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.

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.

Now is the time to call your legislator in support of HB 1679.  Yes, it is a LEOFF 2 issue, but it is an important one and needs your support.  Your brother and sister officers when disabled under LEOFF 2 are cast out without any health insurance for themselves or their families. And, disabled under LEOFF 2 means totally disabled.  No ability to work - just L & I payments for support.  It is one of the bad parts of LEOFF 2 and needs to be fixed.

The the full story to see how this failed system works in real life.

February 9th was the 30th day of the 60 session. February 9th was also the cut-off date for bills to pass out of the Senate and House fiscal committees. Bills that did not meet this deadline are technically dead with the exception of those Necessary to Implement the Budget (NTIB). This phrase is often applied liberally so legislation that did not make the cut-off are being monitored.

Today, the 26th day of the 60-day session, was the cut-off date for policy committees in the Senate. February 9th is the cut-off date for fiscal bills in both the House and Senate. The highlight of this week was on February 3rd when the state Senate and House ran floor resolutions honoring our fallen officers.

The third week of the legislative session has been completed. The cut-off date for bills to pass out of policy committees is February 2nd.  WACOPS reports that they are hopeful that all of their 2010 legislative priorities to be voted out of House Committees prior to that deadline.

View the list of pending legislation.  Most of these bills deal with law enforcement issues or LEOFF 2 pension items, but it is an interesting read.

Once bills pass out of policy committees they go to the Rules Committee which is chaired by the Speaker of the House. This committee decides which bills will go to the floor of the House to receive a vote from the full body. WACOPS reports that they have briefed members of this committee about the legislation.

February 3rd will be Law Enforcement Day in Olympia. Both the Senate and the House will be running resolutions honoring fallen officers.  This will be broadcast on TVW and you can check with www.tvw.org for local station and airing times.

The Legislature is in session.  Thus far we know of only two bills that impact LEOFF 1.  While they provide significant improvements for a few they have no impact on the overall pension.  Neither of these bills will affect many LEOFF 1 members.

HB 2519 LEOFF I & II State Patrol
Included is a LEOFF I amendment to increase duty death as a result of an occupational injury or illness from $150,000 to $214,000 and add an escalator. Also adds for LEOFF I a surviving spouse to the eligibility list for free college tuition.

SB 6078 LEOFF I Amendment
Allows a spouse of a member who is killed in the line of duty, with more than 25 years of service credit to select a 50% disability pension or a service pension of 2% for each year of service credit.  Example: 31 years of service credit equals a 62% pension.

Read the full story for more information on these bills.