GOAL Post 2010-15

GOAL Post

2010-15



Legislative Update from Olympia 14 April 2010



TAXES RAISED; SPECIAL SESSION ADJOURNS



EYMAN FILES TAX REPEAL INITIATIVES



NO ACTION ON GUN BILLS, PRO OR CON



CITY OF SEATTLE APPEAL ON GUN BAN



GUN-RELATED INITIATIVES FILED



The legislature adjourned Monday evening, a day before it's 30-day

special session limit after passing several tax increase bills. One way

or another, every citizen of Washington will end up giving more money to

the state.



Tax opponent Tim Eyman has already filed several initiatives overturning

the 2010 tax increases. This should be to the advantage of gun owners

as it will draw more conservatives to the polls in November (assuming

the initiatives make it onto the ballot). It appears nearly 50

Initiatives to the People have been filed with the Secretary of State

this year; many deal with the tax increases, many do not. Most will

never see the ballot. The complete list of initiative to the people

filed thus far is available at

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/people.aspx?y=2010



Firearms were apparently among the furthest things from the legislators'

minds during the recently adjourned special session.



It appears the City of Seattle's appeal of Judge Shaffer's decision

overturning the Seattle gun ban will drag out for a few more months,

with extended time necessary for appropriate paperwork and responses by

either side. This should put it past the time when the U.S. Supreme

Court will issue its ruling on the Chicago handgun ban (/McDonald et al

v City of Chicago/). Will a favorable (for gun owners) ruling in

/McDonald/ cool Seattle's jets? Not likely. Anyone who voted for Mike

McGinn, hoping for a change from Greg Nickels, will surely be

disappointed! It appears arrogance comes with the office.



Two firearms-related initiatives have been filed by two Spokane County

residents. I-1059 (similar to HB 2711) affirms the right of self

defense and prohibits certain record-keeping. I-1062 is an initiative

version of the Firearms Freedom Act (HB 2709) that was introduced and

died during the 2010 session. While both initiatives are commendable

and worthy of support, it is unlikely they will get enough signatures to

qualify for the ballot. Initiative language is available at:

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i1059.pdf and

http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i1062.pdf



*BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:*



Bill # Subject

Sponsor Status



Not applicable



GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:



Not applicable



PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:



None



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 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

"jwaldron@halcyon.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 jwaldron@halcyon.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):



Puyallup 24-25 April



Monroe 1-2 May



"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

GOAL Post 2010-13

GOAL Post 2010-13



Legislative Update from Olympia 2 April 2010







NO CHANGE IN OLYMPIA



HOUSE AND SENATE LEADERSHIP CONTINUE TO DISAGREE



GOVERNOR SIGNS SHB 2226







On day 19 of the Special Session, House and Senate leadership are still agreeing to disagree about how to resolve the budget shortfall. Most of the legislators are at home, while the fiscal committee members meet to discuss the relative merits of THEIR solutions. Any way you spell it, the end result is tax increases. (You'd better get used to THAT one.)



Under proposals being pushed by the Democrat-led Senate, everyone in the state would pay an increased sales tax to generate $800 million in additional revenue. The Democrat-led House "solution" is to focus the same amount in tax increases on specialized items such as Business & Occupation taxes, higher cigarette and other "sin" taxes (to include a tax on bottled water), and increased taxes on some food items. Meanwhile, Republican proposals to close the shortfall by cutting spending were dismissed without consideration. (Just as Republican proposals in Congress for health care reform were ignored by Democrat leadership.)



(If this looks like I'm Democrat-bashing, that's just the way I see it. And for the record, I was raised in an FDR-Democrat, union household whose family voted only Democrat... until 1968 when the party abandoned the little guy in favor of left-wing special interests.)





Again, the one bright spot in the Special Session is that revenue-raising has occupied ALL of their attention. Gun control is NOT on the table.





SHB 2226, the bill that would standardize procedures whereby retired peace officers could qualify to carry concealed firearms all across the U.S. under the provisions of HR 218, the Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act of 2004, was signed by Governor Gregoire in a ceremony on 31 March. Several of the bills she signed that day toughened rules on parole and parolees.







BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:



Bill # Subject Sponsor Status



SHB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) Gov. signed





Key to abbreviations: SHB = Substitute House Bill





GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:



Not applicable





PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:



None





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 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 "jwaldron@halcyon.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 jwaldron@halcyon.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 10-11 April

Puyallup 24-25 April







"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