More gun control

We still don't have a workable budget and Olympia's weak kneed leftists are trying to district with a loser bill.

SB 6628 makes it is a crime to leave a firearm where a child might have access. Problem is, it is already a crime of neglect to leave a firearm where a child might have access. But the Senators useless scurrying makes it look they they care, and are doing something.

The Senate's far left "progressives" Adam Kline (D- 37), Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36), & Debbie Regala (D-27) are behind this proposal. They want to appear compassionate about the recent shooting of the little girl at Armin Jahr Elementary in Bremerton. Everyone's hearts go out to the parents, the kids and everyone. At last report, the little girl is still in critical condition at Harborview. Please join us in prayer for her restoration to health.

Its despicable for the Senators to take political advantage of this tragic accident.

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The bill digest describes the proposal in these terms:
"[SB 6628] Expands the crime of reckless endangerment to include storing or leaving a loaded firearm in a location where a person knows, or reasonably should know, that a child is likely to gain access, and the child obtains possession of the loaded firearm."

"[SB 6628] Increases the fee for a concealed pistol license."

There are two purposes to the bill: First, it allows the Senators to strut about claiming they are "doing something." Second, law-abiding people who carry self-protection will face higher fees for being able to protect themselves.

Please email your Senator and tell them "No on SB 6628."

Refining Our Rights, regarding firearms.

Some firearms bills are in the Washington State Legislature.

House Bill 1508 - legislation relating to shooting ranges, passed the House.

Various target shooting ranges in Washington have become surrounded by suburbs. although the ranges were there when the housing went up, and the purchasers of the new houses knew this, those ranges have become targets of lawsuits to remove the ranges.

HB 1508 originally would have ensured that existing shooting ranges were broadly protected against civil liability and criminal charges related to noise pollution. However, this bill was amended and significantly weakened in the state House Judiciary Committee, leaving it as a measure that would no longer provide an adequate level of protection for shooting ranges.

HB 1508 was amended again and somewhat improved on the House floor -- the current version is better than the one that passed in the House Judiciary Committee. In order to strengthen this bill and keep it moving, HB 1508 must get a public hearing and action taken by the state Senate Judiciary Committee by Friday.

House Bill 2471 would exempt Concealed Pistol Licesne holders whose Washington State licenses were issued on or after July 22, 2011, from having to undergo any sort of background check when purchasing a pistol. Additionally, this bill would require only the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check for CPL holders whose permits were issued prior to July 22, 2011.

HB 2471 passed in the state House of Representatives unamended and was also assigned to the state Senate Judiciary Committee. HB 2471 must pass in the Senate Judiciary Committee by Friday.

Please contact state Senator Adam Kline (D-37), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge him to schedule a hearing for HB 1508 and HB 2471. Senator Kline can be contacted by phone at (360) 786-7688 and by e-mail at adam.kline@leg.wa.gov. Be polite.

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Washington State's Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms.

Article I, Declaration of Rights, Section 24 Right to Bear Arms. "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."

Obama/National/State

Obama is in Western Washington state this morning, promoting his notion that we need to increase exports. Who would have thought of that? After that, the Darling of the Left is expecting to pick up as much as $8 million in campaign pledges at two afternoon dinners.

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America's small businesses are the source of most of America's employment, and the principle source of American innovation. But small businesses are plagued by the Left and Obama's continued attacks. Obama Care itself will add $4,500 in new. annual expenses for every new hire, along with bewildering new regulations.

Under a burden of increasing regulation, a small business is at a competitive disadvantage compared to a big business. Companies like Boeing or GM have to hire a few human resources specialists to assure compliance with the new regulations. No small business can afford costly burden of a few more office workers who only sit in the office comparing rules. The result is big businesses get bigger and the small business is not doing so well.

There are other problems. Some big businesses are under more direct attack fomr the Left. The paper manufacturer Kimberly Clark was forced to shut down its 80 year old Northwest mills because of Obama's expanding environmental regulation.

