GOAL Post 2010-1

GOAL Post 2010-1

Legislative Update from Olympia 8 January 2010

LEGISLATIVE SESSION TO CONVENE MONDAY, 11 JANUARY

HOW TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS

HOW A BILL BECOMES A LAW

CUT-OFF CALENDAR

HOLDOVERS FROM 2009 -- PREFILED BILLS

FIRST (PRO)GUN BILL SCHEDULED FOR A HEARING

2010 PROGNOSIS

The state legislature convenes Monday, 11 January, for a 60-day "short"
session (a longer, 105-day session is held during odd-numbered years).
Much of the attention this year will be focused on budgetary issues and
fixes or patches for the economy. Rest assured, however, time will be
set aside to take a look at firearms and laws regulating their use!

Once convened, the legislature does not take holidays off (MLK Day in
January, President's Day in February), although they do take most
weekends off to visit the home district and receive input from constituents.

Before each session starts, there is typically a reshuffle of offices as
assignments are changed, replacements are seated, etc. Telephone
numbers remain the same, by district, so if your Senator or one of your
Representatives has changed, the office telephone will be the same.
Your elected legislators and their contact information is available by
inserting your residence zip code at
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx

Combined House and Senate e-mail addresses are available at
https://dlr.leg.wa.gov/MemberEmail/Default.aspx

Several thousand bills are filed in a typical two-year legislative
biennium (in this case, 2009-2010). Bills that were filed but not acted
on last year may still be considered this year. In addition, new bills
are being filed daily. Only a small percentage of bills filed actually
make it to the Governor's desk for her signature or veto.

Getting a bill all the way to the governor is generally a five or six
step process. It must first be heard by the appropriate policy
committee (for firearms, usually the House or Senate Judiciary
Committees). If it passes out of the policy committee, it goes to the
Rules Committee where it awaits a floor vote by the entire chamber
(House or Senate). If it passes out of the original chamber, it then
goes across the capitol building to the other chamber, where it goes
through the committee and floor vote process again. (Bills that have a
fiscal impact must also be passed by the fiscal committee in each chamber.)

If a bill is modified in the second chamber (House bill in the Senate or
Senate bill in the House), it must receive a concurrence vote by the
original chamber or go to a conference committee for reconciliation,
then back for an concurrence vote by both chambers. Once all those
hurdles are passed, it's on its way to the governor. Now you can see
why only a fraction of bills make it all the way through the process.

A graphic depiction of the process is available at
http://www.leg.wa.gov/StudentsPage/Pages/bill2Law_elementary.aspx

One of the first items of business in each legislative session is
adoption of a cut-off calendar. The cut-off calendar establishes the
dates by which a bill must clear steps in the process. In most cases
(not always) if a bill does not pass it's cut-off date, it is considered
dead for the session. Exceptions are made occasionally, so the only
real cut-off date is when the legislature adjourns, this year at
midnight on Thursday, on March 11.

I'll post the cut-off dates in the next GOAL Post.

A few bills of interest from the last session remain and may or may not
be acted on. HB 1604 would allow use of lawfully registered suppressors
(current law allows lawful possession, but prohibits their use). HB
2226 improves the process that allows retired peace officers to carry
firearms nationwide (scheduled for a public hearing Monday, 11 January;
see information below). HB 2264 requires all firearm transfers at gun
shows be conducted (and papered) by a licensed dealer (FFL).

HB 2477, by Rep. Brendan Williams (D-22) would impose strict liability
standards against anyone who sells or transfers a firearm at a gun show
to a person who could not have passed a NICS check. (It's already a
criminal offense to KNOWINGLY transfer a firearm to a prohibited
person. The Williams bill does NOT include "knowingly.")

HB 2499, by Rep. Barbara Bailey (R-10) pre-filed a bill that relaxes the
limit on possession of black powder used in muzzle-loading firearms.
The bill increases the current limit of five pounds to 50 pounds.

Senator Adam Kline (D-37) and Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48) held a press
conference last month where they said they would introduce a bill
banning possession of so-called "assault weapons." Kline said the bill
will be similar to the 1994 Clinton gun ban, which wasn't really a ban
at all. He declined to share a copy of his draft with me. I expect the
bill will go far beyond the Clinton ban, just as his so-called a/w bill
from 2005 did: it bans all future possession, with a limited
grandfathering provision for those already in possession, IF you
register them with the local sheriff, pass a background check and pay a
registration fee -- annually.

2010 is an election year. That will have an impact on what bills pass
and those that die. According to an article in the Seattle Weekly
published shortly after the Kline/Hunter press conference, both Speaker
of the House Frank Chopp and House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler
expressed doubts about such a bill getting through their chamber. With
a large number of rural Democrats taking our side of the gun issue,
passing anti-gun bills is no sure thing, even in a legislature that's
2/3 controlled by Democrats. If your legislators are rural democrats,
be sure to contact them and give them your views on the various bills.
(Actually, you should all give your legislators your position on bills;
whether they choose to follow it or not is something for subsequent
discussion in November!)

*BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:*

Bill # Subject
Sponsor Status

HB 1604 Firearm suppressors Condotta (R-12)
H. Jud.

HB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) H. Jud

HB 2264 Gun show regulation Williams (D-22) H. Jud.

HB 2477 Gun sale liability Williams
(D-22) Unassigned

HB 2499 Black powder storage/transport Bailey (R-10)
Unassigned

Key to abbreviations: HB = House Bill, SB = Senate Bill, H. Jud = House
Judiciary,

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

HB 1604 SUPPORT

HB 2226 SUPPORT

HB 2264 OPPOSE

HB 2477 OPPOSE

HB 2499 SUPPORT

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

Monday, 11 January 1:30 p.m. HB 2226

House Judiciary House Hearing Room "A" Obrien House Office Bldg

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 "mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.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 bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s).
PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST
PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION
AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at
"mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com." 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.

NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first
check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it
directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and
list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive direct distribution of
GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to mailto:jwaldron%40halcyon.com with "Remove
GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address
that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW,
WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will
respond directly to individual subscribers.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Monroe 16-17 January

Monroe 13-14 February

Puyallup 20-21 February

"The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself,
or the state, shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall
be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize,
maintain or employ an armed body of men."

Article 1, Section 24

Constitution of the State of Washington

Copyright 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA

__,_._,___