Criminal Crackdown Likely To Pass Senate Crimes Committed With A Gun Would Net Offender Extra Time

Thu., March 23, 1995

Associated Press

The proposed crackdown on people who commit crimes with guns drew mixed reviews Wednesday at a key Senate panel, but the full Senate is expected to pass the measure when it reaches the floor.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee took up Initiative 159, which passed the Republican-led House weeks ago.

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

The measure 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.

In addition, the bill would set up a system for monitoring sentences handed down by the state’s judges.

The Ways and Means Committee was told by staff that the measure would cost more than $12.7 million in the coming two-year budget cycle that starts July 1. By 2001, the biennial cost would be $43.1 million, to cover an anticipated prison population increase of 912.

Senate Majority Leader Marc Gaspard, D-Puyallup, has said the Senate likely will pass the measure, which would mean it would not go to voters in November.

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