Thursday, March 11, was the last day of the regular legislative session. The legislature has been called back to pass a budget and revenue package and the special session will begin Monday, March 15th. We will continue to track the budget process for funding measures important to law enforcement. There is still a possibility that priority legislation that did not pass during the regular session may be funded – notably SB 6550 and SB 6316.

Since 2007, investment losses and the weakness of state and local government revenues have produced extraordinary stress for public retirement funds in the United States. This stress magnified the funding issues retirement funds encountered because of the recession at the turn of the century.

I want to acknowledge that Caroline Brakken has resigned as Secretary- Treasurer of the RFFOW effective February 2010. Susan Lang, former Executive Secretary of the Seattle Fire Fighter Family Medical insurance program, is now serving as interim Secretary-Treasurer. Monica Blum is serving as our interim Newsletter editor and is solely responsible for this March 2010 Newsletter. We were very fortunate to have these two well qualified women step in to fill the vacancy created by Caroline’s resignation.

I'm happy to report that HB2226 went to the Governor today and will be signed asap. This was the remedy bill to address the problem for those agencies that denied concealed weapon permits under Federal HR218 because they couldn't do background checks because of some FBI rule that disallowed access for that purpose. We owe a big thank you to Rep. Mark Ericks who found sponsors for this bill to fix the problem and to WACOPS lobbyist Lee Reaves who worked it through the legislative system for us. Thanks to both for their help.

Sincerely,
Ken Crowder
WACOPS Retired Pos. #8

Webmaster's Note: HB 2226 deals with the right of retired law enforcement officers to carry a concealed weapon in any State.  Many retired officers seeking such authority have been blocked by some bureaucratic rules.  This bill corrects that problem.  For more information about this bill, click here.