Lawmakers target electronics waste

In a victory for environmental groups (and anyone with an old computer monitor gathering dust in the attic), the Legislature wants electronics manufacturers to set up a collection and recycling program for computers, TVs and monitors.

In Washington state alone, according to the Department of Ecology, between 2003 and 2010, more than 4 million computers and 5 million monitors will become obsolete. All that waste – much of it heavy in plastics and lead – is starting to worry environmental regulators.

Senate Bill 6428, which lawmakers sent to Gov. Chris Gregoire in the final days of the session, requires makers to pay for collection, transportation and recycling of the machines starting Jan. 1, 2009. Any fees passed on to consumers would have to be at the time of purchase, not when items are dropped off years later for recycling. There must be at least one staffed recycling collection site for any city with more than 10,000 people.

Some electronics manufacturers fought the bill, saying they don’t want to be required to recycle other makers’ machines. They also argued that foreign companies could sell their products in Washington without paying for the program.

“If you’re a manufacturer in the state of Washington, you are at a decided disadvantage with this bill,” said Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield. Yes, electronic waste should be cleaned up, he said. “The way to get to it is not to poke in the eye those who are creating jobs in the state of Washington.”

Sen. Bob Morton predicted that the bill will send shoppers flocking over the borders to Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia to buy their electronics without the surcharge.

Voting earlier

Both the House and Senate have approved moving Washington’s primary election date to four weeks earlier, starting next year.

“This victory has been years in the making,” said Secretary of State Sam Reed.

Really? Really. A similar proposal died last year, wrapped around the axle with Republican calls for photo identification of voters and purging undocumented aliens from voting rolls.

County auditors have long complained about the tight timeline between the primary in September and general election in November. It’s too short a window, they say, to cope with any election problems from September, and then to print up and mail out the November ballots. (Recall that the governor’s election two years ago wasn’t decided for months. If that sort of challenge were raised in a primary vote, election officials say, it would be disastrous.)

Assuming that Gregoire signs the change into law, we’ll all be voting in August. A small number of lawmakers had objected, saying many people are vacationing in August. But with the increasing popularity of voting by mail, other lawmakers said that’s less of a problem.

Arson, abortion and insurance

When Olympia’s Eastside Women’s Clinic was burned by an arsonist a year ago, according to state Rep. Brendan Williams, the rebuilt clinic was told by its insurer it would lose its coverage unless it stopped performing abortions.

The Legislature has passed HB 2481, which prevents insurers from “taking adverse underwriting decisions” due to arson or malicious mischief against health care facilities, workers or religious organizations.

“Insurance availability should not be determined through the use of firebombs,” Williams said in a press release. “We must all stand up for the rule of law, and on behalf of victims, regardless of personal belief.”

The bill now heads to the governor to be signed into law.

Throw away the key

“The same people who are saying, ‘No new taxes,’ are the same people who would love to spend all the money on only one aspect of government: incarceration.”

– Sen. Adam Kline, unhappy with the multimillion-dollar projected cost of a bill to allow felony charges on the fifth DUI within 10 years.