62nd
Washington State Legislature - 2012 2nd Regular Session
Bill Status as of February 3, 2012
WSAB
has represented Washington’s radio and
television stations in the State
Legislature since 1935. Each year, WSAB
protects and promotes the interests of
broadcasters on a variety of bills and
issues.
Symbol
Key:
HB/SB: Original
(House/Senate) Bill
SHB/SSB: Substitute (House/Senate) Bill -
Amendments were added by the committee and
compiled into a Substitute Bill.
EHB/ESB: Engrossed (House/Senate) Bill -
Amendments were added during consideration
of the bill by the full House or Senate
and consolidated before final passage into
a new bill.
Cut-Off Dates:
The Legislature establishes "cut-off" dates to gauge
the performance of bills. A bill must meet a particular
progress benchmark by each cut-off or it may no longer be
considered and is deemed "dead" for the session.
Bills necessary to implement the budget are exempt from
"cut-off" deadlines. The
next 2012 "cut-off"
date is Tuesday, February 14th. By that date, bills must
have achieved final passage in their house of
origin (House bills passed by the House; Senate Bills
passed by the Senate).
[Washington’s
legislative sessions span two years.
Bills with the bill number and title
underlined indicate a bill that was introduced in 2012.
Bills that were passed by the Legislature in 2011 have
been omitted.]
ADVERTISING
NEWS
GATHERING & REPORTING
TAXES
MISCELLANEOUS
ADVERTISING
SB
5010/HB 1898:
Public funding for Supreme Court Campaigns.
These two similar bills would establish a mechanism for
public funding of Washington State Supreme Court campaigns.
It includes penalties for violations by the candidates.
The original 2010 version of this bill included a
provision requiring the State to go to court when a candidate
was found to be violating the law to obtain an injunction
against any radio or television station that was airing that
candidate’s campaign advertisements.
WSAB lobbied that provision out of the 2010 legislation
and the 2011 version does not contain that provision.
2011 STATUS:
SB 5010 in Senate Government, Tribal Relations &
Elections Committee.
HB 1898 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee. 2012 STATUS:
SB 5010 in Senate Government, Tribal Relations &
Elections Committee.
HB 1898 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SB
5955:
Medical Marijuana.
This bill was introduced after the Governor vetoed
E2SSB 5073.
It would delegate regulation of medical marijuana in
some respects to counties and cities.
It includes a provision prohibiting the advertising of
cannabis for sale to the general public. 2011
STATUS:
In Senate Ways & Means Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Ways & Means Committee.
SB
5598/HB 1550:
Marijuana.
These two identical bills would place authority to
regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana
with the State Liquor Control Board.
It does contain specific advertising restrictions, but
authorizes the Board to adopt rules regarding the kind,
character and location of advertising of marijuana.
2011 STATUS:
SB 5598 in Senate Judiciary Committee.
2011 HB 1550 in House Public Safety & Emergency
Preparedness Committee.
2012 STATUS:
SB 5598 in Senate Judiciary Committee.
2011 HB 1550 in House Public Safety & Emergency
Preparedness Committee.
SSB
6265: Medical Marijuana.
This bill would establish a regulatory framework for
the use of medical marijuana.
The advertising provision is narrowed from earlier
bills and only prohibits the advertising of medical marijuana
for sale to the general public in any manner that promotes the
use or abuse of cannabis.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
HB
1246/SB 5380:
Tobacco Product Regulation.
These two identical bills would, among other things,
prohibit the sale of certain kinds of tobacco that are
flavored.
WSAB is watching this bill closely and would oppose any
restriction on advertising electronic cigarettes.
2011 STATUS: HB 1246 in House Rules Committee.
2011 STATUS:
SB 5380 in Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer
Protection Committee.
2012 STATUS:
Referred to House Health Care & Wellness Committee.
SB 5380:
In Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection
Committee.
SHB
1732:
Campaign Finance Disclosure.
This bill would, among other
things, revise the sponsor identification requirements for
independent expenditure political advertising.
Two WSAB amendments that would conform the TV visual
sponsor id requirement for text height to the same requirement
as the FCC sponsor id rule; and, reattached the party
preference requirement to advertising sponsored by the
candidate that had been mistakenly deleted and moved to the
section governing independent expenditures were adopted in the
Substitute Bill.
2011 STATUS:
In House Rules Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SB
6089:
Telephone Campaign Advertising.
