GOAL Post 2010-8

GOAL Post 2010-8

Legislative Update from Olympia 26 February 2010

ESHB 2499 PASSES COMMITTEE

SHB 2226 PASSES COMMITTEE

ESHB 2777 (NOT 2778) PASSES COMMITTEE

TACOMA SHOOTING INCIDENT COULD OPEN DOOR

SECOND POLICY COMMITTEE CUT-OFF TODAY

MARCH 5 SECOND CHAMBER CUT-OFF

TWO WEEKS REMAIN IN THE 2010 REGULAR SESSION

Engrossed Substitute House Bill (ESHB) 2499 passed out of the Senate Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee and goes to Senate Rules awaiting a floor vote.

Substitute House Bill (SHB) 2226 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and goes to Senate Rules awaiting a floor vote.

Engrossed Substitute House Bill (ESHB) 2777 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and goes to Senate Rules awaiting a floor vote. This is NOT HB 2778, which we bottled up in House Ways & Means two weeks ago, but another bill dealing with domestic violence. The title of the bill is vague enough that anti-gun language from HB 2778 COULD be added to the bill, hence it bears a close watch.

Why worry about ESHB 2777? A school teacher was shot and killed this morning outside her Tacoma school. Her murderer was a man who had been stalking her for years, despite the fact that the two were never in any kind of relationship. She had received an anti-harassment order against the man, who was locked up last weekend for violating that order. Apparently he was released and illegally acquired or possessed a firearm , with which he killed her.

This is exactly the kind of incident that gun control advocates try to exploit, using the emotion of the moment to pass this or that restrictive law. That is what HB 2778 WOULD have done. We need to be alert to the possibility that an attempt may be made to amend ESHB 2777 to include the gun restrictions from HB 2778.

Today, February 26th is the policy committee cut-off for bills that crossed over to the other chamber. Bills that do not pass their policy committee by the end of that day are considered dead for the session.

Next Friday, 5 March, is the second chamber cut-off day. All House bills that have not passed the Senate, and Senate bills that have not passed the House, are considered dead for the session. The last six days of the session are devoted to bills that passed both chambers in different forms. Conference committee will be created to reconcile differences.

Two weeks remain in the 2010 regular legislative session. As the saying goes, it ain't over til the fat lady sings, and that won't happen until late on the evening of 11 March.

BILL STATUS / GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

Bill # Subject Sponsor Status

SHB 2226 Retired peace officer qualification Orcutt (R-18) S. Rules

ESHB 2499 Black powder storage/transport Bailey (R-10) S. Rules

Key to abbreviations: SHB = Substitute House Bill, L&C = Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, Jud = Judiciary Committee

GOAL POSITION ON BILLS:

SHB 2226 SUPPORT

SHB 2499 SUPPORT

PUBLIC HEARINGS SCHEDULED:

24 Feb SHB 2226 Senate Judiciary Committee

3:30 p.m. Senate Hearing Room 1, J.A>C. Bldg

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." 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.

Upcoming WAC gun show(s):

Monroe 13-14 March

Puyallup 27-28 March

"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 2010 Gun Owners Action League of WA