A lot of legislation has been followed and commented upon over this last legislative session, which just ended – 105 days at the beginning of this year dedicated to watching what was going to happen. 1,776 bills were proposed. Some died in committee, and are waiting to possibly be brought back in next January’s session. Some made their way through, were signed into law; and still, others await signature on the governor’s desk. We have many sources that continue to watch over and report what is happening. Some of these bills cross multiple watch groups and have been and will continue to be reported on.
Below is an overview of just some of them.
From FPIW (Family Policy Institute of Washington) [Note: We added the links to the bills so you can check them out for yourself.]
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
Despite appearances, a significant amount of good did come out of this session! Here are some victories to revel in:
HB 1013 establishes regional apprenticeship programs that mimic “Running Start” for the trades. It provides educational and financial opportunities for students wanting to become electricians, plumbers, masons, HVAC specialists and more. This bill passed both chambers unanimously and was signed into law by the governor on April 20, 2023.
HB 1025 would have allowed police officers to be sued personally while doing their work to protect our communities. It died in committee.
HB 1035 would have prohibited merging hospitals and health-care entities from restricting abortion and gender-mutilation services. This bill died in committee.
HB 1174 would have required each city, county and tribal jail to establish a “Jail Voting Plan” to provide resources to help incarcerated individuals vote. It died in committee.
HB 1209 restricts the possession, purchase, delivery and sale of equipment used to illegally process fentanyl and other controlled substances. The bill unanimously passed both chambers and was signed into law by the governor on April 13, 2023.
HB 1210 requires all school district board meetings to be audio recorded and for those recordings to be kept for at least one year and made available to the public. This bill passed both chambers unanimously and was signed into law by the governor on April 13, 2023.
HB 1220 and its companion bill, SB 5209, would have required anyone legally eligible to register to vote in WA state to submit a ballot. They both died in committee.
HB 1286 and its companion bill, SB 5260, would have increased access to abortion services through protecting and assisting WA employers who provided benefits for abortion services. Both died in committee.
HB 1333 would have established a Domestic Violent Extremism Commission. This despicable bill died in committee.
HB 1564 prohibits the sale of over-the-counter sexual assault kits. Women were assuming they had secured evidence for prosecution of rapists and then learned the kits are not admissible in court. This bill has been delivered to the governor.
HB 1628 would have made Washington real estate excise taxes (REET) the highest in the nation. A majority of states charge a REET of 1% or less, and several states don’t charge a REET. Our state’s REET would have been 4% for real estate sales of $5 million or more. The bill also added a .25% percent excise tax for cities and counties on local sales, regardless of the price of the property. This bill died in committee.
HB 1670 would have allowed cities, counties and other taxing districts to triple their annual increases in property taxes. It died in committee.
HB 1682 increases funding for preventing, investigating and prosecuting auto theft. It passed both chambers unanimously and has been delivered to the governor.
HB 1715 will enact “comprehensive protections” for the victims of domestic violence and other violence involving family or partners. The bill has been delivered to the governor.
HB 1837 would have provided contraception vending machines on all college campuses. It died in committee.
SB 5020 would have forced homeschoolers to lower the compulsory school age from 8 to 6. This was the second consecutive year this bill has died in committee.
SB 5033 increases sexual misconduct by correction officers from a Class C Felony to a Class B Felony and results in more prison time for those who sexually abuse inmates. This passed both chambers unanimously and was signed into law by the governor on March 30th.
SB 5054 proposed decreasing teachers “time of instruction” by four hours per week, despite the well-established proof of learning-loss over the past two years. Currently, 52% of students are failing in math proficiency, 49% are failing in reading proficiency and 46,000+ students have left public education. This bill fortunately died in committee.
SB 5114 administers funding and support healing for adult victims of sex trafficking by providing safety planning, housing, relocation, treatment for substance abuse, transition services and other trauma-related treatment for these survivors. The bill has been delivered to the governor.
SB 5462 completely disregarded the rights of parents to have a say in their child’s education. This bill died in committee, as it should have.
SB 5770 would result in a sizable increase in your property tax. This legislation would remove the 1% cap on property tax increases as approved by voters several years ago and allow annual hikes up to 3% – starting as soon as next year. The bill died in committee.
SJM 8006 encourages the federal government to devise a universal health care system. A free-market system promotes creativity and competition that ultimately leads to better health-care. This bill died in committee.
SJR 8202 and its companion bill, HJR 4201. These bills were Governor Inslee’s attempt to codify abortion in Washington via a constitutional amendment. Both died in committee.
As you well know, a lot of bad came out of this session, as well.
