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FCWPP April 8, 2004 The
2004 Regular Session of the 58th Legislature adjourned Sine Die on
Thursday, March 11, 2004. We
thank you for the opportunity to be a witness to Friends' testimonies
among our elected officials in Eve
Rickert as our intern joined our Lobbyist, Alan Mountjoy-Venning to
represent Friends Committee for Washington Public Policy during the
session. Their efforts were
supplemented with help from the other legislative committee members and
those of you who acted on an alert or provided a word of encouragement.
We also continued to develop our relationships with our allies. At
the beginning of this year’s legislative session the Legislative
Committee set two short-term priorities and one long-term priority.
The short-term priorities were: 1.
Passage of a bill requiring accountability for corporate tax
exemptions. 2.
Passage of the Food for Hungry Families Act. Early
in the session, we added stopping the “eco-terrorism” bill to our list
of short-term priorities. The
Food for Hungry Families Act (SSB 6411) was passed in the final days of
the session by both the Senate and the House and signed by the Governor on
March 22, 2004. This
legislation will help reduce barriers to food stamp access, add school
lunch programs and provide temporary benefits for those coming off
Temporary Aid for Needy Families. We
did not succeed in passing legislation requiring accountability from large
corporations receiving tax breaks. HB
2654 would have required a report of all tax expenditures (otherwise known
as tax breaks) in every biennial budget and HB 1869 required a review of
all the existing tax exemptions. These
bills would bring accountability and transparency to how businesses and
others are benefiting from tax expenditures and what the benefits from
these tax expenditures are (i.e. Jobs produced and wage levels of those
jobs). Both bills passed the
House, but died in the Senate. The
“eco-terrorism” bill died (and the portion of it that was resurrected
in the supplemental budget was defeated). FCWPP’S leadership role in
opposing the “eco-terrorism” bill was noted by animal rights groups
and prompted a letter from Jeffrey Kerr, general counsel to PETA (People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), FCWPP’S
long-term priority was to develop legislation and support to address
post-release issues for people who have served jail and prison sentences. Dan
Clark has made substantial progress toward forming a coalition to address
post-release issues. We
also monitored and occasionally testified on a variety of issues,
including anti-death penalty, restoration of voting rights to ex-convicts,
sentencing issues, opposing repeal of the estate tax, pre-natal care for
immigrant women, restoration of Medicaid coverage to children, poverty and
homelessness, ecological stewardship, civil rights and participatory
democracy (especially with regard to the primary elections legislation). Some
Medicaid coverage was restored to children, although not as much as we
hoped. A bill that would have
severely weakened control of storm water runoff from industrial and
construction sites was substantially improved before passage, although
another harmful bill, one delaying enforcement regulations for the control
of off-shore ballast water discharge by international vessels, was passed
largely as originally written. In
the course of the session, Eve Rickert, FCWPP’S lobbyist intern, read
testimony prepared by Dennis Mills, an Olympia Friend, before the House
against a memorial requesting that Congress continue to maintain military
bases in Washington at their current strength for economic reasons, and
asked the legislature to seek ways for the state to begin building an
economy that does not depend on war. On
the whole, FCWPP did very well this session and has made additional
strides toward distinguishing its voice in the legislature.
At
Steering Committee Meeting on Friday, April 23 at Quarterly Meeting we
will be looking for your input on how we can build on the successes we
have had, and in particular, how we can increase participation among
Friends with their elected legislators.
We look forward to hearing your ideas.
Thank you again for your support. Marilou
Rickert and Deric Young FCWPP
Legislative Committee
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