{"id":981,"date":"2018-02-08T11:11:39","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T19:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdc.wastateleg.org\/pedersen\/?p=904"},"modified":"2020-09-22T10:18:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T17:18:43","slug":"sen-pedersens-legislative-update-reducing-gun-violence-and-improving-public-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/pedersen\/2018\/02\/08\/sen-pedersens-legislative-update-reducing-gun-violence-and-improving-public-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Pedersen's legislative update: Reducing gun violence and improving education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear friends and neighbors:
\nWe have reached the midpoint of the 60-day legislative session. Our Democratic majority in the Senate continues to work closely with the House to advance bills and budget priorities that will improve the lives of people in our state.\u00a0Over the next eight days, each chamber will consider several hundred bills before the February 14 deadline to pass bills to the other chamber.<\/p>\n

Reducing class sizes<\/h2>\n

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\nFor the past several years, I have been working with our capital budget writers and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to increase state funding of school construction. Both the Supreme Court and voters have directed the state to reduce class sizes. To achieve this mandate and to relieve the overcrowding in Seattle Public Schools and many other districts around the state, the state needs to revise the formula for school construction funding.
\nEarlier this week, the Senate Ways & Means Committee passed SSB 6531<\/a>, my bill to fix flaws in the school construction assistance program. I am working hard to get the bill passed this year.<\/p>\n

Abolishing the death penalty<\/h2>\n

For the first time in state history, a legislative committee (the Senate Law & Justice Committee) has passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in Washington, SB 6052<\/a>. Legislators have debated the death penalty for decades in Olympia and people of good faith have come to different conclusions.\u00a0I think that King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg put it best, though, in saying that the death penalty is broken, cannot be fixed, and should be abolished.\u00a0 It is unfairly administered; expensive, and unavailable in wide swaths of our state.\u00a0 Those convicted of aggravated first-degree murder should die in prison with no hope of parole.\u00a0The taxpayers do not need to spend millions of dollars to hasten that death.<\/p>\n

Reducing gun violence<\/h2>\n

The Senate has taken action on several bills to reduce gun violence in our state. I was proud to see a unanimous vote in support of SB 5553<\/a>, which allows people struggling with mental illness or crisis to place themselves on a firearms do-not-purchase list. We know 80 percent of gun deaths in Washington stem from suicide. This is a positive step toward prevention and public safety. The Senate also passed SB 5992<\/a>, which bans bump stocks, devices that transform rifles into machine guns.\u00a0The Las Vegas shooter\u2019s use of a bump stock led to a dramatic increase in the number of victims.
\nSeveral other measures related to gun violence have passed out of the Senate Law & Justice Committee, including measures to restrict possession of firearms by people who have been convicted of domestic violence harassment or found incompetent to stand trial for a violent offense. I look forward to Senate action on those bills in the next week.<\/p>\n

Protecting and improving women’s health<\/h2>\n

One of our top priorities this year is improving health care services for women and protecting access to affordable health care. Last week, the Senate passed three bills with bipartisan support to help achieve these goals.<\/p>\n