Tommy Le

Happy Monday!

First up, E2SHB1310, the bill on de-escalation and strengthening I-940, has a hearing in the State Senate Ways & Means committee tomorrow, 3/30 at 1:30pm.

• You can sign in to register your support. (This takes less than a minute.)
• You can submit written comments in support of the bill.
• You can sign up to testify live at the hearing on Monday 3/22 at 3:30pm.

ESSB5226, the bill ending debt-based license suspension, is scheduled for an executive session in the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday, 3/31 at 1:30pm. This bill needs an additional amendment added in order to close a loophole that would make this legislation not work as it was originally intended. In order to speak for this bill, you will need to email members of the House Transportation Committee. More information including email addresses and a script should be available at this site soon, or you can email me (respond to this newsletter email) and I can send you something directly.

In other state legislative news, the Senate and House Democrats released their 2021-2023 budget proposals, and both proposals include the state capital gains tax (SB 5096), which is a strong sign the Democrats expect it to pass and be signed into law.

If you are looking for a flexible volunteer opportunity, Campaign Zero and #Nixthe6 is looking for volunteers to do internet research and update spreadsheets. They are creating the first nationwide database of police organizations and their associated union contracts and can use all the help they can get. Short training sessions (~45 minutes) are being conducted later this week, and if you’re interested, you can email reecie.campaignzero@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, in King County, the family of Tommy Le, who was killed by a deputy in Burien in 2017, settled their civil suit against King County and the deputy. While they say the settlement shows a “degree of culpability” on both King County’s and the deputy’s part, an internal email from the KCSO Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht shows otherwise. You can read all about it because of Carolyn Bick’s excellent reporting in the South Seattle Emerald. If you’d like to protest this behavior, you can write to your King County Councilmember asking them to demand the Sheriff’s resignation. You can find out who your Councilmember is here.

More news as it happens, and thank you for reading!