In the News

Governor Jay Inslee recently signed a bill into law to help keep students safe in the event of traumatic injuries. The law, which was backed by students and surgeons, provides bleeding control kits in schools and encourages school staff to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help until first responders ...

After this session of the Washington Legislature, though, the state will at least offer another form of assistance. Newly approved bipartisan legislation from Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, and Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, sets up internship programs for people interested in becoming public defenders or prosecutors in rural areas. If it works ...

Washington state lawmakers have passed a bill that takes steps to prosecute more human trafficking cases and fix the state’s “Safe Harbor” law meant to protect child sex trafficking victims. In early March, Washington legislators unanimously passed Senate Bill 6006, which aims to increase prosecutions of human trafficking cases by expanding some ...

In 2023, at the recommendation of the task force and request of Attorney General Ferguson, the Legislature established a Cold Case Investigations Unit to focus on solving cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. Rep. Lekanoff and Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, another task force member, championed the legislation. ...

When Yvonne Hubbell was 16, she stabbed an 81-year-old man soliciting her for sex in self-defense. “He was trying to throw me around and punch me,” Hubbell said of the incident, which took place in 1997 in Kitsap County. “I remember him saying he was a Golden Glove boxer. I was ...

Senate Bill 6246, sponsored by Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, would require a court to prohibit a person judged incompetent to stand trial from having the right to own a firearm, if that person is not committed to a facility for treatment. Democrats, with some GOP help, passed this in the ...

The Washington state Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to make harassing election workers a felony, three months after four county election offices received envelopes containing suspicious powder — including three testing positive for fentanyl — and had to be evacuated. “This cannot be something we take as normal,” Democratic Sen. Manka Dhingra ...

Child marriage is still legal in Washington. That may soon change: The Washington Senate on Friday passed a bill on a 48-1 vote setting a minimum marriage age of 18. Before 2018, child marriage was legal in all 50 states. It’s now legal in 40, according to Unchained at Last, a ...

Legislation aimed at helping students in emergency situations unanimously passed the Washington State Senate. According to a news release from Washington State Democrats, SB 5790 would provide schools with bleeding control kits. It would also help bystanders be prepared until professionals arrive. “Bystanders can help save lives with simple techniques — having ...

Democrats suggest their approach is better designed to address the officer shortages and difficulty recruiting. Senate Majority Leader Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, during a meeting with reporters this week,said, “The approach that Democrats are taking with the regional training centers has been completely ground changing.” “We used to have a backlog of individuals ...