethal injection in September 2010 for the rape and murder of a Seattle-area woman in 1991.

Rachel La Corte of the AP has a more detailed story about the issue. We’ll be following today’s hearing for the blog and tonight’s edition of Legislative Review.

Tags: death penalty

Today, two lawmakers from different ends of the political spectrum made statements announcing that they will vote in favor of same-sex marriage in Washington.

Sen. Jim Kastama held a press conference today in which he said he will vote in support of same-sex marriage, and that he believes this legislation should pass without a ballot amendment. He said with the struggles of the economy and government, marriage can provide a “true safety net.”

“In 2012, I believe we have reached the point where society is ready to recognize and support same-sex couples who seek the bonds, benefits and security of marriage. They too, deserve this ‘safety net.’”

Kastama said this was a hard decision to make, saying that “Unlike some of my colleagues in liberal districts, I will not return home to cheers and handshakes.”

He said if the legislature is able to address this difficult issue, there will be no excuse for tackling other challenges.

Rep. Glenn Anderson also issued a statement announcing his support for gay marriage. In a lengthy statement, Anderson says that he thinks same-sex marriage meets the federal constitution test for equal protection and that he will vote in favor of the same-sex marriage bill in the House.

He uses three criteria to evaluate same-sex marriage:

1. The historical purpose of civil marriage
2. The historical religious doctrines on traditional marriage
3. The federal judicial record for determining equal protection under the law in the 14th Amendment the U.S. Constitution

Anderson said the distinction between civil and religious marriage has been long settled, and that “civil same-sex marriage does not undermine the right of individuals to freely choose association with religious organizations that seek to encourage traditional marriage values with which they agree. Neither does it obstruct the ability to practice the values of religious marriage, either individually or with like-minded persons.”

He also said that there is sufficient physiological research and historical records to show that homosexuality is a normal expression of biology.

Anderson cited the Code of Hammurabi, Council of Trent, and the Emperors Theodosius and Justinian to back up his claims about civil and religious marriage.

Tags: Anderson, Kastama

Despite the heavy snow blanketing Olympia, several people made the trek this morning to testify at a public hearing about medical marijuana in the Senate. Up for discussion was a bill that seeks to give cities and counties more control over how they can regulate medical marijuana. The bill would also create a voluntary registry for patients and providers.

Bill sponsor Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles said the state’s current rules are “a bit of a mess for the cities, towns and counties because there’s a lot of ambiguity.” The bill aims to fix that by allowing non-profit medical marijuana co-ops to operate in counties with populations greater than 200,000 people — such as King or Pierce County –  unless the counties chose to ban them.

For more rural counties with populations below that threshold, co-ops would be banned unless the county specifically chooses to opt-in and allow them. Local governments would have control over creating their own requirements and regulations for the medical marijuana co-ops within their communities.

Several people said at the hearing that the bill was a good step, but imperfect. Candace Bock of the Association of Washington Cities said that while “there are good things about the bill,” some cities were concerned that if they would not be able to ban a medical marijuana garden if they are part of a county that does allow it.

But the issue that drew the most debate was about the voluntary registry. One medical marijuana patient and advocate said he was afraid that a voluntary registry would become a “de facto arrest list” for the federal government to go after medical marijuana users, since it is still illegal under federal law.

You can watch the full video of the hearing here.

Tags: medical marijuana

Toys and products like car seats that made with toxic chemicals can cause children to develop serious health problems — including cancer, diabetes and brain damage — according to medical professionals who spoke in support of the Toxics-Free Kid’s Act (SB 6120) at a hearing in the Senate Environment Committee today.

“We’re far from the reality of a safe environment for children,” said Karen Bowman of the Washington State Nursing Association, who urged the committee to pass the bill requiring manufacturers to replace certain chemicals with safer alternatives. The chemicals in question include TRIS (a flame retardant found in things like car seats and baby carriers), formaldehyde and antimony.

Several industry representatives who spoke at the hearing said that their products are safe, and are already heavily regulated by the federal government. Furthermore, they called the bill “premature,” saying that a law passed by the Legislature four years ago called The Children’s Safe Products Act hasn’t even been fully implemented yet.

“We’d like to see the original law come to fruition before expanding it,” said Melissa Gombosky of the Personal Care Products Council. She said that allowable levels of formaldehyde are already safe, and in fact, are lower than those allowed by the European Union.

