Saturday, February 19, 2011

GOAL Post 2011-7

From:    Joe Waldron [jwaldron@halcyon.com]
Sent:    Friday, February 18, 2011 7:33 PM
Subject:    GOAL Post 2011-7

GOAL Post 2011-7

Legislative Update from Olympia 18 February 2011

POLICY COMMITTEE CUT-OFF 23 FEBRUARY

NO JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARINGS SCHEDULED

HB 1923 PASSES JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ON 12-1 VOTE

SB 5634 PASSES SENATE COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY

NEW PRO-GUN BILL FILED: HB 1990, WA FFA

The first major legislative hurdle will be reached on Wednesday, 23 February.
Bills that have not passed out of their original policy committee by the end of that day are generally considered dead for the session. (Bills can be "pulled" from a committee, but that's not a common practice -- unless it's something leadership wants.) Of the 18 gun/arms-related bills tracked below, only five remain in play.

Normally there would be a couple of House and/or Senate Judiciary Committee hearings remaining before the 23 February cut-off. A last opportunity to push bills through the system. But next week's schedule, published Wednesday evening, shows NO judiciary committee hearings. Unless the rules are waived, we're only looking at four gun bills continuing in the process for the remainder of the session, HBs 1016,1455 and 1923, and SBs 5112 and 5634.

HB 1923 passed out of the House Judiciary Committee on 17 February on a12-1 vote, following a short amendment. It now goes to House Rules awaiting a vote by the full House (floor vote). As amended, the bill will supposedly meet the BATFE standard for a NICS waiver, meaning anyone with a CPL issued after the effective date of the law (IF itpasses) will not require a NICS check before taking delivery of a firearm.

The Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee passed SB 5634 in an amended form the evening of 17 February. All seven committee members voted for the amended bill. SB 5634 is the Senate counterpart (duplicate) of HB 1628 and would drop the requirement for a DSHS mental health check for CPL issue in favor of a NICS check. Per federal and state law, NICS is supposed to maintain records of disqualifying mental health data from the states.

Rep. Matt Shea (R-4) has once again introduced the Washington Firearms Freedom Act (FFA) in HB 1990. (Rep. Shea filed a similar bill, HB 2079, in the 2009-2010 session of the legislature.) The WA FFA would declare federal regulation of firearms and related materials manufactured solely within and for sale within the state of Washington to be null and void. (Authority for the BATFE to regulate firearm sales nationwide is supposedly covered by the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. If a commodity does not cross state lines, what authority does any federal agency have to regulate that commodity?)

28 States have introduced FFAs in their respective legislatures. It has passed in seven of the 28. Montana was the first state to pass the FFA. The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation is funding a federal lawsuit, with both SAF and the Montana Sport Shooting Association as plaintiffs, seeking to uphold state FFAs and declare BATFE regulation of firearms under the Commerce Clause unconstitutional. The suit was filed in 2009, and dismissed by a federal judge in Helena, MT, in September of 2010. The case is currently being appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Given the make-up of the Washington legislature and the control of both Judiciary Committees by Seattle Democrats, it is unlikely that the bill will go anywhere. I wonder what the Seattle caucus's attitude would be if a bill was filed declaring the Commerce Clause and other federal regulation null and void in the case of marijuana grown, sold and consumed solely within the state of Washington?

BILL STATUS:

The following bills have been filed so far for the 2011-12 biennium:

Bill # Subject Sponsor Status
HB 1006 Knife blade length Appleton (D-23) H. Jud
HB 1016 Suppressor use Blake (D-19) S. Jud.
HB 1066 Black powder storage and transport Bailey (R-10) H. Jud.
HB 1238 CPL age requirement lowered Orcutt (R-18) H. Jud.
HB 1400 Firearms on snowmobiles Ross (R-14) H. Jud.
HB 1455 Restoration of rights McCune (R-2) H. Rules
HB 1508 Range protection Takko (D-19) H. Jud.
HB 1628 CPL background checks Kirby (D-29) H. Jud.
HB 1638 Harmonize state/federal law for CPLs Goodman (D-45) H. Jud.
HB 1729 State agency gun security devices Hurst (D-31) H. Jud.
SHB 1923 CPL qualification Goodman (D-45) H. Rules
HB 1990 WA Firearms Freedom Act Shea (R-4) H. Jud.

SB 5112 Suppressor use Hatfield (D-19) S. Rules
SB 5313 Juvenile weapon possession Kline (D-37) S. Jud.
SB 5418 No duty to retreat Becker (R-2) S. Jud.
SB 5592 College weapon prohibition Shin (D-21) S. Jud.
SSB 5634 CPL background checks Hargrove (D-24) S. HumSer.
SB 5697 State agency gun security devices Hargrove (D-24) S. Jud.

Key to abbreviations: S. = Senate, H. = House, HumSer = Human Services and Corrections, Jud = Judiciary, PubSaf = Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness, W&M = Ways and Means

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS

HB 1006 OPPOSE
HB 1016 SUPPORT
HB 1066 SUPPORT
HB 1238 SUPPORT
HB 1400 SUPPORT
HB 1455 SUPPORT
HB 1508 SUPPORT
HB 1628 SUPPORT
HB 1638 SUPPORT
HB 1729 NEUTRAL
HB 1923 SUPPORT
HB 1990 SUPPORT

SB 5112 SUPPORT
SB 5313 NEUTRAL
SB 5418 SUPPORT
SB 5592 OPPOSE
SB 5634 SUPPORT
SB 5697 NEUTRAL

HEARING(S) 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" or by telephone at (425) 985-4867. 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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Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Puyallup 26-27 February
Monroe 12-13 March

"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 2011 Gun Owners Action League of WA

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