Jessica is on set all day today doing interviews with lawmakers. Here’s a quick update:

- She’s spoken with Reps. Chris Hurst and Chris Hurst about public safety.

- She also spoke with Rep. Ross Hunter.  That will air soon.

- No official word yet on special session.

- Right now the Senate just passed the bill to require certain health boards to adopt pain management guidelines. The bill is an attempt to address Washington’s high rate of opiate deaths. Currently, there are no standards and about 100 people are prescribed 6,000 mg of opiates a day.

Tags: pain management, public safety

The Senate is working through a list of bills aimed at addressing public safety in the wake of the police shootings in Lakewood last year.

Here’s a run-down so far:

SB 6316 requires more coordination between the Department of Corrections and local law enforcement.

SB 6548 suspends supervision if a criminal is charged with another felony. It passed unanimously.

SB 6550: assault an officer while on probation, get thrown in jail for up to a year. It passed unanimously.

SJM 8026 asks Congress to fix the Interstate Compact asap. That’s the agreement among states that governs the exchange of supervised offenders. It passed unanimously.

SB 6293: Help out a family member who is running from the law and face a Class C felony charge. It passed unanimously.

SB 6673 creates a task force to study bail procedures in Washington state, where it’s a Constitutional right for all but a few suspected criminals to get bail. The bill passed unanimously.

SB 8218 amends the state Constitution so that third strike offenders are not allowed bail. That passed 43 to 4. It will now be sent to voters.

(Senate adjourned and back on the floor at 9:30 a.m. House has already adjourned, will be on the floor at 10 a.m. Good night.)

Tags: bail, interstate compact, public safety

Here’s the bill report for House Bill 2625, which would require judicial review of bail for felony offenders.

Rep. Troy Kelley said the House will also be voting on bills to create a Constitutional amendment to allow judges more flexibility in determining bail and another to address the Interstate Compact, which many lawmakers have said is flawed.

Kelley said a judge should set bail. But, because of court cases and other issues, some counties use a chart to determine bail in some instances. “A judge’s job is to set bail, is to make a decision based on their experience and training” he said.

Rep. Matt Shea said the shooting in Lakewood may have been prevented if a judge would have reviewed Maurice Clemmons’ bail before he was released. He said Clemmons had so many felony charges, he should not have been released on bail without review.

Rep. Roger Goodman said when he first found out Clemmons was released without a judge reviewing the bail, he was infuriated, but he’s realized you can’t legislate based on anger. He said this bill is the reasonable approach to the problem.

Rep. Mark Ericks: “The men and women of the police departments of this country are dedicated to protecting our lives,” he said, from the “very few people that cause the most problems.”

The bill passed unanimously.

Tags: bail, public safety

Get the popcorn!

Here’s The Impact, which includes an excellent explanation of the public safety bills and another on human trafficking:

(You can watch an Off the Set interview with The Impact guest Chris Hurst in the post below.)

And here’s Inside Olympia, where Austin Jenkins talked with lawmakers who have served in the police force. It’s a great interview about public policy and public safety:

Tags: Public Policy, public safety, TVW

This week’s Q&A is with House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown. I’ve posted the interview in the order in which they were conducted, as usual, asked each the same broad questions, and included everything each lawmaker said. The conversations cover marijuana, public safety bills, taxes and job creation. And no interview would be complete without talking about the budget. Enjoy.

Rep. Richard DeBolt:

Q: There are currently bills to close state government for one day per month, limit state worker salaries and another in the House to make official about $50 million in cuts from Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget. Which of those do you support, what other ideas do you have and what’s the timeline?

DeBolt: I guess the first thing that I would like to say about it is we saw some of these problems because we have a systematically flawed budget process. We have to change how we budget and what our priorities are.
I would break the budgeting process up: I would do an education only budget first. It’s our paramount duty, so we should fund it first. Then we can fund public safety and the vulnerable. Then, with whatever is left, you make the rest of your budget. So you protect the children and the most vulnerable.

Q: What about the furloughs?

DeBolt: As far as furloughs, we haven’t had a chance to explore the bills fully yet. The bills were introduced and the process probably broke down a little bit so we don’t have all the details yet.
From my perspective, we think everything should be on the table. We need to make sure that what we’re doing to balance the budget is real – not just delaying costs until later.

Q: You mentioned an education-first budget. When I was covering the Oregon Legislature in 2005, the Republican House Speaker suggested a similar proposal to fund education first.

DeBolt: Oh yeah — and what happened?

Q: It didn’t pass, and they were in session for about eight months that year because the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate couldn’t agree on much. Why is that a controversial idea?

DeBolt: I remember that. We’ve been suggesting the education-budget first idea since 2002. We haven’t even gotten a hearing on it.

Q: Why do you think that is?

DeBolt: I think that Olympia is stuck in the past and has a tendency to be myopic in their viewpoints. So if its outside the box, it’s probably not going to be considered. We’re not a super change-oriented place.

Q: So would closing state government for one day a month be something you could support?

