We are winding down committee hearings, which will largely conclude by Wednesday evening. If bills aren’t already on an agenda, chances of that bill passing this session are dropping dramatically. Here are some bills worth watching today:
SB163, Campus Safety Amendments, is sponsored by Senator Jani Iwamoto, with House sponsor Rep. Lowry Snow, is the only piece of campus safety legislation that has been suggested, worked on and advocated for by students. It establishes a student-run independent commission for safety and equity, requires disaggregated Clery Act data report, and requires campus law enforcement and local law enforcement to automatically share complaints and reports to reduce burdens on survivors trying to report sexual assaults, stalking, hate crimes and more. It has been assigned to the Senate Education committee for its first hearing but has not yet been added to the agenda.
SB205, Election Process Amendments by Senator Dan McCay would remove the requirement to allow signature gathering for political candidates to get on the ballot and would put the decision of caucus/convention or signatures exclusively into the hands of a political party. It’s this session’s version of a repeal of 2014’s SB54, a bill for which then-Rep. McCay sponsored in the House. It’s up in the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee this morning.
SB62, Gubernatorial Transfer of Power by Senator Don Ipson is in front of the Senate Government Ops committee this morning. This bill addressed the transition between gubernatorial administrations, including security detail, temporary office space and the ability of the incoming administration to hire staff to assist with the transition.
HB96, Emergency Management Amendments, is sponsored by Rep. Suzanne Harrison in the House and Sen. Mike McKell in the Senate. It requires political subdivisions to designate an emergency manager and create an emergency operations plan that addresses “emergency preparedness, response, mitigation” and coordination with other emergency managers and officials. It passed out of the House and is being heard in Senate Government Ops this morning.
HB330, Restorative Justice Definition, is sponsored by Rep. Andrew Stoddard in the House and Senator Todd Weiler in the Senate. It creates a definition of “restorative justice” to be used across the entire code and reads as follows: “Restorative justice” means an approach to community building, problem solving, and conflict resolution that values individual dignity, mutual respect, personal accountability, inclusion, and collaboration to:
- build and restore relationships, repair harm, and create a more just and equitable environment in communities, schools, and the justice system; and
- promote facilitated and voluntary practices that may be used in lieu of or in addition to other approaches, including: community building circles; victim-offender conferences; family group conferences; and community conferences.”
The bill is being heard for the first time in the House Judiciary Committee this morning.
HB334, Special Needs Training for Law Enforcement Amendments and HB301, Domestic Violence Training Amendments are both before the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee this morning. HB334, sponsored by Rep. Steve Eliason, would require peace officer training to include training on autism spectrum disorder and other mental illnesses. HB301, sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci, would require domestic violence and lethality assessment training for law enforcement officers as well as reporting requirements.
HB193, Intimate Image Distribution Prohibition, is being heard in the Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee this morning. Sponsored in the House by Rep. Karen Kwan and in the Senate by Sen. Todd Weiler, this bill defines unlawful distribution of a counterfeit intimate image and imposes penalties.
