Adele Ferguson - Early session bills stand slim chance for approval

OUR LEGISLATORS seem to be having a ball in Olympia.

One wants to allow the sale of marijuana to people 21 and over in state liquor stores. Another wants to require proof of residency in applying for a driver’s license to smoke out the illegal aliens.

There are three different proposals amending the Constitution to allow the Washington Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials to cut those salaries when desired, something they can’t do now.

There’s a bill that would make teacher effectiveness the main determining factor during layoffs instead of seniority.

Someone wants to delay making passing of the mathematics test a graduation requirement for three more years.

Another bill would use the $98 million available in a federal grant to increase unemployment benefits by $15 a week for each dependent child of the recipient instead of using the money to retrain laid off workers for jobs for new careers.

Silencers could be used on firearms in bills introduced in both houses.

Oil tankers would be liable for triple the fine for a spill in Puget Sound, from $100,000 to $300,000 a day among many other requirements.

NOW I HATE to be a pessimist but the futures of all of these seem dim to me. Irate cops of all variety will swarm into Olympia for bearings on the MJ in liquor stores idea. There are very few liquor store holdups on account of the stores keep a minimal amount of cash on hand so it isn’t worth it. Many stores won’t even take a $100 bill in payment. But if there are drugs to be had, why wouldn’t that encourage robberies or burglaries of same?

Although Washington is one of only three states in the country where proof of legal residency isn’t needed to get a driver’s license, I think chances are slim for that this time. Democrats don’t want to do anything that will send the illegals back across the border because they anticipate eventual amnesty and they count them as their votes.

I doubt the Legislature will bother to send a constitutional amendment to the ballot allowing a reduction of salaries for elected officials. Too many lawmakers look forward to rising in the ranks.

I also don’t see making teacher effectiveness the key to who stays and who goes out the door when layoffs are necessary. For one thing, one of the biggest arguments through the years has been who determines effectiveness. And the unions oppose the change. Public employee unions, for the most part, run Olympia.

AS FOR DELAYING the math test requirement for graduation for three years, the governor opposes that, and it makes it look as if we’ve got the dumbest kids on the planet.

The sponsors of that effort to change use of the $98 million federal grant money for lump sum payments instead of retraining laid off workers have already been reamed out good by the Seattle Times. The governor wants it to go into retraining.

The argument in favor of legalizing silencers on guns is mainly that it will cut down on the noise at those clubs where you can go and practice shooting. Sounds odd to me, but this bill is the most likely of all the above to make it, on account of influential sponsors.

Concerning the bill jacking up the cost for oil spills, it’s a complicated one that I think would take another session to be fleshed out and passed.

Watch ‘em. When we least expect it is when they sneak things through.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.)