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WASHINGTON ARMS COLLECTORS 2008 Gun Owners Action League Email Alerts and Posts Please click here for WAC's 2008 Election Recommendation to members.The Gun Owners Action League (GOAL) issues alerts to firearms owners in Washington to keep them informed of firearms related legislation and firearms owner friendly candidates in our state. Please find GOAL Alert emails for 2007 below, the most recent alert at top. Below the alerts is an archive of GOALs 2006 Election recomendations. Gun Owners Action League of Washington (GOAL) GOAL Post 2008-02 25 January 2008 Legislative Update from Olympia 25 January 2008 At the beginning of each session, a session calendar is adopted, establishing certain "cut-off" dates by which certain actions must be taken on bills or they will be considered "dead" for the remainder of the session. The cut-off dates for the 2008 session are:
Reminder: The session calendar is a creation of the legislature, not a constitutional requirement. The legislature can choose to ignore the adopted dates and move bills previously considered to be dead under the calendar. As the saying goes, "It ain’t over 'til the fat lady sings", and she doesn’t sing until the session actually comes to a close at midnight on March 13th. If you have an interest in providing public testimony on a bill (ANY member of the public may sign up to deliver testimony at public hearings, although the committee chair is not obligated to allow everyone to speak). Public testimony is usually limited to three minutes maximum. First, you have to be in the hearing room at the beginning of the hearing and sign in on the sign-in sheet for that bill. Indicate "yes" or "no" as to whether you wish to testify. If called, begin by stating your name, any organization you represent IF you are the designated representative of an organization, and where you live (city or county is close enough). Make your points as short and sweet as possible. Attacking another person is not allowed, although you can disagree with other positions/opinions. If your point(s) have/has already been made by someone else, don’t repeat it, there isn’t enough time (especially true on gun bills!). End your testimony with a request to the committee to support or oppose a bill, depending on your position. It’s also a good idea to have a written copy of your testimony to leave with staff. That way, even if you don’t have a chance to speak, your position is put on the record. Several new bills were introduced this past week, again good and bad.
GOAL’s position on these bills (and all others) is reported below. Public hearings are scheduled for at least three bills this week. The schedule has been changed several times, and is subject to change on an almost daily basis (despite the nominal five-days notice required). Public hearings are listed below. The volume of new gun bills being filed, and the public hearings being held on SOME of these bills indicates the Democrats’ lack of interest in pursuing gun control measures MAY have ended. In part, they’re using last April’s Virginia Tech shooting as their excuse to push bills, despite the fact that the Virginia legislature just KILLED several anti-gun bills driven by that same incident. After leaving office in 1994, California Democrat Congressman Tony Beilenson observed that "gun control is the third rail of Democrat politics". It’s obvious that many not all Washington Democrats have not learned that lesson. Democrats in safe liberal districts still push gun control, putting their more rural members at risk. * BILL STATUS * * GOAL POSITION ON BILLS * What’s the difference between "Support if amended" and "Oppose unless amended"? On "support if amended", we would prefer to see the bill improved, but will support it if necessary in its current form. "Oppose unless amended" means that unless the bill is amended to be acceptable to us, we oppose the bill. HEARINGS SCHEDULED:
LEGISLATIVE HOT LINE: You may reach your Representatives and Senator by calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. Toll free!!! The hearing impaired may obtain TDD access at 1-800-635-9993. Also toll free!!! 1-800-562-6000 TDD 1-800-635-9993. OTHER DATA: Copies of pending legislation (bills), legislative schedules and other information are available on the legislature's web site at www.leg.wa.gov. Bills are available in Acrobat (.pdf) format. You may download a free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader from Adobe's web site (http://www.adobe.com). You may also obtain hard copy bills, initiatives, etc, in the mail from the Legislative Bill Room FREE OF CHARGE by calling 1-360-786-7573. Copies of bills may also be ordered toll free by calling the Legislative Hotline at (800) 562-6000. You may also hear floor and committee hearing action live at http://www.tvw.org/ (you need "RealAudio" to do this, available free at the TVW web site). By reading the House and Senate "bill reports" (hbr, sbr) for each bill, you can see how individual committee members voted. By reading the "roll call" for each bill, you can see how the entire House or Senate voted on any bill. The beauty of the web site is that ALL this information is available, on line, to any citizen. GET THE WORD OUT: If you want to subscribe to the GOAL Post by e-mail, send a message to jwaldron@halcyon.com. Please pass GOAL Post on to anyone you believe may have an interest in protecting our rights. Better yet, make a couple of copies of this message, post it on your gun club's bulletin board, and leave copies with your local gun shop(s). PERMISSION IS HEREBY GRANTED TO DUPLICATE OR REDISTRIBUTE GOAL POST PROVIDED IT IS REPRODUCED IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT TEXTUAL MODIFICATION AND CREDIT IS GIVEN TO GOAL. I can be reached at jwaldron@halcyon.com. Unfortunately, I am unable to mail hard copy GOAL Post to individuals. Limited numbers of hard copies MAY be available at the Second Amendment Foundation book table at WAC gun shows. NOTICE: If you believe you have received the GOAL Post in error, first check the "From" line in the address to determine if you received it directly or as part of a list. GP has both individual subscribers and list subscribers. If you do not wish to receive GOAL Posts, please send an e-mail to jwaldron@halcyon.com with "Remove GOAL Post" in the subject line. Please include in the body the address that sent you GP. If you received it as a list member (e.g. WA-CCW, WA-GUNS, etc), you must ask the list owner to be removed. I will respond directly to individual subscribers. Upcoming WAC gun show(s): "The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state, shall
not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations
to organize, maintain or employ an armed body of men." Copyright 2008 Gun Owners Action League of WA 2007 GOAL Posts and Alerts are archived here: GOAL 2007 |