Legislative Action Committee - Clark County Republican Party

Welcome to week 4 of the Olympia legislative session.

Not to be outdone by Olympia bills that would hinder immigration law enforcement, the City of Vancouver declared that they oppose federal law enforcement. Having an emboldening effect, the Police Chief has publicly complained that activists are mis-identifying his officers as ICE agents. Now, our Clark County council wants to make a statement on lawful ICE actions. The Council Time hearing on Wednesday Jan. 28 included 90 minutes of fiery public comment, and a discussion of a possible statement [23 minutes starting at 2:01:25]. Councilors Marshall, Fuentes, and at least one other agreed to move forward with some kind of statement at a future meeting. They indicated it would be proposed as a joint statement with other departments. So, expect more fireworks.

Back to Olympia legislation, the heat is picking up to add taxes since they can’t control spending. And for now, as a committee, we have members following Calls to Action by FPIWAction.org and Influencing Olympia Effectively, and Bill Bruch’s Election Integrity bill list.

For the first of week 4, we suggest you do these two simple actions with us.

• 2 Action Deadline 9:30 AM on SB 6203. PRO. This is a commonsense measure that would require courts to count out-of-state convictions during sentencing, aligning justice law with the Washington Supreme Court’s decision in State v Lewis. This is a rare bi-partisan bill that can still use support.
  Register PRO. All Testimony Options.
• 5 Action Deadline 12:30 PM on SSB 5974. Big CON. This is the bill’s second public hearing, this time in the Senate funding committee - Ways and Means. Would cause Sheriff's to pass background check by Governor-controlled WSP within 9 months; Bill could be used to force Sheriffs to be appointed, rather than elected.
  Register CON. All Testimony Options.

Further on SB 5974, you can improve your talking points against HB 5974 restricting Sheriffs by watching the interview of Sheriff Swank by Conservative Ladies of Washington.

Thanks,

-The CCRP Legislative Action Team

Some of the ugly bills that we tracked over week 2 are moving forward – as expected. But your CON registrations were noted by commentors, legislators on our side, and the committees.

• SB 5892: CON – Protecting the voter registration database (against Federal requests for data; anti-Trump). PRO~700, CON~1,850. Status: Passed to rules committee on Jan. 23.
• SB 5973: CON - Requiring a demonstration of support before issuance of a ballot measure title. (anti-Let’s Go WA, anti-Tim Eyman). PRO~1,175, CON~10,500; or 10 to 1 against; Status: passed to Rules.
• HB 2100: CON – (so called) Well Washington; 5% payroll excise tax. PRO~2,502, CON~12,798, or 5 to 1 against. Status: not yet scheduled for exec. session.

You might be saying “What good is it, having such great registration numbers when the committee passes it anyway?” Please know that every one of these lopsided votes helps our side negotiate; every legislator will tell you this. If we didn’t register such good numbers, the bills would stay bad or get worse. And we can reframe the situation, too: like some of us, you can enjoy watching the gyrations used by the majority party in Olympia to squirm out from under the reformative Trump administration policies.

Now, for the upcoming Week 3, we picked the following bills, including some PROs, with Public Hearings on Monday or Tuesday.

• Jan. 26 Action Deadline 12:30 pm. HB 2146 Combating sexual exploitation of minors, A bi-partisan bill winning the contest for simplest bill ever – that only adds the words “or view” to the RCW, where a person would be guilty if they cause a youth to look at sexually explicit conduct. This bill is easy to support.
  Register PRO, Submit Written Comments, Register to Testify
• Jan. 27 Action deadline 7 am. SB 5886 Protecting persons against deep AI fakes (Forged digital Likeness). Another bi-partisan bill that intends to respect individual rights rather than expanding state censorship powers. PRO
  Register PRO. Submit Written Comments, Register to Testify
• Jan. 27 Action deadline 9:30 am. SB 6182 Establishing and Abortion Savings program, HCA carriers are forced to fund, then pay out in “Grants … intended to support abortions where federal funding is prohibited.” CON
  Register CON. Submit Written Comments. Register to Testify
• Jan. 27 Action deadline 12:30 pm. HJR 4210 Amending the state Constitution to allow the legislature to determine the duration of regular sessions. The statewide election integrity team considers this a CON (literally), and a terrible bill where sessions would be extended to pass taxation bills.  Committee: State Gov and Tribal Relations.
  Register CON. Submit Written Comments. Register to Testify

Jump in the game. Follow the FPIW Action Alerts.[bookmark this link]. Be sure to read their short explanations and register or comment accordingly.

Thanks,

-The CCRP Legislative Action Team

Opening week has completed. Governor Ferguson performed many essential duties such as delivering a State of the State address that caused many gag reflexes, and presiding over the Seattle Seahawks 12 flag raising

You can watch a short summary of each day on TVW’s Legislative Reviews.

• Wednesday Jan. 14 [9 mins]
• Thursday Jan. 15 [8 mins]
• Friday Jan. 16 [8 mins]

For the upcoming week of January 19, here are some of the key bills with scheduled committee hearings and one-click sign-in and testimony links.