In the News

Crosscut: WA may regulate medically necessary abortions at religious hospitals

Crosscut: WA may regulate medically necessary abortions at religious hospitals

After years of trying, Washington legislators appear poised to free up doctors at Catholic hospitals to provide medically necessary abortions when pregnancies go wrong. The legislation would allow patients to sue a hospital if they are denied medical care to hasten miscarriages or terminate nonviable pregnancies that threaten the patients’ health. It also would allow providers to sue if they are ...

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Crosscut: Court’s legalization of drug possession has WA lawmakers scrambling

Crosscut: Court’s legalization of drug possession has WA lawmakers scrambling

Lawmakers in Olympia are scrambling to respond to a Washington Supreme Court decision that declared the state’s law criminalizing drug possession unconstitutional because it did not require prosecutors to prove intent. Dueling proposals reflect the range of philosophical beliefs about how the state should respond to drug possession and use — from a quick return to the status quo, to an ...

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The Stranger: Washington Proposes One Bill to End the Drug War and Several Bills to Fire It Back Up Again

The Stranger: Washington Proposes One Bill to End the Drug War and Several Bills to Fire It Back Up Again

About a month after the Washington Supreme Court struck down the state's drug possession law and effectively decriminalized controlled substances statewide, lawmakers in Olympia have introduced nine pieces of legislation to address the ruling's major ramifications, which include $100 million tabs from courts and prosecutors who now need to clear records and refund fines, plus a suddenly urgent need to expand drug ...

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Bellingham Herald: Drug possession bills emerge to address wide-reaching state Supreme Court ruling

Bellingham Herald: Drug possession bills emerge to address wide-reaching state Supreme Court ruling

A group of Democratic lawmakers have met in recent weeks, attempting to understand the decision and strategize next steps. Sen. Manka Dhingra, who works as a Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in King County, has framed the Blake decision as an opportunity to build on the state’s progress toward a public-health approach to substance use disorder.

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Redmond Patch: Lawmakers Consider New Drug Possession Statute For Washington

Redmond Patch: Lawmakers Consider New Drug Possession Statute For Washington

OLYMPIA, WA — State legislators are considering a new legal framework for drug possession, one month after the state's highest court struck down Washington's felony drug statute. In February, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the state's "strict liability" statute was overreaching and did not require prosecutors to establish intent to sell or use drugs. The high court's ...

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Seattle Times: With the Washington Legislature halfway through its session, here’s where policing bills stand

Seattle Times: With the Washington Legislature halfway through its session, here’s where policing bills stand

OLYMPIA — When state House lawmakers earlier this month passed a bill that creates a clear standard for when police officers can use physical force, DeVitta Briscoe said it felt like a victory moment in a football game. “Like how you see in a touchdown, I screamed in my living room,” said Briscoe, the sister of Che Taylor, who was shot ...

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King 5: Washington state justices strike down drug possession law

King 5: Washington state justices strike down drug possession law

The Washington Supreme Court has struck down the state's felony drug possession law because it doesn't require prosecutors to prove that someone knowingly or intentionally possessed drugs.

Democratic Sen. Manka Dhingra said state lawmakers can clarify, or rewrite the law, but she said the deadline has passed in the legislative session to introduce new bills.
“This ...

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AP: Senate OKs bill making police intervene to stop undue force

AP: Senate OKs bill making police intervene to stop undue force

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state Senate on Tuesday approved a measure requiring police to intervene if they see a fellow officer using excessive force — one of several measures in the Legislature prompted by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd and ensuing Black Lives Matter protests last year.

Senate Bill 5066, sponsored by Redmond Democrat ...

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Seattle Times: Police officers who witness excessive force must intervene, Washington state Senate votes

Seattle Times: Police officers who witness excessive force must intervene, Washington state Senate votes

A bill to curb excessive force by law-enforcement officers got the approval of the Washington state Senate on Tuesday, becoming the first piece of police accountability legislation to pass out of a chamber this year. “You have to make sure that these good, honorable, ethical law-enforcement officers have the tools they need to stop the bad apples,” said Sen. Manka Dhingra, ...

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Columbia Basin Herald: Pregnancy services bill passes Senate

Columbia Basin Herald: Pregnancy services bill passes Senate

A bill that would ensure women can receive services for pregnancy complications passed in the Senate in a 29-20 vote during a virtual floor debate Wednesday. Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, shared a story during the debate about a woman who was turned away by a Bellingham Catholic hospital three times in 2019. The woman nearly died from an infection threatening her ...

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