>TO: undisclosed-recipients
SENT: Fri 1/11/2013 8:30 PM
SUBJECT: GOAL Post 2013-1
Legislative Update from Olympia 11 January 2013
- · WHAT IS GOAL POST?
- · LEGISLATURE CONVENES MONDAY, 14 JANUARY
- · LEGISLATIVE TUTORIAL
- · LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR
- · ANTI-GUN RALLY IN SEATTLE
- · PRO-GUN RALLY IN OLYMPIA
- · HB 1012 PRE-FILED TO LIMIT SELF DEFENSE
- · NO PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED ON FIREARMS
- · DEMOCRAT CAUCUS DIVIDED ON GUNS
- · LEGISLATOR DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBERS
GOAL Post does NOT normally
cover events in the other Washington, Washington, D.C. Given the Newtown, Connecticut, incident last
month, we are facing a massive attack on the rights of gun owners all across
the country. President Obama has
convened a "select committee" of Vice President Biden and others to
develop an "action plan" to "reduce gun violence." It's all the guns' fault, you know. I will likely publish individual alerts as
the President's plan takes shape and moves.
The 63rd biennial Washington
state legislature convenes Monday, January 14th for its long (105 day)
session. The principal focus of the long
legislative session is supposed to be the biennial budget, but rest assured
several other topics, including firearms, will receive attention. The Democrats retained their slight majority
in the 2012 election, so they continue nominal control of BOTH chambers (House
and Senate), but a funny thing happened during the legislative organizing
meeting in December.
The Senate is currently split 26 Democrats to 23
Republicans, giving Democrats a three seat advantage. In December 2012 they held a meeting to
prepare for the 2013 session. This is
where leadership is elected. Senators
Rodney Tom (D-48-Medina) and Tim Sheldon (D-35-Potlatch) joined Republicans to
give the GOP de facto control of the Senate.
Senator Tom was elected Majority
Leader and Senator Sheldon President-pro-tem.
Republicans were also given chairmanships and control of several
committees, including the major budgetary committees AND Senate Judiciary. Senator Mike Padden (R-4-Spokane Valley) will
chair Senate Judiciary, and (presumably) Adam Kline (D-37-Rainier Valley) will
be ranking member. Full committee
rosters will not be published until the session begins.
However...
Apparently Democrats have been discussing changing the rules
just BEFORE the new legislature is sworn in, thus preventing the majority
coalition from taking over the Senate.
The DEMOCRATIC PARTY apparently doesn't like a democratic vote for
leadership. Maybe they'd like to revisit
the presidential election, too?
For those new to legislative
affairs, here’s how the process works:
When a bill is filed in the House or Senate (or both, simultaneously,
called “companion bills”) it is assigned to a policy committee. Most gun-related bills go to the Senate
Judiciary Committee in the Senate. In
the House it’s a little more complicated, as it may be sent to House Judiciary,
House Public Safety, or House Juvenile Justice.
Public hearings may be held, after which the bill may (or may not) be
voted out of committee. If the bill has
a fiscal impact (usually an expenditure of more than $50,000), it must then go
to Senate Ways & Means or one of a couple of House fiscal committees. The bill then goes to the Senate or House
Rules Committee, where it must be voted on to pass out to the floor for a full
vote.
After a bill passes the
Senate or House, it then goes over to the opposite chamber (House or Senate),
where the whole process starts over again.
If the bill passes the second chamber in the same form it passed the
first, it goes to the governor for signature (or veto or partial veto). If changes are made in the second chamber, it
goes back to the first for concurrence.
It may also go to a conference committee from both chambers to resolve
differences. The final version must pass
both chambers.
The bill then goes to the
Governor, who may sign it into law, veto (kill) the bill, or sign a partial
veto (killing just selected section(s) of the bill). The governor may also allow a bill to become
law without his (or her) signature. Most
signed bills take effect on 1 July, although bills with an “emergency clause”
(considered immediately necessary for public safety) take effect upon signature
by the governor.