The House has a hearing at 1:30 p.m. today on the same issue, which will be broadcast live on TVW.

Tags: chemicals, children, toxic, toys

Tomorrow, a bill that would provide for religious objection to an autopsy is scheduled for a hearing. I’ll be covering this hearing for TVW tomorrow. Today, I spoke with the bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Adam Kline about this bill and a bill related to fraud punishment that he is behind.

Q: What prompted you to take up the issue of religious objection to autopsy? 

Kline: Well, the issue was brought to us actually. A tourist a few months ago, in the fall was climbing Mount Rainier. The gentleman … died on Mount Ranier. Could have been any number of causes, people die on Mount Rainier with amazing frequency. … An orthodox rabbi suggested to the King County [medical examiner] that respect should be given to the fact that the orthodox follow the Jewish tradition of burying the dead with dignity and quickly … that’s tradition, and it does have a basis in the Torah. I understand that there are various religious traditions have this, it’s not just Jews; there are others… I believe Muslims believe the same way. I respect that, but at the same time we have to balance that with the authority, not just of the medical examiner, but of the prosecutor. … Whenever there is any death at all, law enforcement understands that most deaths are not foul-play, but we have to look. There has to be some examination … you have to look. In the vast majority of cases, there is no foul-play, but you can’t bury the body until you make that inquiry. 

Q: Would this bill allow any family with a religious objection to forgo autopsy in any circumstance? Or would some suspicious deaths merit an autopsy no matter what? 

Kline: Those are two extremes. For the first one, the answer is obviously no. You don’t just dictate because of your own religious beliefs or even the beliefs of the diseased … it simply asks the prosecutor to balance religious considerations with law enforcement considerations. And by the way, the court is given that jurisdiction if the two parties disagree. There has to be a compelling necessity [to require an autopsy]. That phrase means there has to be some law enforcement interest that has not been resolved

Q: How open do you think lawmakers will be to this bill?

Kline: I don’t know. I’ve got to confess, this is not a bill on which I’ve counted noses.  The reason is, I think there will be a willingness to accept this. It won’t affect this balance of two interests, both of which are important to all legislators … [who] understand the need to accept and balance needs from religious organizations and religious bodies with those of law enforcement.

Q: Any other bills you’re sponsoring to keep an eye on?

Kline: 5310. Fraud, waste, and abuse. Everyone’s against it. What this bill does is it allows the Attorney General to be better equipped in recouping losses the state has incurred by fraud, by cheaters. People who have cheated the state. The AG has been ill-equipped to chase them and collect their money. This bill increases the AG’s ability to do that. Let me give you an example … many states and the federal government have laws that if you report fraud that has already been perpetrated against the public, if you give all the facts that allow the US attorney or in some states the Attorney General the information from which to sue the fraudulent party … a bounty hunter reports that information, the Attorney General sues, and the bounty hunter is given a very small portion of the proceeds. It encourages people to come forward. Anyone can be a bounty hunter …  and that includes the perpetrator of the fraud … even the guy who was a participant in the fraud, he’d get a reduced amount, but he’d at least get an amount that would make it worthwhile to come forward. 

Tags: Attorney General, autopsy, fraud, jewish, religion

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the Senate is announcing a package of bills to combat human trafficking. Sen Jeanne Kohl-Welles said she and others have been working on the issue for a decade. She said at first, many people reacted with disbelief — no one wanted to recognize that trafficking occurred in the U.S. or this state, she said. She said today’s bills “recognize that we’ve come a long way but we still have a long way to go.”

“We have a significant package of anti-trafficking legislation to introduce today,” said Sen. Karen Fraser.  “Some people would say the term trafficking is a polite term for what is going on. The real term is slavery,” she said. Her bill in the package would allow a minor to petition the court to have a prostitution conviction taken off their record if the minor was forced into prostitution.

“We were the first state to do anything about this,” Kohl-Welles said. She said her bill would seek to ensure that teens aren’t being sold into sex slavery via escort service advertising. She said the bill would create a new crime — advertising the sexual abuse of a minor.

