Panel Passes Armed Crime Initiative

Wed., Jan. 18, 1995

Associated Press

The “Hard Time for Armed Crime” initiative was put on a fast track for passage Tuesday when the House Corrections Committee approved the proposal on a 9-2 bipartisan vote.

It now goes to the Law and Justice Committee for further study and then possibly to the Appropriations panel for consideration of the costs involved.

Under the measure, the most serious gun crimes would net the offender an extra five years in prison, with 10 years for a second offense - this on top of the standard sentence for the crime.

The measure, Initiative 159, also would curtail “good time” early release for felons who used weapons and would widen the death penalty to include drive-by shootings, murder committed during a house burglary and murder related to winning membership in a gang.

The Republican House is expected to give final approval within two weeks. Its prospects in the Democratcontrolled Senate are less certain, although Majority Leader Marcus Gaspard, D-Puyallup, likes it. Gov. Mike Lowry has said he doesn’t like parts of it. Voters will get a crack at it in November if lawmakers don’t pass it.

Some opponents say that while they like the idea, they are concerned with the cost of keeping convicts locked up for longer times.

The prison system has been unable to give an estimate of the bill’s cost. But one of the measure’s main backers, John Carlson of Bellevue, has said the proposal would require 900 more beds in the prison system over 20 years, a system that now has 12,000 beds.

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