Welcome to Week 10 of the Legislative Session!
As promised, every Monday of the session we’re sending you our “Top 5” bills that have hearings or some kind of action happening in the legislature this week. Last week was the session cutoff for bills to advance out of their “chamber of origin.” Bills that passed now move to the opposite chamber where they will go through the process of public hearings & testimony, executive sessions and floor debates once again. This gives citizens the opportunity to continue to influence these bills. We have a lot of bad bills we need to keep fighting – please keep taking action. And please consider becoming a CLW member if you aren’t already – our Legislative Action Team could use you!
Click the links below the image to sign in and have your position noted for the legislative record (this is quick, easy and IMPORTANT!) For more calls to action, visit our Legislative Action Center
SB 5462 has a hearing in the House Education Committee on Monday afternoon at 1:30PM. This bill would require OSPI to update its requirements about inclusive learning standards to include the histories, contributions and perspectives of LGBTQ people. The Washington State LGBTQ commission would be performing oversight of these new learning standards.
We must stop teaching kids that their value and worth is based on the color of their skin, their sexual preferences or their gender. We must stop teaching students they are victims because of things they cannot control. We have a youth mental health crisis and it is undeniably tied to these teachings. We must commit to being inclusive to ALL students, to teaching kindness and compassion, no matter who you are or where you come from.
Sign in CON by 12:30PM Monday, 3/13/23
SB 5078: This bill should really be entitled the “Put the FFL Out of Business Act of 2023.” This bill, which greatly expands the definition of “public nuisance” essentially asks to give the Attorney General unbridled discretion and power to put any FFL they want out of business with frivolous nuisance claims. This bill would give the Attorney General the same kind of unchecked powers that our Governor had for nearly one thousand days. The passage of this would result in significant damage to the FFL industry.
SB 5078 has a public hearing in the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee on 3/14. Sign in CON by 9:30AM Tuesday, 3/14/23
SB 5054: This bill would create a mandated allowance of “professional learning hours” in addition to what teachers already receive. After closing schools for nearly two years, Washington students have suffered significant learning losses in math and reading. Rather than find solutions to help get students back on track this bill would actually reduce the classroom learning hours for students from certified teachers.
This bill has a hearing in the House Education Committee on 3/14 at 4PM. Please sign in CON before 3PM on 3/14/23.
HB 1469: The “Shield Law”: this bill would essentially make Washington a sanctuary state for “protected health care” (abortion and “gender affirming” services). HB 1469 is problematic in that Washington courts will not be honoring the court actions of other states, which would very likely lead to other states not honoring the court actions of Washington. This would lead to lawsuits that would come at great expense to the taxpayers of Washington. Many opponents of HB 1469 are concerned that this could have very severe impact in Washington’s relationships with other states, resulting in grave consequences.
HB 1469 has a hearing in the Senate Law & Justice Committee on Thursday at 8AM. Please sign in CON before 7AM on 3/16/23.
SB 5242: Prohibiting cost sharing for abortion. Essentially this means that there can be no co-pay or out of pocket expense for abortion, meaning that taxpayers would fund or private insurance companies would be on the hook – passing that along to subscribers, of course.
SB 5242 has a hearing in the House Health Care and Wellness Committee on Friday at 8AM. Please sign in CON before 7AM on 3/17/23.
