Legislative Roundup

Here are of few interesting, important, and/or silly bills that have been introduced in Olympia since the legislative session got underway earlier this month. In all cases where bills have companion versions in the opposite chamber, the senate bill is listed, because I’m lazy.

Legislation introduced by Sen. Chris Marr (D-6) and cosponsored by Seattle legislators Adam Kline (D-37) and Ken Jacobsen (D-46), along with 11 others, would end the dreaded (but necessary?) ritual of scoliosis screening in schools.

Jacobsen and Kline have also reintroduced a bill that failed last year to allow “well-behaved” dogs in bars; Jacobsen and Kohl-Welles, meanwhile, have a bill that would allow the animals in outdoor areas of bars and coffee shops. Not that anyone in Seattle pays any attention to the law on this anyway, but just what, exactly are well-behaved dogs? The legislation doesn’t say.

Another dog-loving bill, this one by Sen. Dale Brandland (R-42), would repeal a requirement that the county sheriff’s office kill any dog found running loose without tags—the so-called “marauding dogs” law.

State Reps. Mark Miloscia (D-30) and Al O’Brien (D-1) are sponsoring legislation that would require carbon monoxide detectors—which detect carbon monoxide even in the absence of smoke, but can run upward of 60 bucks—in all homes by the end of 2009.

A bunch of do-gooder Democrats have a bill that would prohibit smoking in a car when a minor is present.

A proposal whose cosponsors include several Democrats from the district (the 34th) that encompasses Maury Island, site of Glacier Northwest’s gravel mine, have proposed legislation that would prohibit contributions to candidates for state land commissioner from individuals or companies that do business with the land commissioner’s office. The former land commissioner, Doug Sutherland, took large campaign contributions from companies, including Glacier, with an interest in influence state lands policy.

Legislation sponsored by Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-44) would repeal the requirement that half a percent of construction costs for public buildings be spent on public art. Hobbs has said slashing funding for public art would save $5 million a year.

A bill establishing a “transfer of development rights” program would encourage the preservation of rural farmland and the development of dense communities inside growth boundaries (AKA cities); the proposal is sponsored by Fred Jarrett (D-41).

A proposal by Sens. Dale Brandland (R-42) and Karen Keiser (D-33) would prohibit leaving a child younger than 12 alone in a car under any circumstances, whether or not the car is running.

A smart piece of legislation that’s probably doomed would restrict annual interest rates on payday loans to 36 percent—the maximum rate on US military bases. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-49) and Seattle Sens. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36) and Adam Kline (D-37).

Three bills that would restrict access to public records or make accessing records more expensive—one that would allow an agency to deny a public records request if the person making the request owed the agency money; one that would increase the cost of copying public records to as much as 25 cents per page; and one that would allow an agency to charge someone for copies even if the person didn’t pick them up. All are sponsored by Sen. Darlene Fairley (D-41).

In contrast, state Reps. bBrendan Williams (D-22) and Jim Moeller (D-49) have introduced a bill that would expand the scope of public-records law, by removing an exemption for records that are relevant to an ongoing legal controversy but were created before the lawsuit was filed.

Paralleling Rep. Dean Takko’s (D-19) bill that would bar cities from charging a fee or tax on disposable grocery bags, Reps. Maralyn Chase (D-32) and Tom Campbell (R-2) are sponsoring legislation7 that would bar cities from passing regulations on disposable carryout bags, defined as pretty much everything besides grocery sacks.

A bill sponsored by 13 senators, including several from Seattle, would ban the toxic chemical bisphenol A—but only from baby bottles.

Legislation sponsored by a slate of Democrats and Republicans would explicitly bar candidates from making libelous or defamatory statements about their opponents—a response to a state supreme court ruling that said the First Amendment protects candidates’ right to make statements about each other that are merely false.

Marr, along with Sens. Jerome Delvin (R-8) and Mary Margaret Haugen (D-10) wants to reduce the size of the state commute trip reduction program, which offers tax credits to encourage people to carpool, take transit, and other alternatives to driving alone.

A bit of paranoid-sounding legislation by Jacobsen would require food made from cloned animals to be labeled as such.

Finally, Pridemore and Joe McDermott (D-34) want to make it easier for people to kill moles, a bunch of other legislators have it in for rats, and Jacobsen wants to declare the Olympic marmot the “state endemic mammal” and allow people to be buried with their pets,