House passes domestic partnerships

Yesterday the House passed SB5336, instituting a domestic partnership registry in the state for gay and lesbian couples along with elderly heterosexual couples. The vote was very lopsided due to the partisan split, and had little crossovers in contrast with last month's Senate vote where four conservative Democrats opposed the bill. In all, only two Democrats, Reps. Tami Green and Mark Miloscia, voted against the bill while three Republicans, Reps. Shirley Hankins, Fred Jarrett, and Maureen Walsh, crossed in support. I'm quite pleased that this important legislation has now been passed and is sure to be signed towards the end of the session, though am disappointed in a few GOP representatives who had expressed support for such a bill in the past. However, this is not the time for disappointment, as GLBT citizens will soon be allowed an important step on the journey to full marriage equality.

House passes medical pot bill

And did so rather easily, by a margin of 64-30. The Senate passed SB6032 39-10 in mid-March and the bill will go to the governor's desk for passage, though I have yet to hear her intents.

Domestic partnership bill passes Senate

Senator Ed Murray's SB5336 has passed the Senate on a 28-19 vote, the first step to making it law. Considering that Chris Gregoire has stated she supports it and a majority of House members are signed on as cosponsors, this fight is pretty much over. It was not without the usual bitching by Val Stevens, but all in all this was fairly easy. Two senators, Paull Shin and Cheryl Pflug, did not vote. The roll call went as follows:

Voting Yea:
Senators Berkey, Brandland [R], Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, Murray, Oemig, Poulsen, Prentice, Pridemore, Regala, Rockefeller, Spanel, Tom, and Weinstein.

Voting Nay:
Senators Benton, Carrell, Clements, Delvin, Hargrove [D], Hatfield [D], Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Rasmussen [D], Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon [D], Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli.

Gov opposes impeachment bill

Calling Sen. Eric Oemig's bill seeking to impeach President Bush a "distraction" and a "waste of time," Gov. Chris Gregoire joins federal liberal leaders Patty Murray and Jay Inslee in opposition. Considering that both Frank Chopp and Lisa Brown don't want to take legislative time on the bill, I think it's pretty safe to say the impeachment bill has no chance of passage at this point. While I think this is the right move by Gregoire as far as wasting time and money on something largely toothless, I'm curious if her opposition will turn off urban lefties as her reelection campaign approaches. If there is an acceptable third party option come 2008, we all know what a difference a few votes can make.

Gun control bill a tough sell even to Democrats

According to an article in today's Seattle P-I, Democratic legislative leaders are predicting Senator Tom's SB5197 will finally get a vote in the Senate but will likely die in the House, where Speaker Chopp says many in his own caucus oppose it. The bill, which has often been proposed in recent years but always been bottled-up in committee, would require sellers at gun shows to conduct the same background checks as is currently required of standard gun retailers. The aim of the bill is to make sure convicted felons cannot purchase firearms using the so-called "gun show loophole," but its critics consider it government oversight of private transactions.

Personally, I'm quite surprised this bill is so controversial. While I admit that gun control is one of the issues I'm not so libertarian on (and a reason I don't quite jive with the LP), the idea seems like common sense to me. Am I wrong on this?

Vote on Murray bill on the horizon

According to the News Tribune, a vote on Senator Ed Murray's domestic partnership bill will be coming in the near future. The bill stands a strong chance of passage given that the House bill, HB1351, has a majority of representatives signed on as co-sponsors and its Senate counterpart, SB5336, needs only four affirmative votes to pass on top of its 21 co-sponsors. For the record, three of HB1351's sponsors are Republicans: Reps. Shirley Hankins, Fred Jarrett, and Maureen Walsh.

Legislative Gays back to fight

According to Postman, the legislature's five openly-gay members (including rookie Jamie Pedersen) have announced they will be taking the Supreme Court's advice this session in proposing both a marriage equality bill and a legal unions bill, the latter of which I think stands a good chance of passage. Even with Democratic supermajorities, true marriage equality could still fall short, as some Democrats who signed off on last session's non-discrimination bill (i.e. Senator Rasmussen) are otherwise opposed to marriage equality. The only Republican legislator I suspect would vote in favour of marriage equality is Representative Jarrett, but there are a handful of other Republicans who have indicated support for legal unions in the past, likely enough to withstand any crossovers from Dixiecrats like Rasmussen, Tim Sheldon, and Jim Hargrove.

Welcome to the machine

Today marks the first day of the legislative session, complete with insurmountable Democratic majorities. The legislative website currently has links for new members, but at the moment are dead links. I always look forward to the revamping of the website with new photos of the members, new and old, but for the moment I'll have to wait and see if any members dramatically changed their appearance since last session. Regardless, I doubt we will see anything better than when Rep. Dickerson became a cabbage patch doll without warning.