The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of 2009

The W-2 forms have arrived and will meet their destiny with the paperwork from my mortgage company and collected sales receipts this morning in an effort to get some of our money back before The Obamanation pulls a California. Seeing as how that might take a bit of time, I give you below the best and the worst that the Washington State Legislature has come up with for this year, so far.

Fear not, I’m using the same software program as our newly minted Secretary of the Treasury, so no ill shall come of my calculations. Or if it does, I’m allowed to blame the software, right?

So fire up your GBU theme song on a loop and push the button. And for those of you who have come unprepared to loop GBU, there is a video at the bottom of the post.

The Good

A couple good firearms bills for a change

HB 1832 is Washington’s version of the Katrina Bill, guaranteeing against firearms confiscation during an emergency. Yes, I know that it is sad that we’re still fighting for this three years later.

HB 1604 legalizes use of a suppressor if it is legally registered with the feds. Currently in Washington, it is legal to possess a suppressor but illegal to use it. I know this sounds stupid, but it was a stopgap measure that sated the Democrat controlled legislature from banning them outright. I don’t own one because if I’m paying that much to own one, I’m gonna use the hoo-haw out of it. Let us “hope” things “change” this year.

HB1655 would finally get the Washington Constitution on the road to a Balanced Budget Amendment

HB 1497 would eliminate all of those “Blue Ribbon Commissions” we’re always being told about and makes them justify their existence before tax dollars will be reallocated to them.

HJM 4009 finally has Washington making a claim on its Constitutionally provided state sovereignty

SB 5739 gives members of the armed forces 90 days after returning from deployment to renew their Concealed Pistol Licenses without having to take a “Late Renewal” penalty. Which reminds me, mine is up in five weeks.

SB 5693 will eliminate the waste of money that is the requirement of government to allocate 1% of construction costs of new buildings to “art”. I’ve written on this topic before (buying art for new garbage transfer stations and the like) and will be very happy when this one goes through.

SB 5187 would put Washington among the other civilized states that require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

SB 5425 would require tax jurisdictions to reevaluate property values when the values go down instead of them only doing so when they go up.

SB 5664 is Washington’s Kelo killer, and restricts a government to only taking property if they themselves are going to use it.

SJR 8207 would require that any and all funds collected from tolling the roads and bridges of Washington be spent only on repair and maintenance of roads and bridges and the building of more roads and bridges. The greedy transit jackholes can find their own funding sources.

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The Bad

Four new statutes pertaining to voting (and keeping a Democratic majority forever and ever)

HB 1193 would let 13yr old children “pre-register” to vote and supply them with an “advisory ballot” for each election. Yeah, and King County won’t screw that up.

HB 1572 would mandate that everyone vote via the US Postal Service. You’ll remember that the USPS is looking to stop doing business on Tuesday’s, which also happen to be the day we vote.

HB 1798 sets the stage for Same Day voter registration (aka: I don’t care enough to do what I need to do to vote, but my friend dragged me down here to vote Democrat)

SB 5534 would restore the right to vote for people who have proven to society that they cannot be trusted.

HB 1755 would add Correctional Officers and Sergeants from having to get a CCW permit to carry concealed. Sorry, but I think that if I have to get a CCW, so should LEO’s, and these guys aren’t even LEO’s. Hell, they have to check their guns at the door of their work place.

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The Ugly

HB 1189 would expand the failed Seattle ban on plastic shopping bags to statewide status. Yes, really. Like we don’t have a few other things to think about right now.

HB 1151 would penalize parents who smoke in the car while their children are passengers. No word on whether dad letting loose with the Barking Spiders will be made a misdemeanor.

HB 1162 says that the state must create and institute a program of “Emotional Learning” in the curriculum of the Washington Public Schools. It does not state whether they’ll be getting rid of reading, writing or arithmetic or history to make room for it, but if this passes, maybe we’ll hold a betting pool.

HB 1382 is, in my opinion, the scariest proposal yet to come out of Olympia this year. It would make legal the collection of DNA from those arrested for either misdemeanors or felonies. Not convicted, just arrested.

SB 5104 and SJR8205 are follow up attempts to establish a state income tax, which the Governoress promised she wouldn’t support during her reelection campaign. A game of chicken perhaps?

SB 5514 would establish a state board to regulate interior designers. Sounds like anti-GLBT legislation to me.

Speaking of which there are also more than a couple gay marriage/civil union bills currently running around the state houses as well, but I don’t care about them so I didn’t list them. We’re going to get it one way or the other, and I’d rather it that way than through a courtroom.

So there you go. Any one of those links will give you the ability to search for any bill that I may have left out or just suits your fancy. And now I’m off to play home accountant. Enjoy!