WA Legislature backs compromise bill on police pursuits
The state Legislature is moving to ease restrictions on when police can engage in car chases to nab fleeing criminal suspects. A bipartisan compromise bill approved by the state House this week was praised by supporters as striking a middle ground on the hot-button issue. On Tuesday, the state House passed Senate Bill 5352, which would give police some more discretion to pursue suspects for some serious crimes, but would not go as far as law-enforcement groups have asked. SB 5352 lowers the threshold for police to engage in chases from “probable cause” to a “reasonable suspicion” of violent and sex crimes. It would also allow pursuits for domestic violence and vehicular assaults and says suspects can be chased if they pose a “serious risk of harm to others” — as opposed to a stricter “imminent threat” standard in the current law. Continue reading at Seattle Times. (Karen Ducey)
WA Legislature strikes capital punishment from the books
On Sept. 10, 2010, Cal Brown was executed by lethal injection at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. He is likely to be the last person to be executed in Washington state. There’s a number of reasons for that. In 2014, Gov. Jay Inslee issued a moratorium on the death penalty. And in 2018, the Washington Supreme Court struck down the penalty all together. But even so, the death penalty remained on the books, until now. Last Friday, Washington lawmakers voted to permanently repeal capital punishment. “There’s been a lot of push in the past few years for there to be a statement from the Legislature that capital punishment is wrong,” explained Axios reporter Melissa Santos. “Both chambers of the Legislature felt that it was time for the Legislature to weigh on this issue.” Continue reading at KUOW. (NW News Network)
WA is first state to grant Uber and Lyft drivers family and medical leave, unemployment
On Tuesday, Washington became the first state to establish family and medical leave and unemployment benefits for the state’s Uber and Lyft drivers. The Washington State Legislature set the precedent through its approval of HB 1570, which awaits Gov. Jay Inslee’s signature before being set into law. The new law cements another win for Washington drivers with the two transportation companies. Last year, the passage of HB 2076 in the state Legislature granted other worker’s rights to Washington drivers, including protections against unjustified termination, access to worker’s compensation insurance, paid sick time, and set the highest wage floor for drivers in the U.S. Continue reading at Olympian. (Richard Vogel)
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