The attack was indirect; the new buyer of the pulp mill would have been saddled with massive increases of environmental costs. Changes in environmental regulation would have required the new owner to take elaborate measures to "protect" the tidal flats from unspecified dangers - along with environmental "clean up."

The only winners would have been the government certified companies who make their living off the people's misery - and the government people who certify them.

In the end, this made the Kimberly Clark property an unsellable albatross, and 750 workers were laid off.

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Government poisons with policy. It cost 750 workers their jobs at KC. Small business is always hardest hit with poison policy ; big business usually can cope. Policies like Obama's have concentrated industrial power in fewer and fewer hands -- and the Democrats insist they are the pal of the little guy. With friends like this, who needs enemies?

Gregoire Still Doesn't Get It

[When] Chris Gregoire took over from Gary Locke [she] was amazed by the financial surplus Washington state had and wondered what to do with it. I guess she figured it out.

Now Washington state is billions of dollars in debt. ... I think the first thing she needs to learn is to quit spending money we don't have on things we don't need and learn to live on what we have -- just like the taxpayers are required to do that don't have a "bottomless checkbook." That is something she just doesn't quite seem to understand.

By Richard Quint, Lake Stevens

Letters to the Editor, Everett Herald, Monday, February 13, 2012

State Revenue Forecast, 2012

The Washington State Revenue Forecast Council met this morning, Thursday, February 16 at 10:00 a.m. and shows the projected General Fund revenue for the 2011–13 biennium up by $96 million, compared to the previous quarterly forecast in November. This is a revenue increase of .3 percent in the current biennium and the first increase since June 2010. The new forecast increases total projected General Fund revenue for the biennium to about $30.3 billion.

A portion of the $1.4 billion dollar revenue shortfall was addressed in the December special session. With the $478 million in spending cuts, fund transfers and new revenue, from the special session, and the current forecast, the state currently has a projected budget shortfall of $855 million.

Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree that there are some “tax incentives” that need to be eliminated; for example, big banks do not pay a B&O tax on income from first mortgages. Other tax breaks to be considered include those for wind turbines and other alternative energy sources – but that is not the comprehensive list. I think it’s fair to say that at this point both parties are looking at all tax alternatives to ensure that those not needed/not working be phased out.

It’s anticipated that the House Republicans will announce their budget on Friday, House Democrats will announce their budget early next week and the Senate budget should be announce the week after.

Mark Gjurasic
Public Affairs of Washington

The Income Tax, Again....

Income Tax, Olympia Style

Although the People just turned down an income tax in Autumn of 2010, Olympia's greed knows no end.

SB 6548, titled An Act Relating to providing a stable source of revenue for education by imposing a tax on high income earners, has been introduced in the Senate.

If approved as written, the Office of Financial Management said the tax would take $1.5 billion in new taxes over the next nine years.

The voters will be asked to approve amending the state's constitution to allow income taxation. I think the people understand that a "tax on the rich" won't stay that way for long. It will become a tax on everybody.

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These are the sponsors of the bill.

• Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Prime Sponsor (D) Seattle, (360) 786-7670
Jeanne.Kohl-Welles@leg.wa.gov
• Senator Sharon Nelson (D) Vashon (360) 786-7667
Sharon.Nelson@leg.wa.gov
• Senator Karen Keiser (D) Des Moines (360) 786-7664
Karen.Keiser@leg.wa.gov
• Senator Adam Kline, (D) Seattle (360) 786-7688
Adam.Kline@leg.wa.gov
• Senator Debbie Regala (D) Tacoma (360) 786-7652
Debbie.Regala@leg.wa.gov
• Senator Nick Harper (D) Everett (360) 786-7674
Nick.Harper@leg.wa.gov

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Updated March 2, 2012

Here we go:

SB 6548 imposes an income tax on "high earners" (later to be expanded to everyone). The stated purpose is to fund education.

