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Report from Olympia | February 6, 2018
 Sens. Lynda Wilson (R-Vancouver), Jan Angel (R-Port Orchard) and Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley) serving on the Senate Law and Justice Committee
Dear
Friends and Neighbors,
The 2018 Legislature
has completed its fourth week; there are five weeks to go. On Friday we
reached an important deadline for bills to pass policy (non-fiscal) committees
if they are to move forward. I continue to be concerned about the new Senate majority’s
focus on passing controversial bills that appear aimed at pleasing special-interest
groups in Seattle. On issues ranging from abortion-insurance mandates to even a
new state income tax on investments, their leadership seems determined to
neglect the views of the rest of the state.
That said, I have been
able to gain bipartisan support for a number of my bills. You may read below about
some of those measures that have survived the policy-cutoff deadline.
Today marks the birth
of our 40th U.S. President, Ronald Reagan. President Reagan was born on Feb. 6,
1911, and passed away on June 5, 2004, but his legacy is still having an impact
today. I spoke on the floor of the Senate this morning to ask the body
to remember the leadership and principles of one of the greatest presidents of
my lifetime.
Thanks to everyone who has
taken the time to contact me this session about issues that are important to
you. If you are going to be at the Capitol during the session I hope you will
give me a call or stop by. It’s always great to see people from home while I’m
representing you in Olympia.
Sincerely,
Senator
Mike Padden
An effort to rename a
segment of state Highway 27 after the student slain in September’s Freeman High
School shooting is now a reality. Last fall, I joined the Spokane Valley City
Council and more than 7,000 individuals in urging the state Transportation Commission
to designate the stretch of road as the “Sam Strahan Memorial Highway.”
This designation
offers a fitting expression of our community’s sorrow and grief. Strahan
interceded when a classmate pulled loaded weapons from his backpack in a
crowded school hallway. His sacrifice almost certainly prevented harm to other
students.
The commission voted unanimously to adopt the new
designation. The Sam Strahan Memorial Highway runs from the Freeman area to
Spokane Valley.
In addition to the signage (pictured above) which is now a visible
memorial, the heroism of Strahan is also being remembered in a music video set
to come out in a few weeks. A Central Valley High School student, Jenna
Johansen, wrote “Remember Me” in the days following the shooting, and the song
was instrumental to both mourning the loss of Strahan and a tribute to his
actions.
 Sen. Padden is the sponsor of the police body cam bill, which received a hearing before the Senate Law and Justice Committee.
On Thursday, the
Senate Law and Justice Committee voted unanimously to advance Senate Bill 6408
– my bipartisan measure aimed at clarifying the rules surrounding the use of
police body cameras.
In 2016, the
Legislature passed House Bill 2362, which established public-disclosure and
other requirements relating to body-worn camera recordings and created the
Joint Legislative Task Force on Body Worn Cameras.
We had great
participation on the task force, and the result is that we ended up with a bill
that is somewhat narrow, but is a consensus measure that we can all support.
Body cams are
generally a good thing, and they show what they show. They protect the public
against police excesses, which do happen, and they protect officers from false
allegations.
Overall this is a
balanced bill that supports truth and accountability while protecting privacy
and decency in the process.
The measure would make
permanent the existing requirements and Public Records Act provisions governing
body-worn cameras and apply them to all law-enforcement and corrections
agencies deploying body-worn cameras. My bill also would strengthen privacy
protections for intimate images in such recordings, and clarify
record-retention requirements for body-worn camera recordings.
Kelly Starr with the
Washington Coalition against Domestic Violence, which was represented on the
task force, testified that the bill provides important privacy protections for
the survivors of domestic violence and abuse. According to Starr, many abuse
victims are reluctant to come forward out of privacy concerns. Without the
protections found in the bill, she testified, fewer victims may come forward.
A number of citizens
also testified that they support the bill, due to the privacy protections
afforded to children captured in body-cam video recordings.
Here are updates on a
few of the bills I have introduced this year:
- Senate Bill 6555 is my measure to assist religious
organizations in providing temporary housing to the homeless. Religious
organizations hosting homeless families need relief from certain fire
regulations designed for more permanent types of housing. This bill would remove
some of these unnecessary barriers to helping people. Steve Allen with Family
Promise of Spokane testified on the bill at a hearing held last week in the
Senate Committee on Human Services and Corrections. The bill failed to gain
approval prior to the cut off for action on policy bills.
-
Senate Bill 6410 is my school safety bill.
It would require first responders to notify all schools in the vicinity,
including private schools, if there is a situation that might warrant a
lockdown or evacuation. The bill received a hearing in the Early Learning and
K-12 Education committee on Jan. 29, and was amended and advanced by the
committee on Feb. 1. It is now awaiting action by the Ways and Means fiscal
committee.
-
Senate Bill 5988 focuses on protecting
children and dependent adults from exposure to heroin. The bill would expand
the list of drugs for which a person can be found guilty of endangerment, if
the person permits a child or dependent adult to be exposed to, ingest or have
contact with the drug. A hearing on the bill was held on Jan. 18, and a vote on
the measure was scheduled in the Law and Justice Committee on Jan. 25, but was
removed from the schedule by the committee chair.
-
Senate Bill 5987 would allow judges to impose
conditions of release for any felony, gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor
case. It would also add protecting the public from harm as a purpose for
imposing condition of release. In a 5-4 decision last year, the state Supreme
Court ruled that random urinalysis tests are unconstitutional for people who
are only accused of DUIs not convicted, . Based purely on a technicality, the
state Supreme Court held that a judge can't require a person arrested for a DUI
to abstain from, and randomly be tested for, alcohol. This bill is a common-sense
solution focused on putting public safety first. The bill was advanced by the
Law and Justice Committee on Jan. 25, and passed to the Rules Committee – the
final stop before being considered by the full Senate.
Spokesman-Review
| Jim
Camden
OLYMPIA – Medical insurance plans in
Washington that offer maternity coverage would also have to cover abortions and
contraception under a bill that passed the Senate on Wednesday.
Democrats had tried
for several years, when they were in the minority, to get a vote on what they
have labeled the Reproductive Parity Act. In the majority this year, they had
the votes to bring it to the floor.
“The decision to have
an abortion is a difficult, painful decision,” said Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake
Stevens, who has sponsored the bill for six years. “It’s her decision. This
places trust where it belongs.”
Republicans, who at
one point argued it should be called the Abortion Insurance Mandate Law,
offered several amendments, including allowing exemptions for employers with
objections based on religion or conscience.
Sen. Mike Baumgartner,
R-Spokane, offered amendments to ban abortions for sex selection, sexual
orientation and Down syndrome. “Those of us who believe abortion involves two
people believe all God’s children should be protected,” he said.
Sen. Mike Padden,
R-Spokane Valley, said a ban on sex selection abortions was necessary to
protect girls.
“Little girls have
every right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said. “This
amendment is necessary so we don’t have pre-natal sex discrimination.”
Click here to read the full story in the
Spokesman-Review.
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