House votes Wednesday on law enforcement officer bills

Family members will be present in the House Chamber for a resolution honoring six law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty within two months of one another late last year.
Following the resolution, the House of Representatives will take action on a package of bills designed to protect first responders and their families.

WHAT: Votes on a package of law enforcement officer bills
• HB 2519 Death benefits for the families of fallen police officers and firefighters
• HB 1679 Catastrophic benefits
• HB 2625 Ending the practice of booking bail
• HB 1203 Toughening penalties for the crime of rendering criminal assistance
• HB 2422 Giving victims notice when criminally insane escape from a state institution

WHEN: 11 a.m. Wednesday, February 3

WHERE: Floor of the House of Representatives

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
November 29, 2010 -- Four Lakewood police officers were executed in a coffee shop by Maurice Clemmons, pardoned from a life sentence by ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. Never in our state's history have so many police officers fallen on the same day, or at the hands of the same attacker.

October 31, 2010 -- Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed as he sat in his patrol car with a trainee he was instructing.

December 21, 2010 -- Pierce County sheriff Sgt. Nick Hausner and Deputy Kent Mundell are shot responding to a domestic violence call. Hausner survived his wounds; Mundell did not.

September 17, 2010 – Criminally-insane killer Paul Phillip escapes from custody during a field trip to the Spokane County Fair. He was later caught with a weapon in his backpack in Goldendale by sheriff’s deputies – one of whom Phillip had seriously injured during a previous arrest years earlier.