House Bill 1177: Decriminalize It!
This bill, sponsored by Representative Dave Upthegrove (D-33), would
make marijuana possession punishable by a $100 fine, instead of up to
90 nights in the slammer. Legislators would have to be high not to pass
this no-brainer, which would save the state $7.5 million a year.
HB 1289: Thwarting Big Gravel
This smart proposal by Representative Sharon Nelson—whose
district, the 34th, encompasses Maury Island, site of Glacier
Northwest’s controversial gravel mine—would prohibit
contributions to candidates for state lands commissioner from
individuals or companies that do business with the lands commissioner’s
office. Former lands commissioner Doug Sutherland took big campaign
contributions from companies, including Glacier, with an interest in
influencing state lands policy.
HB 1469 and Senate Bill 5543:
Recycle Those
Bulbs!
President Obama told us to make sacrifices. So we’re itching to
replace our energy-sucking incandescent bulbs with those energy-saving
fluorescent bulbs that make our homes look like public restrooms. But
when you throw those bulbs away, they spill toxins (including mercury)
into the groundwater. This bill, sponsored by Senator Craig Pridemore
(D-49), would require light-bulb manufacturers to create a recycling
system for the whole state—something they’ve refused to do
voluntarily. “They don’t want to pay for the recycling service, and we
think it should be the cost of doing business,” says Margaret Shield, a
program manager for the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in
King County, which is pushing for the bill.
HB 1490: Transit-Oriented
Development
This bill, also sponsored by Nelson, would create incentives for
dense, affordable, walkable development around mass-transit hubs. The
proposal is a big priority for environmental groups this year, and its
a prime target for affordable-housing activists like the Seattle
Displacement Coalition who claim that increasing density in places like
Southeast Seattle will accelerate displacement of very-low-income
residents.
HB 1491: Three Feet, Please
Four Seattle representatives, including Jamie Pedersen (D-43), are
among 18 cosponsors of legislation that would require cars overtaking
cyclists to stay three feet away from them. Current law only requires
drivers to pass “at a safe distance.” Thirteen states currently have
laws requiring drivers to give cyclists at least three feet of room
when passing.
HB 1500: Keep Your Laws off My (Black)
Box!
Having OnStar or another digital-tracking device in your vehicle is
great when you’re lost in a cornfield. But under current rules, the
data such devices track—such as where you went, when you went
there, and how long you stayed at that teenager’s house—could be
used by police or private companies without your consent. This bill,
sponsored by Representative Deborah Eddy (D-48), would declare that the
black-box data is all yours—unless you choose to share it, a
court orders it, or officials demand it.
HB 1517 and SB 5534:
You Don’t Need the Bullet
When You’ve Got the Ballot
This bill would restore a felon’s right to vote even if he or she
still has some debt to the state. Current rules require felons to hire
an attorney and pay fines, which can be prohibitively expensive. “That
is a modern-day poll tax on poor people,” says Representative Jeannie
Darneille (D-27), the prime sponsor of the bill. Although the bill has
been introduced in years past with support from the ACLU, this time she
thinks it has a better shot: Secretary of State Sam Reed, who oversees
elections, gave it his blessing in January, as did the NAACP.
HB 1615 and SB 5516: Save Your Overdosing Buddy’s
Life
Drug overdoses have been on the rise since the 1990s. Nonetheless, a
bill to provide amnesty from prosecution for people who call medics for
an overdosing person has floundered for the last four years when
sponsored by state senator and lefty caricature Adam Kline (D-37). This
year, however, Senator Rosa Franklin (D-29) thinks her credibility as a
retired nurse gives the bill a better shot.
SB 5150: No Blood for Loans
This is a smart, and probably doomed, proposal to restrict annual
interest rates on payday loans to 36 percent—the maximum rate on
U.S. military bases. Kline is the bill’s prime sponsor.
HB 1154: Bagging the Bag Fee
This bill, sponsored by Representative Dean Takko of Longview
(D-19), would prohibit cities from charging a fee or tax on disposable
shopping bags. Takko, whose district includes Weyerhaeuser’s largest
plant as well as several other timber and paper-products companies, has
received contributions from Weyerhaeuser, Port Blakely Tree Farms,
Hampton Lumber Mills, and Rayonier Inc., an international timber
corporation.
HB 1376 and SB 5163: Screw Public Art!
