Legislative Update as the 2022 Session Begins: Gun Safety, the State Patrol, and Participating in Your Democracy

Dear Neighbors, 

The 2022 legislative session will last 60 days, and I’ll send periodic updates and keep you informed about major issues as the session progresses.

In this update, I’d like to update you on gun safety legislation, reforms to the State Patrol, and ways you can participate in your democracy.

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Preventing Gun Violence and Mass Shootings 

My top priority this session is protecting families, neighborhoods, and schools from the scourge of gun violence.   

There’s hope that we can make major progress this session on three fronts: legislation to ban high-capacity magazines and assault rifles, both of which make it easier for criminals and mass shooters to inflict maximum death, plus an update on our laws against on ghost guns. 

• Banning high-capacity magazines (my bill, House Bill 1164, and Senate Bill 5078 by Sen. Marko Liias) 
• Banning assault rifles (House Bill 1229 by Rep. Strom Pederson and Senate Bill 5217 by Sen. Patty Kuderer) 
• Strengthening our state prohibition against ghost guns (House Bill 1705 by Rep. Liz Berry), a law that I originally wrote and passed in 2019.

As the editorial board of The Seattle Times wrote, “High-capacity magazines are often used in mass shootings because they reduce the need for the shooter to stop and reload. No outdoor fun, no afternoon at the gun range, will be disrupted by prohibiting devices that have little function beyond making it easier to kill.” 

I’ve worked for years on gun safety issues and know that it won’t be easy to pass these new laws. If you support these efforts, please speak out by testifying remotely—or in writing—as they pass through committees in both the House and Senate.  

I’ll keep you updated on the progress of these two bills and other related proposals to prevent gun violence.

There have been too many funerals, and it’s time we took strong action to protect all of our families. 

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A Washington State Patrol that looks like Washington State

It’s good policy, and smart for public safety, to make sure law enforcement can connect with all of the communities they are sworn to protect and serve. 

For decades, the Washington State Patrol was oddly homogeneous, with qualified minority candidates not getting hired. I fought to get state funding to study this issue, and uncover the source of the problem, and we identified a key bottleneck: the state patrol’s psychologist systematically rejected minority candidates at a late stage in the process. 

Another common complaint is that people of color get stopped and searched far more often. A recent story in Investigate West highlighted this issue, writing, “The State Patrol and Washington State University researchers who released the study this month, however, acknowledge the problem InvestigateWest uncovered in 2019 persists. State troopers are still more likely to search Black, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander drivers, even though they’re more likely to find contraband like drugs or weapons when they search White drivers.” 

This is wrong.  

This session, I’m introducing legislation to address this problem, because our criminal justice system needs to be based on fighting crime—not the color of your skin. 

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Participating in Your Democracy 

There are more ways than ever for you to take part in what’s happening this session in Olympia. 

You can still watch all of those meetings, contact your lawmakers, and participate. For years, the House has added new methods of letting people from around the state get informed and involved. 

Here are four ways: 

• Learn—The whole legislative process, from start to finish, is explained at leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/Overview.aspx 
• Watch—Go to TVW.org for broadcasts of debates, votes, committee meetings, and other events in the House and Senate. There’s also an extensive archive of past events, if you couldn’t watch it live. 
• Research—To look up legislation by lawmaker or topic, visit app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/ 
• Testify—The 2021 Legislative Session proved that remote testimony is a great way for everyone to have a chance to share their voice. The remote committee testimony system will continue to be in use for all testimony for all bills. 

A more comprehensive guide is available from the non-partisan legislative website available here. 

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Virtual Town Hall 

If you didn’t take part in our recent 46th District Virtual Town Hall, you can watch it here:

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Keep in Touch 

Please contact my office if you have questions, comments, or a story to share. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope to hear from you soon!