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FRIENDS COMMITTEE ON WASHINGTON STATE PUBLIC POLICY
ACTION ALERT
 February 1, 2003

ANTI-TERRORISM BILL, DEFEATED LAST YEAR, IS REINTRODUCED AND SCHEDULED FOR HEARING:

House Bill 1210*(please see below) is a bill essentially identical to last year�s anti-terrorism legislation, which was brought to a vote in the House by majority Democrats and passed, but later blocked in the Democratic majority Senate. This year, the Senate is in Republican control. This year�s version will be heard in the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee at 1:30 on Wednesday the 5th.

The bill is bad law and doesn�t protect us from terrorism. Among other things, it creates the new crime of Felony Terrorism which expands the death penalty in this state, and has such broad language that a death sentence could result even in cases where no one is killed or injured. The Bush Administration pushed "Mini-Patriot" bills like this one in all 50 states last year and had considerable success, but Washington State rejected such reactionary laws that will do nothing to protect us from terrorism, and even potentially threaten the liberty of law-abiding citizens.

Even Attorney General Ashcroft, when asked whether the Federal law on which this is modeled would have done anything to prevent the events of September 11, 2001, said "no." Neither would this bill, nor would it make the prosecution of crimes more certain or just.

ACTION: Contact House Leadership and members of the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee (listed below), and your two Representatives. 

Express opposition to House Bill 1210. Ask that they explain how provisions in the bill would make us more secure. Politely insist that existing laws are sufficient to prosecute crimes related to terrorist acts. 

HOUSE LEADERSHIP
Speaker of the House -- Frank Chopp (District 43) [email protected]  (360) 786-7920
Speaker Pro Tempore -- John Lovick (District 44) [email protected] (360) 786-7892 
Majority Leader -- Lynn Kessler (District 24) [email protected]  (360) 786-7904 
Majority Floor Leader -- Brian Hatfield (District 19) [email protected]  (360) 786-7806 
Assistant Majority Floor Leader -- Sam Hunt (District 22) [email protected]  (360) 786-7992
Democratic Caucus Chair -- Bill Grant (District 16) [email protected]  (360) 786-7828
Democratic Caucus co-chair -- Laura Ruderman (45) [email protected]  (360) 786-7822 
Democratic Whip -- Sharon Tomiko Santos (District 37) [email protected]  (360) 786-7944 
Assistant Democratic Whip -- Zack Hudgins (District 33) [email protected]  (360) 786-7956 
Assistant Democratic Whip -- Dave Upthegrove (District 33) [email protected]  (360) 786-7868
Assistant Democratic Whip -- Deb Wallace (District 17) [email protected]  (360) 786-7976

HOUSE CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONS
Chairman Al O'Brien (D-District 1) [email protected]  (360) 786-7928
Vice-chairwoman Jeannie Darneille (D-District 27) [email protected]  (360) 786-7974
Tom Mielke (R-District 18) [email protected]  (360) 786-7850
Ruth Kagi (D-District 32) [email protected]  (360) 786-7910
John Ahern (R-District 6) [email protected]  (360) 786-7962
John Lovick (D-District 44) [email protected]  (360) 786-7892 
Kirk Pearson (R-District 39) [email protected]  (360) 786-7816

Hunt, Santos, Upthegrove, and Darnielle voted against the legislation last year; please thank them for their efforts last year. All the rest listed who were in the Legislature last year (Hudgins and Wallace are new this year) voted for this bad law. Urge them to vote no this time. Please contact leadership even if they do not represent your district.

If you would like to look at the bill itself go to: http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2003-04/House/1200-1224/1210_01212003.txt

When calling, writing, or sending e-mail as suggested in the Alerts, please identify yourself as a Friend and as a member of FCWPP. Our effectiveness is enhanced when legislators hear from people who respond to our issues.

What have you learned about that fits Friends� Legislative priorities? Read our Policy Statement
and you will see that many concerns could be priorities � they just need champions! Please call or e-mail me for information, help, or to go over legislative issues that concern you. I appreciate hearing from Friends. 

Thank you,

Alan Mountjoy-Venning

Friends Committee on Washington State Public Policy
P.O. Box 452
Olympia, WA 98507-0452
[email protected] 
360 556-2584 cell
360 943-2503 home

Use http://dfind.leg.wa.gov/dfinder.cfm  to find out who your legislators are. Go to http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/ses.htm  for extensive online information on legislators, legislation, our State Constitution and existing state law, among many other things.

How to Contact Your Legislators:
Call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 or
Write your Senator and representatives at:

Senator _______________
PO Box 4048
Olympia, WA 98504-0482 

Representative ___________
PO Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504-0600

On the web at: http://www.leg.wa.gov/  follow the link to the Senate or House, and click on your member�s name to get their e-mail address. 

If you have questions, please contact Alan Mountjoy-Venning, FCWPP Lobbyist, at [email protected]  or by calling 360 556-2584.

 
*Friends,

In my Alert dated February 1, 2003 I erroneously stated that House Bill 1210
kept the death penalty provisions that were in last year's anti-terrorism
bill. The good news is that none of the new felonies proposed by this year's
bill are subject to the death penalty. To their credit, the Attorney
General and the Governor's staff listened to the debate during the
legislative process last year. The bad news is that by removing the death
penalty provisions and separating the creating of the anti-terrorism
offenses from the wire-tapping provisions that were part of last year's
legislation, this bill has lost most of the slight opposition it faced last
year.

My apologies to those who used my misinformation to contact legislators. We
will re-examine our position on this bill. Anyone who would like to help
with that reevaluation is encouraged to contact me.

Alan Mountjoy-Venning
Friends Committee on Washington State Public Policy
P.O. Box 452
Olympia, WA 98507-0452
[email protected]
360 556-2584