We’re less than two weeks away from the Legislature’s scheduled end date for the regular session. Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins talked with Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick about the action in recent days.
The state House and Senate have been on the floor full time the last several days, Jenkins said.
“There’s a bill headed to the governor’s desk that deals with felony voting rights,” he said of one of many pieces of legislation passed during this busy time. “It would require the Department of Corrections to provide written notice to an inmate as they’re releasing from prison about their rights for provisional restoration of their voting rights.”
There’s also an interesting gun-related measure worth noting, Jenkins added. Currently, local police agencies are in charge of background checks for pistol purchases and concealed permit applications. By contrast, Oregon’s statewide system is under the jurisdiction of state police. A study will be done to see if that approach would work here, Jenkins said.
And, just yesterday, a bill passed dealing with missing and murdered indigenous people. “Under this law, two positions would be created within the Washington State Patrol for the purpose of building relationships between the state and native communities,” Jenkins said.
To hear more about these measures passed recently and a long list of those Jenkins is still watching closely, click the play icon above.