HB 1155 will make it illegal to sell any type of health data. While some aspects of this bill were needed for medical records privacy, our concern is that, currently, this information can be used to contact women in or near a known abortion center – such as Planned Parenthood – and message them regarding abortion alternatives. This will no longer be the case. The bill has been signed into law.
HB 1169 eliminates criminals having to pay a penalty to fund services for victims of crimes and shifts these costs to the taxpayers. This bill has been delivered to the governor.
HB 1340, one of many bills introduced to protect abortion rights, prevents doctors and other medical personnel from being disciplined for providing abortion or gender mutilation services for patients living in other states where these procedures are prohibited by law. This bill has been signed into law and became effective on April 27, 2023.
HB 1744 is an effort to repeal Washington’s popular charter school law and claims to bring “accountability” and “oversight” to Washington’s public charter schools. It creates the impression that charter schools lack oversight. This is simply not true. The charter school law is full of accountability measures. HB 1744 is an attack on the independence of charter schools and will take away their independence. The bill has been delivered to the governor.
SB 5082 removes the tax advisory votes from our ballots. Advisory votes were established by I-960 in 2007. They allow voters to weigh in on tax increases imposed by the legislature. Democrats are removing these votes from ballots because it is “too confusing” for voters. The only thing that’s confusing is the lack of response by the legislature to these direct-democracy tax opinions from the voters. Rather than eliminating these tax increases and reducing government spending, the Democrat party has chosen to do away with these votes — because they don’t like what voters are telling them. The bill has been signed into law.
SB 5242 will eliminate co-pays or out-of-pocket expenses for abortion. The cost of these procedures will now be entirely funded by taxpayers and/or private insurance companies which will, in turn, likely pass this expense on to subscribers in the form of higher insurance rates and deductibles. The bill has been signed into law.
And there were the downright ugly and evil bills . . .
HB 1048, “Enhancing the Washington voting rights act,” provides special rights and protections for specific groups of people. Our Constitution provides “equal and fair protections for all citizens.” This bill also allows for non-citizens to vote and other groups to be penalized arbitrarily. The bill was signed into law by the governor on April 13, 2023.
HB 1469 was another horrible piece of legislation. This bill makes Washington a “sanctuary state” for minors coming from other states for abortion and/or gender-mutilation procedures. HB 1469 will not allow parents in other states to take legal action if their child comes to Washington for these atrocities and it will also leave taxpayers responsible to pay for these “protected health care services.” It was signed into law and became effective on April 27, 2023.
SB 5112, “Updating processes related to voter registration,” is an election fraud bill. By automatically registering everyone to vote at the Department of Licensing and other state government offices, it will further corrupt the voter rolls with ineligible voters. It has been delivered to the governor.
SB 5179, “Increasing access to the provisions of the Washington death with dignity act,” dramatically diminishes the safeguards put into place when the original bill was passed and sets the stage for a significant increase in assisted suicide in our state. It has now been signed into law by the governor.
SB 5352, “Concerning vehicular pursuit,” was passed in the last week of session. This is a weak bill as compared to the original bipartisan proposal and provides minimal improvement over the pathetic status quo. Much like the Blake fix bill, this was a missed opportunity to return some much-needed authority to our law enforcement officers. The bill has been delivered to the governor.
SB 5536 failed to pass in the last hours of session. This highly revised version of the Blake fix bill was a missed opportunity that will only lead to more people dying. Senate Bill 5536 was overhauled in committee with three full pages of changes that substantially weakened the law on drug possession in Washington state. It provided little to no leverage for prosecutors to compel treatment and zero accountability to those walking the streets openly getting high. This was a major failure by all accounts.
SB 5599 may be the worst bill passed this session. It has certainly garnered national attention. Currently, any program, shelter or individual housing a run-away or homeless child must report to police, CPS and/or parents within 72 hours. Under SB 5599, if the child reports they are seeking abortion, hormone blockers, gender mutilation surgery, or any other gender-related health services, these programs, shelters or individuals will no longer be required to report to police, CPS and/or parents. This bill effectively allows these entities to provide a “witness protection program” for runaway and/or homeless children of any age. They can provide free housing and other essential services while keeping the child hidden from their parents for an undefined period of time. It has been delivered to the governor. There is an ongoing effort directed towards Governor Inslee asking him to veto this bill. You can email the governor by clicking here.
SB 5768 allows the Washington State Department of Corrections – which has an existing pharmacy license – to distribute mifepristone, the abortion drug. The state has ALREADY ordered 30,000 pills with taxpayer money, to the tune of $1.275 million. These pills were delivered on March 31 so this plan had been quietly in the works for some period of time. The bill was signed into law and became effective on April 27, 2023.
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Speaking about elections, please consider running for a position this year – particularly for school board. A huge difference can be made at the school board level toward protecting our children from the onslaught of bad laws.