OLYMPIA – Dozens of bills on topics ranging from victims of sexual assault to advanced placement courses for high school students to inflatable water slides easily moved through the Legislature on Wednesday.
With only 18 days remaining in the regular session, the House and Senate both moved through a long list of noncontroversial bills that often passed unanimously, or nearly so.
Among the bills sent to Gov. Jay Inslee were:
A requirement that victims of sexual assault or kidnapping be informed if their assailant, once released from prison, applies to be removed from the registry of sex offenders. Prosecuting attorneys must make “reasonable efforts” to contact the victim, who can choose to be notified by mail, phone or email.
Another bill requires the Department of Corrections to prioritize how sex offenders receive treatment.Those most likely to commit more sex offenses when they are released would be given top priority.
Two more days were added to the list of days when government facilities should fly the flag honoring prisoners of war and those missing in action. Added to the list were Former Prisoner of War Remembrance Day, April 9, and Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7.
Water recreation facilities like inflatable water slides and dunk tanks at county fairs and other temporary events won’t need approval by the Department of Health, something that was being required in some counties last year. The “Department of Health is good with this. Basically they want nothing to do with regulating inflatable water slides,” Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, said.
Lawmakers in both houses also tweaked some other relatively noncontroversial bills, meaning they’ll have to go back to the other chamber for a final vote.
The House approved a bill requiring Washington’s public colleges to treat students who pass Advanced Placement courses the same, but not before making a change that says the decision should be based on evidence and not sacrifice the quality of education. It passed despite a warning from Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg and a professor at Central Washington University that the Legislature shouldn’t impose its will on the colleges because “one size doesn’t fit all.”
The Senate made some minor changes in a law that would allow courts to issue orders against people charged with sex trafficking crimes that would keep them from contacting their alleged victims. The House must now decide whether to accept those changes.