Times are tough, and legislators are looking for expendable budget
items to throw under the bus. One of this year’s potential victims is a
program that dedicates a half-percent of construction costs on
state-funded buildings to public art. Although the cut—sponsored
by Representative Mike Hope (R-44) and Senator Steve Hobbs
(D-44)—wouldn’t affect similar programs in King County and the
city of Seattle, it could set a precedent for slashing other
government-funded art programs in the future.
HB 1645: Speak American!
Jim “Minuteman” McCune (R-2) is taking another shot at making
‘Merican the official language of Washington State. McCune—a
wingnut’s wingnut who previously sponsored a bill to make reciting the
Pledge of Allegiance a high-school graduation
requirement—sponsored a similar bill last year. It went
nowhere.
If McCune’s bill fails again, highly placed sources tell us he plans
to declare his double-wide a sovereign state and build his own border
fence. Maybe we should let him.
HB 1606: The Nanny State Doesn’t Want You to Shit on the
Bus
Believe it or not, taking a dump on the bus is not explicitly
prohibited by state law. But if Representative Geoff Simpson (D-47) has
his way, the halcyon days when you could poop on public transit to your
heart’s content may be coming to an end. What’s worse: Simpson’s bill
also makes the not-yet-open light-rail line a poo-free zone.
If Simpson and the body police succeed in their puritanical quest,
it’s only a matter of time before they take away your God-given right
to piss in public trash cans, vomit on sidewalks, and pass out in
public buildings. And then where would city-hall reporters be?
HB 1638: Pipe Dreams
Representative Tami Green (D-28) was all ready to crack down on the
dark, seedy world of unregulated colon hydrotherapy, but our ailing
state economy may have given back-alley enemists a stay of
execution.
Green’s bill—currently shelved—would’ve re-
quired
the currently unregulated practice of
colon hydrotherapy to be
licensed by the Department of Health. “This has sort of been coming
down the pipe for a few years,” Green says with no apparent sense of
irony. Although “this whole bowel-cleansing [thing] really seems to
work for people,” she says, unregulated enemas may pose a risk.
However, Green says, “It’s really not the year to be licensing people
when [the state’s] got $6 billion worth of issues to resolve.”
SB 5063, SB 5192, and SB 5336:
Pets Are People,
Too!
When Senator Ken Jacobsen’s beloved cat Sam died two years ago,
Jacobsen (D-46) was crushed to discover that, when his time came, he’d
be unable to share a burial plot with his
feline companion.
State law currently prohibits interspecies burials, but
Jacobsen—also the prime sponsor of proposals to make the marmot
the official state mammal and to exempt trees from property
taxes—is pushing a bill that would finally allow crazy old cat
ladies to be buried, by written request, alongside the ashes of their
14 furry children.
Jacobsen’s office has apparently been flooded with calls from angry
parakeet owners who feel his bill ignores their feathered friends.
Jacobsen is also the primary sponsor of two bills that would allow
dogs into bars and the outdoor areas of bars and coffee shops.
Kudos to Futurewise for all of their work on HB 1490.
Housing on transit routes is more affordable than housing in exurbs because you don’t need to own a car to live there. Well designed, walkable communities and affordable housing are not mutually exclusive. Also, an enormous public investment is being made in mass transit. We need to ensure that the greatest number of people benefit from that investment.
All animal related bills are not “fucking nuts” – how about HB 1148, allowing judges to include pets on domestic violence protection orders?
I thought I’d add, re: HB 1490, that while the Seattle Displacement Coalition is against the bill, affordable housing activists actually do support it. In fact, the state’s largest coalition of affordable housing organizations, the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, is partnering with environmental group Futurewise to advocate for denser AND more affordable transit-oriented communities in this bill.
Just for the record.
The Transit Oriented Communities bill will be way better for low income communities than doing nothing in transit areas and letting gentrification happen.
If it passes, it would be one of the strongest affordable housing programs in the country.
SECB,
Oh, by the way, while not as interesting as being buried with your pet, there’s a small little bill that would revolutionize how we fund public education in the state of Washington. HB 1410/SB5444 is the result of years worth of real deal policy and financial analysis and sets the stage for real reform.
Advocates like the League of Education Voters and many others are working very, very hard to help legislators improve our state’s public education system.
(Back to paying attention in a legislative hearing).
Ciao,
Reuven Carlyle, State Representative, 36th District (the heart, soul, passion and spirit of Seattle).
