imported post
A littlemore info on a few others....
Legislative Update from Olympia 15 February 2008
MORE FORMAT CHANGES
CHAMBER CUT-OFF
BILLS REMAINING UNDER CONSIDERATION
NEW BILLS (HINT: NONE)
PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED (NONE AT THIS TIME)
FORMAT CHANGE
Another quick format change: In the �Bill Status� segment, we�ve
separated bills that are still running from those that have died. That
lets the reader quickly focus on the bills needing attention, while the
rest is there for historical purposes. After the chamber cut-off this
week, we�ll drop reporting on the �dead� bills.
Keep in mind, the Washington legislature works on a biennium basis �
each legislative period is two years long, broken down into two annual
sessions. We are in the second session (year) of the 60^th Legislature.
All bills filed in the first session (2007 in this case) remained
available for consideration in the second session (2008). At the end of
this year, ALL bills not passed die. When the 61^st Legislature convenes
in January 2009, all bills must be filed/refilled, and all will receive
a new bill number.
CHAMBER CUT-OFF
Chamber cut-off is Tuesday, 19 February. At that point, all bills must
pass their original chamber or be considered dead for the session. Next
Wednesday we�ll see the cycle start over again, with more committee
hearings on bills, House Bills in the Senate, Senate Bills in the House.
They have 10 days to conduct public hearings on bills from the other
chamber. The next cut-off date after next Tuesday�s chamber cut-off is
Friday, 29 February.
Both the House and Senate are tentatively scheduled to work over the
weekend.
BILLS REMAINING UNDER CONSIDERATION
SBs 5456, 5465 and 6322 passed out of the Senate, the first two on a
49-0 vote and SB 6322 on a 45-3-1 vote. They now go to House Judiciary.
HB 3095 passed out of House Appropriations to House Rules. SB 6763
awaits action in Senate Rules, and HBs 3131 and 3148 (along with 3095)
sit in House Rules awaiting a floor vote. SB 5456 and HB 3148, while
nominally addressing different aspects of alien (non-U.S. citizen)
firearm possession in Washington, have similar end results. SB 5456 is
the better version.
NEW BILLS
No new gun-related bills were introduced this week, however�
We reported the filing of HB 3359, the ammunition encoding
(serialization) bill last week. We also noted that the bill was filed
just before the policy committee cut-off, and thus too late for
legislative action this year (unless Democrat leadership decided to
break their own internal rules and push the bill). The NRA subsequently
issued an alert, asking members to contact their legislators (Senator
and two Representatives) and ask them to oppose this, or similar, bills.
While HB 3359 SHOULD be dead for the year, it never hurts to give our
elected �leaders� a little positive reinforcement. We�re repeating the
NRA Alert below:
Ammo Serialization (Registration) Bill Proposed in Washington State!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
/Please Contact Your State Legislators Today!/* *
Legislation has been proposed in Olympia that poses a very serious
threat to our Right to Keep and Bear Arms and it has to be stopped
immediately.
House Bill 3359
<
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/3359.pdf>,
sponsored by State Representatives Al O�Brien (D-1), Brendan Williams
(D-22), Dennis Flannigan (D-27), and Jamie Pedersen (D-43), would
require that all handgun ammunition manufactured or sold in Washington
to be coded with an individual serial number, and entered into a
statewide database at the time of sale. Encoded ammunition would be
registered to the purchaser and would include the date of transaction,
the purchaser�s name, date of birth, driver�s license number, and the
serial number of the ammunition.
This dangerous bill needs to be stopped now. HB3359 only serves to
harass law-abiding gun owners, as criminals are not likely to purchase
ammunition through legal channels. Please contact your State Senator and
your State Representative today and respectfully urge them to oppose
HB3359. Contact information for your State Legislators can be found by
visiting
http://appsleg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/statewide.aspx.
(Remember: It NEVER hurts to remain in close contact with your
legislators. If they recognize your name as soon as you call or write,
more the better. Even if they disagree with you, they�ll pay closer
attention because they know you�re interested. That�s what grassroots
lobbying is all about.)
PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED
At this time, no gun bills are scheduled for public hearing in either
chamber. As bills pass out of each chamber, expect committee schedules
to be amended to add bills. SSB 5456 is a good example: it should be
scheduled for a public hearing in House Judiciary sometime in the next
ten days.
