Essential information on each bill is below. For more details, click on the bill number – e.g., “SB 5000.” The new page will show the progress of the bill, videos of debate, and the link to send a comment to your legislator about the bill.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5223 enhances public safety and improves the accuracy of criminal records. This bill ensures that individuals charged with gross misdemeanors—such as DUI, domestic violence, and theft—are properly fingerprinted, closing an important gap in law enforcement’s ability to track repeat offenders and maintain accurate records. Under current law, fingerprinting is required for felony arrests, but it is inconsistently applied to gross misdemeanors. This means that individuals charged with serious but non-felony offenses can sometimes avoid having their fingerprints recorded, making it harder for law enforcement and the courts to track criminal history accurately. By allowing judges to ensure fingerprinting at preliminary hearings or arraignments, this bill strengthens the integrity of the justice system. Additionally, the bill expands the authority of law enforcement officers to collect fingerprints from adults who are cited and released or issued a summons. This provision is essential for ensuring that those who commit crimes are properly identified, even if they are not immediately taken into custody. It helps prevent individuals from slipping through the cracks simply because they were not formally arrested at the time of the incident.
Bill Summary
On occasion, there are bills or amendments dropped to address issues I was not even aware of. To think that an amendment like this is even necessary makes me sick to my stomach.
SB 5227 proposes amendments to existing law, specifically targeting the creation, distribution, and possession of child sex dolls. I was not even aware there was such an item available on the market. The bill defines key terms like “child sex doll,” “digitization,” and “sexually explicit conduct,” establishing new offenses and associated penalties (class B felonies). It also outlines procedures for seizure and forfeiture of related materials and assets, including provisions for claiming seized property and the distribution of proceeds. Finally, it amends existing forfeiture laws to include child sex dolls as forfeitable items.
Please support this bill so that Washington can lawfully address those sick enough to create, distribute, buy and/or use a doll that in any way resembles a child.
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Housing
Supporting economic security by updating provisions related to the home security fund and the essential needs and housing support program.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5232 seeks to improve economic security in Washington State by revising the home security fund and the essential needs and housing support program. It clarifies that essential needs or housing support is not an entitlement and sets specific eligibility criteria for low or extremely low-income elderly or disabled adults transitioning off benefits. The bill introduces a verification requirement for referrals to essential needs and housing support, allows for direct cash assistance under certain conditions, and mandates that funds be used flexibly according to clients’ housing stability plans. Additionally, it establishes a new surcharge on recorded documents to fund various housing support initiatives, ensuring that a significant portion is allocated to local homeless housing plans. Moreover, the bill amends existing laws to enhance support for extremely low-income households and streamline eligibility for public assistance programs. It designates supported projects as permanent supportive housing for households earning at or below 30% of the area median income and tasks the Department of Commerce with administering the landlord mitigation program using funds from the document recording fee.
This bill expands eligibility for the Essential Needs and Housing Support (HEN) program to a broader group, including people who are no longer qualifying for federal benefits or have transitioned off programs. This will likely increase reliance on state-funded programs without clear safeguards to ensure that resources are effectively allocated to those who are truly in need. Furthermore, the bill raises the administrative rate for HEN support entities from 7% to 15%, aligning it with the Home Security Fund’s administration rate. While this may help streamline operations, increasing administrative costs will divert funds away from direct services to those in need. This is simply a redirection of limited resources from housing assistance and support services toward bureaucratic costs, The bill allows for direct cash assistance through debit cards, transportation vouchers, and gift cards, among other methods. Providing direct cash assistance will most assuredly lead to misuse or lack of accountability. The lack of oversight on how funds are spent, particularly if recipients use the funds for non-housing-related needs, undermines the intent of the program to address immediate housing stability. Additionally, the bill reduces the frequency of eligibility verification from every three months to every 12 months. This reduction in frequency allows individuals who no longer meet the criteria for assistance to continue receiving benefits and divert resources away from those who truly need them. Lastly, the bill does not include any new funding or appropriation, raising concerns about how existing resources will be stretched to meet the increased demand.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5238 modifies Washington state law regarding reckless driving by expanding the definition of reckless driving to include two specific scenarios: (1) driving in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property, and (2) intentionally driving more than 30 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. The bill maintains the existing penalty structure for reckless driving, which is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. The legislation also preserves existing provisions related to driver’s license suspension, which requires a minimum 30-day suspension for reckless driving. Additionally, the bill retains complex rules about credit for previous suspensions and requirements for ignition interlock devices, particularly in cases where the reckless driving charge originated from an alcohol or drug-related driving offense. The bill is set to take effect on September 1, 2025, and primarily aims to create clearer legal standards for prosecuting dangerous driving behavior, specifically targeting extremely high-speed driving as a distinct form of reckless conduct.
Bill Summary
Senate Bill 5239 establishes new requirements for the retention of hospital medical records. Under the new provisions, hospitals are mandated to retain and preserve all medical records for a minimum of 26 years from the date the record was created. This applies to both records created before and after the effective date of the bill, with specific exceptions for records that were already disposed of in compliance with previous regulations. Additionally, hospitals are allowed to maintain records in various formats, including paper, microfilm, and electronic media.
The bill also clarifies that all information collected during each unique patient visit is considered a medical record. In the event that a hospital ceases operations, it is required to make immediate arrangements for the preservation of its records, subject to approval by the department. Furthermore, the department is tasked with defining the types of records and the necessary information to be included in the retained medical records, which may also be kept in photographic form as per existing regulations. The bill has unanimous bipartisan support in the Senate.