Extends sponsor identification requirements to campaign
advertising by telephone.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
HB
2499:
Sponsor Identification of Ballot Measure Advertising.
This bill would require advertising sponsored by a
political committee for or against a ballot measure to include
the listing of the “Top 5’ contributors to the committee
in the 12 months prior to the election.
2012 STATUS:
on schedule for consideration by the full House.
SB
6476:
Plumber Contractor Advertising.
This bill would require an advertising medium to remove
advertising by a plumbing contractor if the advertising does
not contain the contractor’s registration number upon notice
by the attorney general, licensing authority or district
attorney.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
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NEWS
GATHERING & REPORTING
OPEN
RECORDS ACCESS
HB
1033/SSB 5022:
Open Records Claims Statute of Limitations.
These two identical bills clarify that the statute of
limitations for any action brought under the Open Records Act
is one year from the date that a government agency claims an
exemptions, provides records or claims that there are no
records responsive to the request, whichever is later.
2011 STATUS:
HB 1033 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SSB 5022 in Senate Rules Committee.
2012 STATUS:
HB 1033 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SSB 5022 in Senate Rules Committee.
HB 1044/SB 5237:
Office of Open Records.
These two identical bills would create an independent
Office of Open Records that would provide impartial
administrative reviews of disputes between records requesters
and government agencies.
2011
STATUS:
HB 1044 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SB 5237 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
2012 STATUS:
HB 1044 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SB 5237 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
HB
1139/SB 5062:
Notice of Dispute Under Public Records Act.
These two identical bills create a mechanism through
which a person who has made a public records request that has
been denied may file a claim with the agency that denied the
request prior to filing a lawsuit under current law.
2011 STATUS:
HB 1139 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee. SB 5062 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
2012 STATUS:
HB 1044 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SB 5237 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
SB
5088/HB 1300:
Recovering Costs of Public Record Requests.
This bill would permit a government agency to charge a
requester for the personnel costs for the time it takes to
complete the records search and copying if the production of
records for the requester takes more than five hours in a
month.
2011 STATUS: SB 5088 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations
& Elections Committee.
HB 1300 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
2012 STATUS: SB 5088 in Senate Government Operations,
Tribal Relations & Elections Committee.
HB 1300 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SB
5089/HB 1299:
Public Records Requests Conferences.
This bill would permit a records requester or the
government agency that is the subject of a records request to
confer regarding a records disclosure dispute.
If a conference has been conducted and a lawsuit is
still filed to resolve the matter, the award of penalties and
costs is made mandatory.
2011 STATUS:
SB 5089 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
HB 1299 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
2012 STATUS:
SB 5089 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
HB 1299 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SSB
5294/HB 1389:
Hours of Availability of Public Records of Special
Districts for Inspection & Copying.
These two identical bills would permit special
districts that do not maintain office hours at least 30 hours
a week not to offer make their public records available for
inspection during regular business hours.
The district must post at the agency headquarters or on
its web site directions on how to contact the agency to
inspect or copy public records.
2011 STATUS: SB
5294 in Senate Rules Committee. HB
1389 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee.
2012 STATUS: SB 5294 in Senate Rules Committee.
HB 1389 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SSB
5314/HB 1293:
Public Disclosure of Information Relating to Child Care
& Early Learning Services.
These two identical bills would exempt from public
disclosure and copying any personal information maintained for
a child who is receiving child care or early learning
services.
2011 STATUS:
SSB 5314 in Senate Rules Committee.
HB 1293 in House Rules Committee.
2012 STATUS:
SSB 5314 in Senate Rules Committee.
HB 1293 in House Rules Committee.
SB
5512:
Public Records Access.
This bill would require government agencies to make
public records available through computer terminals in the
agency.
It also makes mandatory the award of penalty against an
agency that is found by a court to have withheld documents
improperly.
2011 STATUS:
In Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations &
Elections Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations &
Elections Committee.
HB
1675:
Estimated Cost of Records Request.
This bill would require an agency to provide to the
requester a written estimate of the cost to comply with a
public records request for informational purposes.
2011 STATUS:
In House Ways & Means Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In House Ways & Means Committee.
SHB
1689/SB 5721:
Booking Photos Open to Public.
These two identical bills would clarify that booking
photos or electronic images must be entered into a jail
database in a timely basis and made available to the public.
2011 STATUS:
HB 1689 in House Rules Committee.
