Lawmakers quick to offer energy assistance
Moving with rare speed, the Legislature opened the 2006 session by rushing through a bill to steer $7.6 million more into home heating assistance for low-income families.
The House of Representatives passed House Bill 2730 Wednesday morning, handing off the bill immediately to the Senate. Gov. Gregoire signed the measure Thursday. The Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development predicts that the bill would make an additional 14,120 households eligible for an average of $350 each. It would also allow for 350 low-income homes to be weatherized.
“This bill must be passed now, while people are struggling with high heating bills,” said prime sponsor Rep. Tami Green, D-Lakewood. “If we were to wait to take action on this bill, we would be doing a disservice to the citizens of Washington state.”
Republicans, eclipsed by the Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, have repeatedly pointed out that they called for a similar change back in September. They wanted the governor to convene a one-day session then, so they could cap energy taxes for now.
“She (Gregoire) didn’t do that,” Sen. Mike Hewitt said Tuesday night. “So we lost three months of heating for low-income citizens.”
In an unrelated move, lawmakers acted quickly last week on another matter: outlawing sex with animals.
The issue drew attention to Washington state last year, when authorities revealed that a man died of a perforated colon after having sex with a horse in rural King County. Sheriff’s officers believed they had no options for criminal charges for the man’s companions because bestiality was not covered under the state’s animal cruelty law. Prosecutors did eventually get one conviction for trespassing.
If the proposal is signed into law, violators now could face felony charges.
“It’s something from which (animals) need to be protected,” said state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, the bill’s sponsor.
Bestiality is illegal in parts of the country, but Washington is one of about 20 states that do not address the issue in lawbooks, animal activists said.