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Friends
Committee on Criminal
Justice Alert March 18, 2005 |
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It
has been a wild week in Olympia.
We thank those of you who called your legislators on the three
criminal justice bills SB 5339, SB 5611 and HB 1359.
A flurry of last minute calls almost resulted in the passage of
SB 5339 related to discharge of sentence and restoration of civil
rights, including the right to vote, for offenders who have served all
their time in prison and community custody (parole), and are doing all
they can to pay their monetary obligations.
Senator Eide's Legislative Aide said we had a great phone
mobilization effort.
1.
SB 5611
Changing the interest rate on legal financial obligations The
good news is that SB 5611 related to reducing the interest rate on Legal
and Financial obligations passed on the floor of the Senate.
However its House counterpart, HB 1359 was not voted on,
apparently due to criticism of being soft on crime.
SB
5611 will reduce the interest rate on monetary obligations included in
criminal judgments from the current 12% to 2% points over the T-bill
rate, currently about 4.5%. This lessens the demoralizing burden of
ex-offender debt, and makes more ex-offender resources available for
critical housing, treatment, and family support needs. The
lesson we learned is that we must start calls to Committee members and
Leadership steadily next week on SB 5611.
Please contact your House Representatives now and urge them to
approve a House version of this bill!
We need to target the following Representatives
Frank Chopp
(43rd)
(360) 786-7920
[email protected]
Lynn Kessler
(24th)
(360) 786-7904
[email protected]
John Lovick
(44th)
(360) 786-7892
[email protected]
Sam Hunt
(22nd)
(360) 786-7992
[email protected]
Bill Grant
(16th)
(360) 786-7828
[email protected]
Sharon Tomiko Santos
(37th)
(360) 786-7944
[email protected] Although
the leadership may be in favor of the bill, they need encouragement to
be smart on crime and rise up to the challenge of being labeled
soft on crime.
Tell them this bill is critical for ex-offender success in the
community-meaning less crime and fewer victims--and the reduction of
prison and criminal justice costs.
2.
SJR 8206
Prison Labor The
Senate has also passed SJR 8206 to reinstate Class I prison industries
in Washington State. The resolution will be heard in the House Committee
for Criminal Justice and Corrections March 24, 2005. Unfortunately as
drafted the resolution does not protect inmates from potential abuses.
An amendment has been drafted that we wish the Committee to adopt
to allow Class I industries to go forward while protecting the inmates
in the program.
The proposed amendment would see to it that contracted prison
labor is Voluntary; Compensated; and Safe.
At this point we do not know who will be sponsoring the amendment
officially. We
need people to call and e-mail all committee members to let them know
this amendment is important and to urge them to support it. If you are a
constituent of theirs be sure to tell them that. Please call AND write
each. Do several different ones each day to spread the contacts over
several days. The
Committee members are:
Al O'Brien - Chair (1st)
[email protected]
360.786.7928
Jeannie Darneille (27th)
[email protected]
360.786.7974
Kirk Pearson (39th)
[email protected]
360.786.7816
John Ahern (6th)
[email protected]
360.786.7962
Ruth Kagi (32nd)
[email protected]
360.786.7910
Steve Kirby (29th)
[email protected]
360.786.7996
Chris Strow (10th)
[email protected]
360.786.7884 Unless
your legislators or their staff know you, remember to include your
address to indicate you are a constituent. Please
send our lobbyist Roger Kluck or me an email to let me know of any
communications you make on these issues, and send me a copy of any
emails you send.
Finally,
here is a reflection from Sandy Lake
First Nation from the Oji-Cree community in Ontario. Probably
one of the most serious gaps in the system is the different perception
of wrongdoing and how to best treat it.
In the non-Indian community, committing a crimes seems to mean
that the individual is a bad person and therefore must be
punished…. The Indian
communities view a wrongdoing as a misbehavior which requires
teaching or an illness which requires healing. (emphasis added) Thanks. Deric
Young FCWPP
Legislative Committee Clerk 360-790-7502 To
contact FCWPP Lobbyist Roger Kluck, email [email protected] or
call 206-856-4444.
For information on FCWPP, and how to contribute, go to www.quaker.org/fcwpp.
Use
http://dfind.leg.wa.gov/dfinder.cfm
to identify your legislators. Contact information for your senators can
then be found at http://www.leg.wa.gov/senate/members/default.htm,
and for representatives is at http://www.leg.wa.gov/house/default.htm.
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