Lawmakers tackled gay marriage, the death penalty, human trafficking and other issues in the third week of session. Here’s a round-up of what we covered on the blog and our daily show, Legislative Review.

Monday: Hundreds of people came to the Capitol to voice their opinions on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state. The day kicked off with a standing room-only public hearing in a Senate committee. That was followed by a jubilant press conference, where gay marriage supporters celebrated upon hearing news that a 25th Senator has agreed to support the bill, ensuring its passage. The House heard the companion bill later in the afternoon, where an additional 96 people signed up to testify.

Watch Monday’s Legislative Review.

Tuesday: On the show, we looked at recommendations from the state debt commission and a controversial bill that would require anyone arrested for a felony to submit a DNA sample. Also, a bill heard in the House would give extended jail sentences to thieves who knowingly target the homes of deployed military personnel.

Watch Tuesday’s Legislative Review.

Wednesday: Dozens of people showed up for a Senate hearing on a bill that would abolish the death penalty — but not a single person signed in opposed to the measure, causing things to get heated. On the show, we took a look at measures related to teacher evaluations and workplace bullying on the show. We also had a short off-the-set interview with Rep. Dave Upthegrove.

Watch Wednesday’s Legislative Review.

Thursday: The bill to legalize gay marriage was approved by a Senate committee, setting it up for a floor vote. The Legislature considered making some changes to the Discover Pass, including making the passes transferable between vehicles. Also, the Senate Ways & Means committee heard about the cost of the “Toxic Toys” bill, including testimony from one doctor who said he feared it would cause a spike in burn victims.

Watch Thursday’s Legislative Review.

Friday: The Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on several bills to address human trafficking. Friday’s show will air at 6:30 & 11 p.m.

Tags: Discover Pass, gay marriage, human trafficking, toxic toys

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a public hearing on the bills to address human trafficking. You can watch live now on TVW and I’ll be updating this post throughout the hearing.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles began by saying she’s proud of the work the state has done over the past decade, but there’s still more work to do. Sen. Jerome Delvin said his bill deals with cases where those with developmental disabilities are lured into prostitution. He said the bill originated from a case in his district.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn was first to testify, on SB 6251. He said Seattle has been working on the issue of underage children being advertised in escort service sections of newspapers — in print and online. “As has been mentioned, $2.1 million a month to Backpage.com and Village Voice Media,” which owns Seattle Weekly. He said he’s had discussions with Seattle Weekly to compel them to check identification of escorts to no avail. “I strongly support this bill,” he said, which would put that requirement into state law.

Jim Pugel, Chief of the Seattle Police Department, says the bill would help reduce the harm to sexually exploited youth.

Tags: human trafficking, Senate

TVW has partnered with the Legislature to make it easier to get information about the bills that you care about: Now, you can watch video of bill debate and public hearing on the bill information page.

Let’s say you’re interested in revising the lien for the collection of sewage charges by counties — previously, you’d have to read the bill page, then search TVW’s web site for the hearings. Now, you can see all the related videos right from the bill’s page.

And if you’re really interested in tracking public policy, don’t forget our new, free service, Scout. Scout tracks all the issues, bills and court cases you care about and compiles video, committee materials and more in an easy-to-read home page.

Tags: Legislature, Scout, TVW

This week’s Off the Set Interview: Rep. Dave Upthegrove

Yesterday on The Impact, Jessica Gao interviewed Rep. Dave Upthegrove and Sen. Jim Honeyford about clean energy. After that, we chatted briefly with Upthegrove about gay marriage, digital billboards, and one of his preferred pieces of legislation — a bill aimed at cleaning up oil and gunk from Washington’s boat marinas.

Watch The Impact at 7 and 10 tonight.

Tags: Rep. Dave Upthegrove, The Impact

The “Toxic Toys” bill, which would ban certain flame retardants from being used in children’s toys and products, would cost the state an estimated $400,000 in the next two-year budget cycle to implement. But the state isn’t considering the cost of treating more burn victims, said David Heimbach, the former director of the University of Washington Burn Center, who testified at the Senate Ways & Means committee on Thursday.

