Local News

OLYMPIA — Transgender and sex-worker activists opposing a bill to increase punishments for people soliciting prostitutes are frustrated they weren’t allow to testify last week in a committee hearing. Seattle-based Gender Justice League (GJL) and Sex Workers Outreach Project signed up Jan. 22 to speak against SB 5277, which would elevate the crime of soliciting a…

OLYMPIA — The state Senate on Thursday afternoon approved a bill to force residents to temporarily surrender their firearms while under restraining and protection orders. The proposal now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee, an enthusiastic supporter. House Bill 1840‘s unanimous Senate approval belied the difficult path the proposal has traveled since being introduced last year in…

A state Senate committee this morning overwhelmingly approved this legislative session’s lone politically feasible gun-control bill, clearing the proposal for its final — and most difficult — test. House Bill 1840 now must be approved by the full Senate, a Republican-controlled chamber that has proven unfriendly to new gun restrictions. The proposal would require some gun owners…

OLYMPIA — House Bill 1840 is back. The proposal, which would require some gun owners with a restraining or protective order against them to temporarily surrender their firearms while the order is in effect, was seen last year as the one gun-control bill that could actually make it through the Washington Legislature — until it…

OLYMPIA — A group of gun-violence victims delivered a letter to state Senate leaders Friday, complaining they were disrespected at a committee hearing last week. The eight victims, a mix of survivors and family members of people who died in shootings, wrote that the structure of a Senate Law & Justice Committee hearing on gun-sale…

The state Senate unanimously approved a set of changes to drunken driving laws Wednesday afternoon, but not before amendments stripped out two of the original proposal’s toughest provisions. The provisions, which would have increased mandatory minimum jail sentences and made DUI a felony on the 4th time, instead of the 5th, were removed after negotiators decided…

OLYMPIA — A stiffening of state DUI laws championed by Gov. Jay Inslee and a bipartisan group of lawmakers cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday, moving out of the Senate Law & Justice Committee unanimously. Among other items, Senate Bill 5912 would add 10 days in jail to all minimum DUI sentences, make drunken driving a…

OLYMPIA — Democrats fumed Wednesday afternoon after the Republican-run state Senate declined to vote on a bipartisan gun-control bill before a key legislative deadline. State Rep. Roger Goodman, who sponsored the bill, said he and others were “seething with anger” after hearing the measure would not get a vote before the 5 p.m. cutoff, likely ending…

OLYMPIA — After days of discussions, Gov. Jay Inslee and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers said Tuesday they are nearing agreement on a far-ranging plan to overhaul Washington state’s drunken driving laws. The lawmakers said they are working on a compromise bill to put a renewed emphasis on preventing DUI offenders from consuming alcohol. But they cautioned…

After nearly a month of discussions in the state House about a wide range of proposals to reduce gun violence, the state Senate is getting into the debate. Senate Democrats introduced six bills Monday dealing with firearm restrictions and mental health that may face resistance in the GOP-controlled chamber. The most high-profile measure would require background checks…