DeBolt: I don’t know because for some services, it could be problematic. For example, I want to get our permitting wait times down. Can they do the same amount of work if we’re furloughing people? That’s of interest to me. I don’t know how the functions of government would be changed. I don’t know if you can just arbitrarily close all the agencies and make it work. If it’s agencies that support our economy and help move us forward, we shouldn’t slow that down.

Q: One big policy issue has been public safety, in the wake of the police shootings last year. A Constitutional amendment is on the table — is that the right move? Is there danger in amending the Constitution so soon after these crimes? (more…)

Tags: Budget, cuts, marijuana, public safety, taxes

“The judge did not have the option to deny bail. That’s not lawful in the state of Washington except for in a capital case,” said Tom McBride, of the Maurice Clemmons case — because everyone has a right to bail unless they’re occused of capital offenses, which Clemmons was not accused of when he was released in May. He said when the state Constitution was adopted, “capital offenses” included kidnapping and other crimes.

He said lawmakers could consider redefining crime categories — and moving some crimes back to the “capital offenses” category instead of amending the Constitution.

“We can do this and I don’t think it’s going to result in undermining the presumption of innocence or being a presumptive detention that’s a problem,” McBride said. He told lawmakers that “there’s a little more work to be done here” before the state’s proposed Constitutional amendment and a companion bill don’t violate any federal law — and end up being something that works for the state.

Shankar Narayan with the ACLU of Washington said his organization cautions against taking away the due process rights of many people because of the actions of one. He said his organization does support House Bill 2625, which works by “getting the judges the right information” so that they can set a fair bail. (more…)

Tags: Clemmons, public safety

Rep. Chris Hurst just started the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee’s hearing on public safety bills. The first bill on the docket would allow judges the ability to deny bail to felony offenses.

“Some of the earlier drafts of the proposed Constitutional Amendment would limit it to three-strike or persistent offender,” said John Lane from Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office, but: They believe judges should have more leniency to deny bail in other cases, too.

Rep. Troy Kelley said the Constitutional Amendment mirrors federal law — and therefore wouldn’t likely be overturned on legal grounds.

Rep. Roger Goodman said he “couldn’t believe that you just paid your money and you could get out,” he said, of bail in Washington, which is guaranteed for most. He thanked Kelley for working on the bill. He also asked about the workload for judges that would be created if each bail had to be reviewed for possible denial.

Kelley said less serious offenses can be reviewed over the phone or electronically. More serious offenses would require a judge to physically look over the files. But, he said, at least some judicial discretion would be used.

Tags: public safety

Here’s what’s coming up today:

- At 8 a.m., the House Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee wiwll hear about executive compensation and federal bailout funds. That’s live on TVW.

- At 10 a.m., the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee will hold a hearing on public safety bills drafted in response to police shootings. That’s live on TVW.

- At 1:30 p.m., the Senate Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee will hear human trafficking bills. That’s live on TVW.

- At 1:30 p.m., the House Agriculture Committee will take a look at the mute swan bill that we told you about a couple weeks ago. Those swans have gotten a bit of attention here and on KUOW this morning (though I can’t find the story now).

- At 1:30, the House Finance Committee will look at a bill to give local governments increased flexibility with existing revenue during economic downturns. That will play on TVW at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

- At 1:30, the House Health Care and Wellness Committee will consider whether to regulate tanning salons and whether to allow pipe tobacco to be shipped to Washington consumers (other tobaccos cannot legally be sold via mail).

- And at 3:30, the Senate Ways & Means Committee will discuss budget cuts — including the bill to close state government for one day per month. That’s live on TVW.

- Also at 3:30, the House Ways & Means Committee will consider this bill — an early savings bill introduced by Rep. Kelli Linville and the rest of the committee. The bill was swapped in yesterday and contains almost $50 million of the cuts Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed in her budget. Here’s the summary.

Tags: Budget, public safety

Today:

- Governor Chris Gregoire announced her plan for improving education and qualifying for federal Race to the Top money.

- State schools superintendent Randy Dorn hinted that the state’s dropout rate and achievement gap may both be smaller.

- The House Transportation Committee considered making driving-while-yapping-on-a-cell-phone a primary offense. No one testified against the bill, and no vote was taken.

- Gregoire and the families of officers killed in the line of duty testified on the Maurice Clemmons case.

Update: I left out two of my favorite video clips from yesterday. After watching the emotional testimony from fallen officers’ families, it was good to have a couple clips to brighten my day.

First, the House floor performance:

Second, the cell phone bill testimony:

Tags: cell phone bill, Clemmons, education, public safety

The families of the four Lakewood police officers who were shot late last year are now testifying in the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee. The committee is reviewing the Maurice Clemmons case.

“My sister believes that one man alone did not kill her husband,” said Melanie Burwell, the sister-in-law of Officer Greg Richards. She said too many people along the chain didn’t do what they should have and Clemmons “slipped through the cracks.”

“In Greg, we lose the benefit of his lifetime of integrity,” she said. “He could be relied on and was the voice of reason for many of his friends.”

Tags: Clemmons, public safety