Sen. Adam Kline said his bill would subject pimps to civil penalties of up to $250,000 plus attorney’s fees if they were found to have participated in human trafficking. Sen. Karen Keiser said her bill would create oversight for foot masseuses. She said currently, there is no registration or licensing process for foot masseuses or reflexologists — and that’s created a loophole that human traffickers exploit. “This is unfortunately how human trafficking has flourished in this sector,” she said. “All of us who have noticed the store fronts opening up in our communities have wondered about these businesses,” she said. Her bill would allow the Department of Health to inspect those facilities.

Sen. Val Stevens said the human trafficking issue was first brought to her by former Congresswoman Linda Smith. She said pimps often hang out at bus stops, where runaway teens can be found. They then befriend the teens and transition them into a life of sex slavery.  “This is unacceptable and we are going after them,” she said.

Tags: human trafficking

The Senate has introduced the gay marriage bill requested by Gov. Chris Gregoire — it’s not yet online, but will be soon right here. So far, they have 23 sponsors, just two votes short of passing.

The AP reported earlier this week that the Senate was close to having the votes. Since that article was published, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe announced her support, bringing the total to 23.

Tags: Gov. Chris Gregoire, same-sex marriage, Senate

In light of the Penn State scandal in which the school came under fire after former defensive football coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles signed on as the prime sponsor of a Senate bill designed to hold certain higher education employees responsible for reporting suspected child abuse.

The bill would expand the current child abuse law to make administrative, athletic, and academic employees of public or private universities responsible for reporting suspected child abuse to the police or the Department of Social and Health Services.

Under the bill, employees of state universities who do not fit under those categories would be required to report suspected child abuse to a supervisor.

Another bill heard in the Human Services and Corrections committee today also looks to expand the requirements for reporting. But this bill would also expand what needs to be reported to include things like “grooming behavior” and verbal sexual advances.

Prime sponsor of the bill, Sen. Mike Carrell, said that Washington needs to have a more comprehensive child abuse law that requires people such as principals to refer suspected child abuse to police instead of trying to handle some cases — like grooming or verbal advances — on their own.

Assistant Attorney General Sheila Huber and Sen. James Hargrove both expressed concerns that the reporting requirement for supervisors is only to law enforcement, which they said is not appropriate for every case. Hargrove said he wanted to avoid a heavy police presence in schools that may be unnecessary.

Huber also said her office was concerned with some of the definitions in the bill. Carrell said he is happy to work with others to tighten up language.

Tags: child abuse, Higher Education, sandusky

Senate Democrats outlined what they hope to achieve this legislative session in an meeting for reporters Thursday afternoon.  Some items are already in consideration, and Sen. Lisa Brown said they plan to introduce others as bills in the upcoming weeks.

Among their priorities:

• Consolidating K-12 public school employee benefits (something we reported on earlier this week)
• Combining some regulatory permits, such as those related to the State Environmental Policy Act.
• Reevaluate leases on buildings. Government downsizing has created a lot of empty space in buildings with 5 or 10-year leases and “we don’t have an escape clause,” said Sen. Jim Hargrove.
• Create a commission that would look for cost saving measures and reorganization opportunities within state government.

They also handed out a packet with dozens more ideas — we’ll keep you posted on which reform ideas from across the legislature gain traction this session.

Tags: Reform, Senate Democrats

The Senate committee on economic development is looking at the state of the state’s economy today.

When it comes to unemployment, Washington is somewhere in the middle of the pack. The smallest states — North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, New Hampshire and Vermont — have the lowest unemployment, ranging from 3.4 percent to 4.5 percent. Washington’s unemployment, however, is about double that.

“The industries most affected by the recession are associated with housing, financial services, construction,” said Greg Weeks, director of the Employment Security Department. He said the pattern of the “tepid” recovery has been lead by a 15,000 job gain in manufacturing in the last year. Government, however, has been a drag — losing thousands of employees.  “The recession started and was hitting private industries first … and as they start to come out, then the tax ramifications of those cuts hit the public sector,” leading to job reductions in state and local governments.

State job recovery has been below par, Weeks said. “This recession has just hammered our state and we’re recovering slowly,” he said.

After Weeks was finished, Arun Raha, the state’s top economist — who announced that he’s leaving at the end of the month — presented. “What we said in the November forecast is coming true,” he said.

“If I had to make the forecast today … I would not anticipate having to make any significant up or down revisions” from the previous forecast, he said. (more…)

Tags: economy, unemployment