*BILLS REMAINING / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:*
The following bills have been filed for the 2007-08 biennium:
Bill # Subject Sponsor Status
HB 3095 Involuntary commitment Lantz (D-26) H. Rules.
OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED
HB 3131 Weapons on school grounds Lantz (D-26) H. Rules
OPPOSE
HB 3148 Alien firearm licenses Moeller (D-49) H. Rules
SUPPORT
SB 5456 Alien firearm licenses Morton (R-7) H. Jud.
SUPPORT
SB 5465 Restoration of gun rights Schoesler (R-9) H. Jud.
SUPPORT
SB 6322 Weapon definition-courthouses Kohl-Welles (D-36) S. Rules
OPPOSE
SB 6763 NICS reporting Tom (D-48) S. Rules
NEUTRAL
Bills that failed to pass required cut-off:
HB 1011 Alien firearm licenses Moeller (D-49) DEAD
HB 1014 Mandatory safe storage Moeller (D-49) DEAD
HB 1026 Gun show loophole Williams (D-22) DEAD
HB 1126 CPL extension Morrell (D-25) DEAD
HB 1633 Prohibit confis. during emerg. Roach (R-31) DEAD
HB 1764 Prohibit stun guns for students Lantz (D-26) DEAD
HB 2036 Shooting range protection Van De Wege (D-24) DEAD
HB 2168 Gun safety education program Chase (D-32) DEAD
HB 2177 Weapon definition Moeller (D-49) DEAD
HB 2268 Weapons at schools Lantz (D-26) DEAD
HB 2706 Notification � hunting land Blake (D-19) DEAD
HB 2956 Possession while hunting Haler (R-8) DEAD
HB 3225 Possession on DFW reg. lands Orcutt (R-18) DEAD
HB 3229 Weapons in courthouses Warnick (R-13) DEAD
HB 3359 Handgun ammunition encoding O�Brien (D-1) DEAD
SB 5197 Gun show loophole Tom (D-48) DEAD
SB 5516 Prohibit confis. during emerg. Stevens (R-39) DEAD
SB 5791 School gun safety program Sheldon (D-35) DEAD
SB 6304 Firearm possession on campus Kohl-Welles (D-36) DEAD
SB 6526 Involuntary commitment Kline (D-37) DEAD
SB 6686 CPLs for military members Roach (R-31) DEAD
SB 6841 Bans firearms on coll. campuses Murray (D-43) DEAD
SB 6859 Possession on DFW-reg. lands Morton (R-7) DEAD
SB 6860 Firearm possession on campus Roach (R-31) DEAD
SB 6861 Expands CPL reciprocity Roach (R-31) DEAD
SB 6864 CPL military reciprocity Roach (R-31) DEAD
Key to abbreviations: S. = Senate, H. = House, Jud = Judiciary, Ag/NR =
Agriculture & Natural Resources, Approp. = Appropriations, Educ =
Education, HiEd = Higher Education, K-12 = Education, Lab/Comm = Labor,
Commerce, Research & Development, (X) = X-files (supposedly dead for
this session)
What�s the difference between �support if amended� and �oppose unless
amended?� On �support if amended,� we would prefer to see the bill
improved, but will support it if necessary in its current form. �Oppose
unless amended� means that unless the bill is amended to be acceptable
to us, we oppose the bill in its current form.
PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:
NONE AT THIS TIME
LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE: You may reach your Representatives and Senator by
calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Toll free!!! The
hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993. Also toll free!!!
1-800-562-6000 TDD 1-800-635-9993
OTHER DATA: Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules
and other information are available on the legislature's web site at
"
www.leg.wa.gov". Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf) format. You may
download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's web site
(
http://www.adobe.com). You may also obtain hard copy bills,
initiatives, etc, in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF
CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573. Copies of bills may also be ordered
toll free by calling the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000. You may
also hear floor and committee hearing action live at
http://www.tvw.org/
(you need "RealAudio" to do this, available free at the TVW web site).
By reading the House and Senate "bill reports" (hbr, sbr) for each bill,
you can see how individual committee members voted. By reading the "roll
call" for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate voted on
any bill. The beauty of the web site is that ALL this information is
available, on line, to any citizen.
GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail,
send a message to "
jwaldron@halcyon.com". Please pass GOAL Post on to
anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights. Better
yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun club�s
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IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST PROVIDED IT IS
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Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to individuals.
Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be available at the Second Amendment
Foundation book table at WAC gun shows.
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