SB 5721 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
2012 STATUS:
HB 1689 in House Rules Committee.
SB 5721 in Senate Government Operations, Tribal
Relations & Elections Committee.
SB
5677:
Immunity of Unincorporated Area Councils from Lawsuits
Under the Public Records Act.
This bill defines unincorporated area councils as not
being state or local government agencies and provides immunity
for the councils and their volunteers from lawsuits under the
Open Public Records Act.
2011 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
SB
6066:
Audio/Video Recording by Law Enforcement.
This bill would add recordings made by cameras worn by
police officers to the exemption to the “two-party
consent” rule for recording conversations.
WSAB, the Washington Coalition for Open Government and
the newspaper associations worked with the Chair of the Senate
Judiciary Committee to make an additional change in the
statute to eliminate the ability of police departments to
refuse to make a copy of the recording available until after
the statute of limitations on actions against the police
department or an office has run out.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Judiciary Committee.
SSB
6146/HB 2340:
Commercial Use of Public Records Act.
These two identical bills would clarify that the Public
Records Act is not intended to facilitate the gathering of
information for purely commercial, profit-making purposes
unrelated to the promotion of transparency and openness in
state and local governments.
2012 STATUS:
SSB 6146 in Senate Rules Committee.
HB 2340 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SB
6292/HB 2542:
Access to Juvenile Records.
These two identical bills would reverse current law and
exempt from disclosure the court file of an alleged or proven
juvenile offender unless the juvenile has been charged with a
serious offense or the court enters an order making some or
all of the file open to public inspection.
2012 STATUS:
SB 6292 in Senate Judiciary Committee.
HB 2542 in House General Government Appropriations and
Oversight Committee.
HB
2572:
Public Records & Open Meetings Training .
This bill would require the creation of a training
program for public officials and employees regarding the legal
requirements of the Public Records Act and the Open Meetings
Act.
2012 STATUS:
In House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
HB
2652:
Destruction of Public Records.
This bill would provide a mechanism for a public
records requester who was denied the opportunity to inspect or
copy a public record to have the Superior Court require the
agency to show why it destroyed the record.
2012 STATUS:
In House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
SSB
6351:
Inspection & Copying of Public Records.
This bill would expand the government agencies to seek
an injunction against inspection and copying of public
records.
The current law applies to correctional facilities and
public records requests by inmates.
The bill would expand the scope of the statute to all
government agencies.
It also allows agencies to establish a maximum number
of hours that it will spend on public records requests to
prevent excessive interference with its other essential
functions.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
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NEWS
GATHERING & REPORTING
OPEN
MEETINGS
SSB
5355:
Notice of Special Meetings.
This bill includes additional notice requirements for a
special meeting of a governing body of a government agency.
It does not change existing law that requires such
notice to be delivered to any radio or television station that
has on file with the agency a written request to be notified
of special meetings.
2011 STATUS: In Senate Rules Committee. 2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
SSB
6109/HB 2406:
Video & Recordings of Executive Session.
These two identical bills would exempt from public
inspection and copying any video or audio recordings of the
executive session of a governmental agency.
2012 STATUS:
SSB 6109 in Senate Rules Committee.
HB 2406 in House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
HB
2526:
Collective Bargaining.
This bill would require collective bargaining sessions
with certain government employee organizations to be conducted
as open public meetings.
2012 STATUS:
In House State Government & Tribal Affairs
Committee.
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NEWS
GATHERING & REPORTING
MISCELLANEOUS
NO
MISCELLANEOUS
NEWS
GATHERING
&
REPORTING
BILLS HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED YET
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TAXES
HB
2094:
Implementing Recommendations of the Tax Preference
Review Commission.
Among other things, this bill would require the
Department of Revenue to research and establish the standard
deduction for broadcasters B & O tax every five years.
It does not alter the B & O tax structure,
deductions or rate for broadcasters.
2011 STATUS:
In House Ways & Means Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In House Ways & Means Committee.
SB
5857:
Excise Taxes.
This omnibus bill would, among other things, raise the
B & O Tax rate on many non-service businesses to the
service B & O Tax rate of 1.5% including broadcasters B
& O Tax rate.
2011 STATUS:
In Senate Ways & Means Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Ways & Means Committee.
SB
6201/HB 2631:
B & O Tax on Local Interest Web Sites.
