Friends Committee
on Washington Public Policy
Action Alert
February 11, 2006
Friends. There are three bills that
require immediate action this week if they are going to survive
1. Prison Industries Bill
Action:
Contact House Rules Committee members and ask that HJR 4221 be pulled from
the Rules Committee and sent to the House floor so that floor action can
be taken before the cutoff, scheduled for February 14. Rules Committee
members are:
Frank Chopp - Chair (360) 786-7920;
Richard DeBolt (360) 786-7896;
Mike Armstrong - (360) 786-7832;
Glenn Anderson (360) 786-7876;
Brian Blake (360) 786-7870;
Judy Clibborn (360) 786-7926;
Doug Ericksen (360) 786-7980;
Dennis Flannigan (360) 786-7930;
Bill Grant (360) 786-7828;
Zack Hudgins (360) 786-7828;
Sam Hunt (360) 786-7992;
Lynn Kessler (360) 786-7904;
John Lovick (360) 786-7892;
Joyce McDonald (360) 786-7948;
Dawn Morrell (360) 786-7968;
Sharon Tomiko Santos (360) 786-7944;
John Serben (360) 786-7922;
Jan Shabro (360) 786-7866;
Rodney Tom (360) 786-7848.
Background:
This is a bill to reinstate Class I prison industries, which were
eliminated in 2004 on constitutional grounds. Class I Prison industries
train inmates in employable job skills and provide the best paying inmate
jobs.
Over 50 percent of the inmates confined in prisons were not gainfully
employed when they committed their crime. Workers in these programs are
better able to pay their restitution to their victims, compensate the
victims fund, pay their sentencing financial obligations, and pay their
DOC incarceration fees. Some even manage after this to send money to their
spouses and children outside. In addition, they learn valuable job and
work place skills that help them to succeed on release and not to reoffend
and return to prison, saving the tax payers still more.
This bill would reinstate this successful prison program. It contains new
language, introduced by our lobbyist, Roger Kluck, that would bar prison
industries from unfairly competing with Washington businesses and engaging
in slave labor with a captive workforce.
This measure already passed the senate last session, on a unanimous vote.
The House Rules Committee has placed HJR 4221 on the list for second
reading. If passed by both houses, the measure, which is an amendment to
Washington's state constitution, will be put on the ballot next November.
2. Help Create a Committee to Review Offender
Programs
Action:
Contact Sen. Lisa Brown (Senate Majority Leader) and ask that SSB 6308 be
pulled from the Rules Committee and sent to the Senate floor so that floor
action can occur before the cutoff, scheduled for February 14, 2006.
Please contact Sen. Brown at (360) 786-7604.
SSB 6308 can be a vehicle for positive and measurable change.
Contact information for members of the Senate Rules Committee can be found
at
http://www1.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/RULE/members.htm
Additional information about the bill, together with the full text, can be
found at
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6308
Background:
Studies show that three out of five offenders will re-offend after release
and some federal studies suggest that this number is as high as two out of
three. Programs that give offenders skills and support systems have proven
successful in reducing recidivism. Crime victims also support programs
that can put offenders back into community as productive members of
society.
SSB 6308 will create a joint committee to review offender programs,
sentencing, and supervision of the offenders upon reentry into the
community, with the goal of increasing public safety, maximizing
rehabilitation of the offenders, and lowering recidivism.
The committee must review and make recommendations regarding the type of
offender that would most benefit from training and education; the type of
education and training that would be most beneficial; changes to the
sentencing law and policies that recognize "good time" served; changes to
the supervision of offenders once released into the community; and methods
for evaluating the effectiveness of these programs.
3. The bill to protect our National Guard from DU
is still alive.
Action:
Please call both your Senate and House legislators and urge them to
support the SB 6732, Supplemental Budget in the Senate Ways and Means
committee. If Sen. Rosa Franklin is your senator, please thank her for
her continuing support. Please ask friends or groups that you are in
contact with across the state to do the same. We are making an impact.
To contact your own legislators, follow the links at
http://www.access.wa.gov/government/state_legislature.aspx to the
Senate or House, then follow the directions to find your legislators'
contact information. You may use
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ to find out who your
legislators are.
Background:
Senate Bill 6732 would require Washington National Guard members to be
provided with the best available testing for depleted uranium exposure on
their return from overseas duty. SB 6732 died in the Senate Ways and
Means Committee, but has been resurrected as a Supplemental Budget item.
Information about the bill, including a link to its full text, may be
found at
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6732&year=2006
Thank you,
Kris Stroad Moore
Deric Young
Marilou Rickert
FCWPP Legislative Committee
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To contact your FCWPP Lobbyist, Roger Kluck, email
[email protected] or
call him at 206-856-4444.
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