HB 2766 imposes an excise tax on the receipt of adjusted gross
income above one million dollars. The concept of defining personal income as sales proceeds is identical to the initiative 1098, turned down by the voters in 2010.

HB 2486 is a monster tax package. It introduces something called the "Corporate Privilege Tax", combined with a personal income tax. The stated purpose is provide for education.
Backers claim sales tax and property tax would be reduced -- thus reducing overall revenues to the state $7,487,420,000 over an 8 year period.

SB 6550 is the Senate version of HB 2486, and is nearly identical.

HB 2744 would replace the business and occupation tax with a flat rate tax on corporate net income. The present business and occupation tax is based on gross business income.

SB 6495 would be a massive personal income tax of $71,666,712,000 over 8 years (the projection runs out that far, but the tax would go on until modified). Backers claim sales tax and property tax would be reduced, reducing the overall tax increase.

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Olympia is searching for new cash sources to fuel their spending habits. The politicians claim every one of the proposed taxes is "fair" or "more fair." More fair than letting us keep the money we've earned, I suppose.

The sales tax and other so called "regressive" taxes in Washington State probably helped moderate some of the impact of the current depression. Sales taxes are applied to consumption, which inhibits waste.

Income tax and other so-called "progressive" taxes tax production. A depression like the current one is a drop in production, which had the nasty side effect of making workers unusable. If the state was taxing income from the remaining productive companies, those companies (and their workers) would have faced a dangerous and unfair burden to their future employment.

The best solution to Olympia's current funding problems is to make the tough choices and reduce state spending.

Homosexual "Marriage"

The legislature has mumbled -- Homosexual Marriage may become law in Washington State. Everett attorney Stephen Pidgeon has already filed to require referendum of the bill. If he can collect enough signatures, the people will be heard.

Complicating this is the law in Washington does not recognize same sex marriage. The Washington State Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1998.

The state already recognizes homosexual couples with domestic partnerships. In 2009 law was enacted to give homosexuals in civil union all the protections of marriage.

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Perhaps the legislature and the governor reckon this divisive law will distract voters from the fact that we still have a $1.5 billion shortfall in the state budget.

“I told you the work of slashing our budget by another $2 billion would be dreadful, and that's what it is. The result is Washingtonians will get a lot less of what they truly need from state government,” Governor Christine Gregoire

We'll see.

Politicians Hate the Initiative Process

It challenges their elitist policy-making "monopoly." It lets the people decide.

The trouble we have is that the government in Olympia has become inbred. They are determined to care for government officials first to, the exclusion of the People. The People must awaken to the fact that when the politicians stop serving the People and start serving only special interests, the whole society is in deep trouble.

For 15 years, Tim Eyman and Voters Want More Choices work to let the people decide important issues; for example, lower car tab taxes, limits on property tax increases, performance audits of government, the 2/3 legislative majority vote requirements for tax increases. They've also made it top priorities to defend the initiative process from “liberal” political attack.

The People had a huge victory last Friday.

Background: Last year, in response to Eyman‘s initiative in Monroe on red-light cameras, the Monroe City Mayor and City Council refused to allow the people to vote Then they sued Eyman for sponsoring the initiative. The people’s own elected representative sued to keep the people out of the political process. Despicable.

The City officials asked the court to impose a $10,000 fine on Eyman and tried to force Eyman to pay the City attorney’s fees. Under the threat of escalating legal costs against an the government with taxpayer-funded resources to pay their lawyers, lots of folks would've folded their tent and gone home. Eyman didn't -- he fought back.

After months of personal anguish and stress, Eyman prevailed against the Monroe politicians’ anti-initiative effort, as on Friday, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge George Bowden found that the City's action was a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP lawsuit) and imposed a $10,000 fine on the city! The red-light camera initiative is green lighted for a public vote.

Judge Bowden wrote: "Having secured enough valid signatures to place (the initiative) on the ballot, the City's lawsuit burdens the initiative sponsors with having to defend the right of the voters to express their opinions and weigh in on a matter that will directly affect them."