This bill would establish the B & O Tax for
“local interest web sites.” The
tax rate would be .403% until June 30, 2012 and .383%
thereafter.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Ways & Means Committee.
SB
6176/HB 2490:
Simplifying B & O Taxes.
This bill would do some rearranging of the B & O
tax statute by reorganizing various sections of the law by
common
B & O tax rate and subject matter.
It would remove a number of businesses from the section
containing the newspaper and broadcaster B & O Tax rate
and move those businesses to new sections.
The broadcaster B & O Tax rate is unchanged.
2012 STATUS:
SB 6176 in Senate Ways & Means Committee.
HB 2490 in House Ways & Means Committee.
HB
2529:
Repeal of Tax Preferences.
This bill would repeal hundreds of tax preferences.
It repeals the broadcaster B & O Tax rate of .484%
effective July 1, 2017.
The result would increase broadcasters’ B & O Tax
rate to the service rate of 1.5%.
2012 STATUS:
In House Ways & Means Committee.
HB
2762:
B & O Tax Preferences.
This bill would sunset hundreds of tax preferences.
It differs from HB 2529, but it does repeal the
broadcaster B & O Tax rate of .484% effective July 1,
2017.
The result would increase broadcasters’ B & O Tax
rate to the service rate of 1.5%.
2012 STATUS:
In House Ways & Means Committee.
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MISCELLANEOUS
SB
5752:
Correction or Clarification of Defamation Act.
This bill would require a person, in order to maintain
an action for defamation, to make a timely and adequate
request for publishing of a correction or clarification by the
entity publishing or broadcasting the information that is at
issue.
2011
STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
SHB
1820:
Blue Alert.
This bill would establish a “Blue Alert” for
notification of the media and the public when a law
enforcement officer has been killed or seriously injured by an
act of a violent criminal.
The WSAB amendment that would provide immunity from
liability for broadcasters air information about a Blue Alert
that is acted upon by a civilian who ends up being harmed by
acting on that information was included in the Substitute
Bill.
The bill’s sponsor has agreed that Blue Alert will
not be an activation of the Emergency Alert System.
2011 STATUS:
In General Government Appropriations & Oversight
Committee.
2012 STATUS:
In Ways & Means Committee.
HB
2174:
Elected Officials in Public Service Announcements.
Elected officials are currently not permitted to appear
in Public Service Announcements beginning on January 1 of a
year in which they will be running for re-election.
This bill would change the deadline for removing these
PSAs to the date when the candidate must file with the Public
Disclosure Commission.
This change would make it nearly impossible for
stations to know when
to pull a particular PSA because the deadline would be
different for every candidate, and some candidates’ campaign
committees are continuous and do not file new forms for
campaign committee formation.
WSAB worked with the sponsor to insert language into
the bill that would protect broadcasters from liability if
they ran a PSA that was in violation of the statute.
2012 STATUS:
In State Government & Tribal Affairs Committee.
HB
2477/SB 6162:
Endangered Missing Person Advisory.
These two identical bills would require an AMB ER
Alert-like activation of the Emergency Alert System for
dissemination of an Endangered Missing Person Advisory.
WSAB opposes the bill and is working with the sponsors
of both the House and Senate bills to add language that would
remove the activation of the EAS.
2012 STATUS:
HB 2477 in House Public Safety & Emergency
Preparedness Committee.
SB 6162 in Senate Rules Committee.
SHB
2570:
Metal Property Theft.
This bill would establish a task force to formulate
suggestions for state policy regarding regulation of
commercial and nonferrous metal property theft.
Because broadcasters have been victims of copper theft
from tower sites, WSAB is very interested in this legislation
and, if it passes, will take an active role to inform the task
force of broadcasters’ victimization at the hands of copper
thieves.
2012 STATUS:
In House Rules Committee.
SB
6369:
Precautionary Principle.
This bill would insert the Precautionary Principle into
the land use permitting process.
Even though a station construction permit has been
approved by the FCC and is in compliance with all RF radiation
exposure limitations, if opponents of the project can show
“concern” for the health and well-being of humans or the
environment, whether scientifically proven or not, the
Precautionary Principle would act to provide the opponents
with a way to stop the project.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Environment Committee.
SB
6504:
Covenants Not to Compete in Broadcast Employment
Agreements.
This bill would prohibit the enforcement of a covenant
not to compete in a broadcast employment agreement following
the end of the employment agreement.
2012 STATUS:
In Senate Rules Committee.
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