“Burns are the most expensive disease people can have,” Heimbach said. Children from lower socio-economic classes make up the majority of burn victims, he said, and they tend to be Medicaid patients who cost “money out of the state budget.”

Physician Laura Hart countered that the bill would “save significant healthcare dollars” in the long run. That’s because diseases like asthma, cancer and birth disabilities are linked to the chemicals in question, she said, and cost $1.8 billion a year to treat. The committee took no action on the bill.

Tags: toxic toys, Ways & Means

Last year, the Legislature created the Discover Pass to fund state parks. This year, they’re considering some changes to the system, including making the passes transferable between vehicles. But there is a question of how exactly to do that.

With such a new system, there have been some surprises: “We wound up selling more passes in the parks than we did electronically,” said Steve Milner with the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. He said they also sold more day passes — at $10 a pop — than $30 annual passes, something they didn’t expect.

There are two bills being considered now in the House General Government Appropriations Committee — House Bill 2153 would allow the pass to be transferred between two vehicles. And House Bill 2217 would allow the pass to be used for all vehicles at one address.

Jonathan Guzzo with the Washington Trails Association says they polled their members — 3,000 responded and said being able to transfer between two vehicles would be a big help. He said the organization considers that an “elegant” solution.

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington was approved in the Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections committee on Thursday with a 4-3 vote along party lines.

The vote followed discussion of four amendments, including one that would allow faith-based adoption centers to refuse services to gay couples. None of the amendments passed. Republican Sen. Don Benton asked for a referendum clause that would send the issue to the ballot in November.

“A change this significant in state law and in accepted societies around the world requires more than a simple majority vote,” Benton said. The referendum clause did not pass.

The bill is headed for a floor vote in the Senate.

Tags: gay marriage

This morning, the Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections committee is expected to pass a bill that would legalize gay marriage in Washington state. We’ll be live with coverage starting at 10 a.m. on TVW, and we’ll have more on the blog and tonight’s edition of Legislative Review.

Also live on TVW today: At 2 p.m., the House Government Appropriations & Oversight committee is hearing several bills related to the Discover Pass, including one that would allow the pass to be used for more than one car. The pass costs $30 per year, and is required to access nearly 7 million acres managed by the state.

And at 3:30 p.m., the Senate Ways & Means committee is holding a public hearing on the “Toxic Toys” bill, which would require manufacturers of children’s products to replace certain chemicals with safer alternatives.

Tags: Discover Pass, Environment, gay marriage, toxic toys

On tonight’s edition of The Impact, host Jessica Gao had some great interviews with state lawmakers. Watch it right here:

And on Legislative Review, we’ve got all the details on the death penalty hearing, teacher evaluation reforms and workplace bullying:

Tags: Legislative Review, The Impact

A hearing on abolishing the death penalty in the Senate on Wednesday got off to a heated start when Sen. Pam Roach interrupted the proceedings, saying “no one is representing the dead victims” because no one had signed in to testify against the bill.

“Where is the debate? Where is the opinion? This is a very important issue, and we only have one opinion at this hearing,” said Roach, who is a vocal supporter of the death penalty.

“No people have signed in on the con side. I can’t help that,” said committee chair Sen. Adam Kline.

Sen. Roach then called for a vote after only two people had testified. Kline allowed those signed in to testify to continue speaking.

The prime sponsor of the bill, Sen. Debbie Regala, has a personal tie to the legislation – her brother-in-law was murdered in 1980. But it is also a matter of cost. Regala said the death penalty is six times more expensive than life without parole. Often, capital punishment trials cost an excess of $2 million, she said.

“That’s money that could be used in so many more productive, positive ways in our state,” Regala said.

Click through to watch video of the entire hearing.

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Tags: death penalty