Umm, I dunno, but NOT shitting on the bus kinda sounds like a good idea…
On the other hand, why are the legislators so interested in our asses?
Since I can usually count on The Stranger to help identify upcoming egregious violations of human rights… It surprises me that that there was no mention of (in my opinion) the UGLIEST bill this session: House Bill 1142- requests state funds (our tax money) to study the viability of “subcutaneous radio frequency identification tags”. Those are the same sort of implanted electronic devices veterinarians currently use in cats and dogs so they can be identified by shelters if lost. Don’t get me wrong – we all want a safe society, but in my opinion the threat of an overarching government that can force a person into a surgical procedure and electronically track their every move for the rest of their life… is a bigger threat to our humanity than any single creep who ever committed a sex offense ever will be. Once we rationalize “chipping” sex offenders, it becomes a scary and slippery slope as politicians dance around who will be allowed their human rights… and who we hate enough to treat like animals. Yes, we must appropriately punish those who have violated and caused harm to others– but as we were recently reminded with Gitmo, the hurtful actions of others do NOT permit us as a society to violate basic human rights.
This bill is a very blunt instrument that will not lead to the kind of neighborhoods we want. Basically it requires that all the neighborhoods near rail and bus rapid transit stops be zoned for 50 housing units per total acreage within 1/2 mile. That’s double the current density of First Hill/Capitol Hill. And those neighborhoods are farther below their current targets for job growth but almost at their targets for housing growth.
This bill should be defeated, we should wait to see what comes out of neighborhood planning and then revisit the issue if housing growth isn’t achieved that way. The affordable housing provisions were added as an afterthought to sell the housing density. Neighborhoods need to have something worth going to, not just housing.
Have you ever had to see someone use the bus for a toilet and then be told by the driver that it is not illegal? I have. It’s no fun, I assure you.
You go, Geoff Simpson!
While I completely agree that this is not the year to be pushing for licensing, ultimately it is VERY important to register and license individuals performing colonics. This can be a potentially harmful treatment if done by untrained therapists. As consumers, I encourage everyone who is seeking colonics, ear candling, acupuncture, etc to ENSURE that their therapist has a background of education to support the services they offer. A great way to check is to find out what associations they belong to. For example, massage therapists are often part of AMTA or ABMP. While it’s not essential that therapists are part of these communities, it’s an easy way to ensure liability and a higher level of education.
I don’t know that there is any scientific evidence that one’s colon needs or benefits from an enema, but if people want to have someone give them an enema (can’t you do this to yourself in the privacy of your bathroom?)more power to them.
However, I think a little background check into the giver (enemer?) might be a good idea. Who except some pervert really want to administer an enema?
It is already illegal to pee or poo in public. A bus is a public place. So how can peeing on a bus NOT already be illegal?
@ anonymous
There are also at least two other bills that seek to regulate and restrict the use of RFID technology.
I would be pretty shocked if 1142 went anywhere.
Big shock that the likes of Jonah SL et all are all for felons voting, cuz they vote for dem damn demoncrats who feel sorry for them. And of course, Jonah never saw any skat he didn’t like
I like the idea of no shitting on buses too, but how long am I going to have to for the House Bill on people SMELLING like shit on the bus?
urchasing:
There are plenty of things to watch that are ‘no fun’ – but yet should never become illegal: homelessness, PDAs, unwashed protestors, city hall meetings, Seattle professional sports.
This no poo on transit law crosses into the grey band between nanny/police state and free democracy – not on specifics, but on broad principles: the point at which we have a feces-on-transit problem isn’t time for new laws, it’s time for re-evaluating where the problem comes from.
urchasing:
There are plenty of things to watch that are ‘no fun’ – but yet should never become illegal: homelessness, PDAs, unwashed protestors, city hall meetings, Seattle professional sports.
This no poo on transit law crosses into the grey band between nanny/police state and free democracy – not on specifics, but on broad principles: the point at which we have a feces-on-transit problem isn’t time for new laws, it’s time for re-evaluating where the problem comes from.
Wow, I hope there are no diapered children riding the bus these days.
Or people who wear depends or people taking medications that cause anal leakage or …. maybe someone should think through the implications on colostomy bags, too. The ADA’s nondiscrimination standards probably need to be addressed since many transits are funded at least partially by government grants…but flat out dropping a load on the bus for the purpose of offending is more likely considered an art form.