On Monday February 24, 2020, I testified to the committee of the Washington State House of Representatives that was considering the State Senate’s SB 5339, which the Senate had passed. It would repeal the law underlying Washington State’s death penalty. The law remained on the books even though our WA State Supreme Court UNANIMOUSLY ruled it unconstitutional in October 2018 because of its long history of pervasive racism.
The legislative committee hearing allowed only two minutes of testimony from each person, so I summarized my testimony VERY BRIEFLY from the thoughtful, informative testimony I had prepared.
Here is the full version of my testimony:
TESTIMONY 2020.02.24 — OK to share this with more people
On Thursday morning February 27, 2020, the House Public Safety Committee passed the bill out of the committee by a 7-to-4 vote with no amendments. Now it will go to the House Rules Committee. We’ll need to push hard to convince members of the House Rules Committee to pull it out of that committee and send it to the House Floor for a final vote by the entire House. The State Senate has already passed SB 5339, so if the House passes it will go to the Governor, who is eager to sign it. That will abolish Washington State’s death penalty! I have been working on this for three decades.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
FIRST: Please urge members of the House Rules Committee to “pull the bill” from Rules and send it to the Floor for a vote by the entire House of Representatives. HERE IS A LINK of the House Rules Committee members and their phone numbers: http://leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/RUL/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx The legislative website also has ways to e-mail them.
ALSO: Urge your own State House members to support SB 5339 if it goes to the House Floor for that final vote. You can find their phone numbers and e-mail addresses at www.leg.wa.gov, and you can also leave phone messages for them at the State Legislature’s Hotline, 1-800-562-6000.
If you have questions, contact me at (360) 491-9093 glenanderson@integra.net
