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Law & Justice Committee sends wide slate of bills to Rules after executive session
Summary
The Senate Law & Justice Committee reviewed more than a dozen bills in an executive session on March 20 and recommended most for further action, adopting several technical and policy amendments along the way.
The Washington State Senate Law & Justice Committee met in executive session on March 20 and considered a large package of bills. Committee members moved and voted to recommend most bills for further action; the committee recorded due-pass recommendations on a slate of measures and adopted or rejected several amendments during the session.
Key outcomes (votes recorded in committee):
- House Bill 10-46 (immunity for rescuers in vehicles): Committee adopted Amendment Alpha (requires a rescuer to notify law enforcement or call 911 before entering a vehicle to qualify for immunity) and gave HB 10-46 a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- House Bill 11-12 (removes city residency requirement for judges pro tem in large municipalities): Received a due-pass recommendation to Rules; no amendments were offered in committee.
- Engrossed Substitute House Bill 11-49 (preventing cruelty to animals): Two amendments were considered. Amendment Bravo (requiring officer determinations of abandonment to be based on eyewitness or substantial objective facts) failed; Amendment Charlie (broadening accepted husbandry practices by removing the word “commercial”) also failed. The bill received a due-pass recommendation and will go to Rules.
- House Bill 1,007 (small-claims notice requirements): Received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- Engrossed House Bill 10-52 (hate-crime language clarification): Committee adopted a striking amendment (Delta) to revert some floor changes and align language with prior code approaches; the amended bill received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- House Bill 12-15 (removing references to pregnancy from the Natural Death Act model directive): Committee considered Amendment Echo (which would have applied the change prospectively and preserved existing directives) but did not adopt it; the bill received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- House Bill 14-84 (exceptional sentences for offenses resulting in pregnancy of a victim): Received a due-pass recommendation to Rules with no committee amendments.
- House Bill 14-57 (electronic monitoring for certain released violent predators): Received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- Substitute House Bill 12-44 (safe driving course alternative to license suspension): Received a due-pass recommendation and was sent to Transportation.
- Substitute House Bill 12-05 (distribution of forged digital likeness): Received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- Engross Substitute House Bill 16-20 (limitations and parenting plans): See separate article for fuller coverage. The committee adopted a striking amendment and recommended the bill for a due pass to Rules.
- Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 11-74 (court interpreters updates, by request of the Administrative Office of the Courts): Received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 14-40 (seizure and forfeiture procedures): Committee adopted a technical amendment (India) at the request of the Department of Fish and Wildlife and considered and later withdrew a provision related to airport port district retained forfeiture proceeds; the bill received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- House Bill 17-31 (unclaimed property held by museums/historical societies): Considered technical (Kilo) and substantive (Lima) amendments; Lima (additional right-of-action for property owners disabled at time of prior notice) failed; the bill received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
- House Bill 13-61 (process-service updates requested by the Secretary of State): Received a due-pass recommendation to Rules.
Committee discussion varied from short staff summaries to extended debate on family-law measures and animal-cruelty standards. Senator Wagner explained the intent behind Amendment Alpha to HB 10-46: "[It] would require that a person, pause for a minute, call 911." That amendment passed.
Next steps: Measures receiving a due-pass recommendation will be scheduled by the Rules Committee for possible floor action; bills sent to other committees (for example HB 12-44 to Transportation) will be considered under those committees' schedules.