One of the first items of
business in each session is the adoption of the session calendar, identifying
dates by which bills must clear various hurdles. A bill that fails to clear the policy
committee or chamber floor by the designated date is generally considered dead
for the year, although they may be “resurrected” by parliamentary
procedure. I’ll post the cut-off dates
for the 2013 session in the next issue of GOAL Post.
Bills from the last session
are dead. New bills must be filed for
consideration by the 63nd Legislature, with new bill numbers.
Washington Ceasefire, with
several church groups, will conduct a march in downtown Seattle at 1:30 on
Sunday, 13 January, to demand a ban on semi-automatic firearms in
Washington. (Semiautomatic rifles and
shotguns are commonly used by hunters and target shooters all across the U.S.,
and semiautomatic handguns are the choice of a majority of Americans for
personal protection and sport.) The
march will start at Westlake Park and proceed to the Seattle Center. IF you decide to visit as a counter to this
event, dress properly and mind your manners.
Both Ceasefire and the Seattle media would love to see an "angry
mob of gun toters" turn out to reinforce THEIR case.
On Saturday, 19 January, a
PRO-GUN "Gun Appreciation Day" rally will be held in Olympia on the
Capitol Campus in the "diagonal" area (open lawn west of Capitol Way
S.) Further details will be published in
a GOAL Alert in a few days.
In early December, legislators
are allowed to "pre-file" bills for the upcoming session. Rep. Sherry Appleton (D-23-Kitsap) filed HB
1012, a bill that would emasculate "stand-your-ground" (AKA no duty
to retreat), requiring an individual to retreat from any threat before resorting
to force in response. Unlike more than
20 states, Washington does not have a stand-your-ground statute -- it's the
result of decades of court decisions, usually referred to as "black letter
law" (i.e. judges effectively made and follow that practice).
Earlier this week Appleton
announced she is pulling her bill after received angry telephone calls and
e-mails -- and even threats -- from gun owners across Washington. That she received communications criticizing
her bill I have no doubt. Threats? Did she report them to police?
There are NO gun-related
bills scheduled for a public hearing the first week of the session. Weekly schedules are published on Wednesday
evening for the following week, although changes may be made, supposedly with proper
advance notification, but it doesn't always happen that way!
We still have a solid bloc of
Democrat pro-gun Senators and Representatives who will vote on our side of the
issue. This bloc will surely be put to
the test in this session. The so-called
"road kill" caucus, joining with Republicans on gun issues, is what
has saved us in Olympia, so far. If you
live in a rural or even suburban district with Democrat Representatives or a
Democrat Senator, it is important that you call their office and express
concern about your gun rights. Ask them
to keep you informed of any gun-related legislation. This lets them know that you are watching
them on this issue.
The Legislature has not yet
published new telephone and office directories because legislators are not
sworn in until Monday, 14 January. The
following links can be used at that time to identify direct contact information:
BILL STATUS:
All bills filed during the
2011-12 biennium are dead. The following
bills have been pre-filed for the 2013-14 biennium:
Bill # Subject Sponsor Status
HB 1012 Limits self-defense Appleton
(D-23) H. Jud
Key to abbreviations: SB = Senate Bill, HB = House Bill, Jud =
Judiciary, Fish/Ecol = Fisheries, Ecology & Parks, JuvJust = Juvenile
Justice, Educ = Education, LocGov = Local Government, NatRes = Natural
Resources, Ecology & Parks, PubSaf = Public Safety & Emergency
Preparedness, W&M = Ways and Means
GOAL POSITION ON BILLS
HB 1012 OPPOSE
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.
If you believe you have received
this e-mail in error, please e-mail me at "jwaldron@halcyon.com"
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Upcoming WAC gun show(s):
Monroe 12-13 January
Puyallup 19-20 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 2013 Gun Owners
Action League of WA
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