This court decision sends a clear message to other arrogant politicians that such obstructionist tactics will not only fail, but result in substantial financial penalties. It is a huge, huge victory for initiative rights in Washington.

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But what does it matter to the authoritarian “liberals?” The People get to pay for everything arrogant mistake the politicians make.

Yesterday, Eyman again drove down to Olympia to testify against another one of the pageant of anti-initiative bills that have become annual tradition in our state's Capitol.

Much of this information is supplied by Tim Eyman.

Homosexual marriage?

There are many different sorts of domestic partnerships. Some arrangements are not intimate -- they are an arrangement to split the rent or just have someone else in the house. Some arrangements are more intimate, but the partners do not want their status clarified. And in some cases people want to celebrate a different sort of cohabiting arrangement, such as non-traditional sexual orientation.

Enter the State -- The "liberals" are telling us homosexual pairings deserve to be described as a marriage. "Senator" Potty Murray explained words are always changing in their meaning. She gave the example of "mouse" which no longer means mouse. Likewise, Murray explained, "marriage" has changed to include homosexual pairings. She missed the fact that some people want to be different and she is forcing them to be labeled the same.

Anyway, "Governor" Christine Gregoire galloped to Murray's aid to forced the changed use of the term on the legislature attention. Both women claim to be very proud of the gobbledegook they are creating. Don't they have a massive budget shortfall to deal with?

Murray & Gregoire are intellectual lightweights, trying to pick a fight with half the people in the state. No word's meaning has been more honored and keenly defended than the word "marriage." It means the pairing between a man and a woman.

These state "liberals" are eager to create a debate with lack of clarity. They condescend to reckon the power of government can even be used to force people change the language they use to call marriage "marriage" -- a stupid government overreach.

The male-female paring deserves special naming -- It preserves wealth for the offspring of the union, and it produces offspring by combination of the genetic material of the two people involved in the marriage. (There are historical exceptions, cuckoldry and similar). In the main, the marriage relationship is unique and unblurable. It takes a monumental act of stupidity to miss this point.

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News source

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A public hearing is scheduled on HB 2516, 01/23/2012 1:30PM in the John L. O'Brien Building, House Hearing Rm A, Olympia, WA. The hearing for the associated Senate bill, SB 6239, is scheduled 01/23/2012 10:00AM in the J.A. Cherberg Building, Senate Hearing Rm 2, Olympia, WA

Update -- Because there is a tax or fee associated with homosexual domestic arrangements, the law required a public report, which is not ready yet (so they say).


Update on the update -- The cellar dwellers in Olympia who sort through the legislative output for taxes and fees have discovered they made an error. Here is the text of their notice: "An email notice was previously sent regarding SB 6239, AN ACT Relating to providing equal protection for all families in Washington by creating equality in civil marriage and changing the domestic partnership laws, while protecting religious freedom. Upon further analysis, this bill does not include a new or increased tax or fee." The same is true for HB 2516.

Banning Plastic Bags

An idea whose time is dumb.

Plastic bags are not a landfill problem the way the paper bags used to be. 98% of the people who have plastic bags re-use or re-cycle them. They are light, efficient and work very well. The legislature is intent on banning them.

Seattle City Council recently banned single use plastic bags. Apparently the Council is still miffed over the People's rejection of their 20 cent per bag tax, so they are beating on the people. By the way, Seattle City Council added a 5 cent fee on paper bags.

The rationale for the statewide bag ban is that it is too hard for businesses to conform to the patchwork of local regulations imposed on plastic bags. It figures Olympia would think the answer to stupid government is more stupid government.

HB 1877, was introduced by Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon & Rep. Marko Liias, both Democrats. Liias, you may recall, proposed increasing fees on the People's initiatives in order to silence the common rabble last year.

SB 5780 was introduced by Senator Maralyn Chase and Senator Adam Kline, both Democrats.