Justice at last for those wrongfully convicted

The third time was the charm for Rep. Tina Orwall’s measure to compensate the wrongfully convicted in our state now that the Senate passed HB 1341 unanimously this evening. 

It’s been a long and winding road for this legislation. When Orwall first introduced it in 2011, it didn’t even get a hearing. The 2012 attempt was passed out of Judiciary, but was not scheduled for a hearing in Ways and Means. This time around, however, after numerous hurdles and some tweaking in the Senate, it’ll be on its way to Gov. Inslee’s desk as soon as the House agrees to the changes, which modified the bill to allow structured settlement awards and establishes that claimants must waive any other compensation under state or federal law. 

Orwall’s measure will provide a wrongfully convicted person with:

• $50,000 for each year behind bars
• Additional $50,000 for each year on death row
• $25,000 for each year on parole, community custody or as a registered sex offender
• Compensation for child support
• Reimbursement for restitution, assessments fees and court costs associated with the wrongful conviction
• Attorneys’ fees up to $75,000
• Higher education tuition waivers
• Access to reentry services

 Read this story in Spanish.

Putting $$$ where our mouth is on mental health

Earlier this week, House Democrats released a proposed operating budget. There are a lot of highlights – our proposal is the high-water mark on education funding, saves the safety net, and goes all in on Obamacare.

What may have been missed in all the hoopla was the important investments our budget makes in mental health care. Our budget pays for improvements to ensure the mentally ill get the care they need and make Washington a safer place.

• House Bill 1114: Introduced by Rep. Jamie Pedersen, fills the gap between the criminal justice system and mental health care providers. It ensures that violent mental health offenders get the treatment they need, instead of ending up on the streets.
 
• House Bill 1336: A Rep. Tina Orwall measure that requires school counselors and nurses to receive training on suicide prevention – giving these professionals the tools to identify early warning signs of troubled youth and prevent tragedies. 
 
• House Bill 1777: Rep. Tami Green’s bill will accelerate the implementation of critical involuntary commitment of people with pressing mental health issues. The new approach will take input from family members and friends into consideration when making a decision to involuntarily commit. We pay for this change two years ahead of schedule. 
 
• House Bill 1522: Another Green bill, HB 1522 builds a bridge between hospitals and the community for the mentally ill. It creates a step down from state hospitals – which will provide an important service to folks beginning to transition back into day-to-day life. This isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the cost-effective approach.
 
• House Bill 1627: A Rep. Dawn Morrell bill to give county jails the tools they need to meet the growing demand for competency evaluations. Our county jails aren’t mental health care providers and, without adequate care, the mentally ill deteriorate rapidly in jail.

We’ve seen the tragedies that can occur when the mentally ill don’t get treatment they need. House Democrats believe mental health care is a critical investment – it’s just one of many priorities we will be fighting for in coming weeks.

Photo: Members of the House Health Care Committee discuss budget priorities.

“Sorry” just doesn’t cut it

Can you imagine getting charged with a horrible crime and spending almost two decades locked-up in prison until you're proven innocent thanks to DNA testing?

And what do you get once you're set free? Nothing. An apology, maybe.

Last Friday, the House Appropriations Committe passed a bill by State Rep. Tina Orwall that would bring justice to those wrongly convicted.

Read the full press release here.

Watch Rep. Orwall talk about House Bill 1341 in her latest video update:

You can also check out some of the media coverage on this issue:

• Associated Press: Bill seeks compensation for wrongful convictions
• KOMO News: Exonerated convicts ask Washington to pay up for lost time
• NY Daily News: Man who served 17 years in prison for rape he didn't commit inspires Washington state bill to compensate wrongfully imprisoned $50,000 per year
• Seattle Times: Innocent but locked up for 17 years, man hopes for compensation
• Seattle Weekly: The Innocence Project Tries Again with Wrongly Convicted Compensation Bill

Read this story in Spanish.

Washington leading the fight against human trafficking

We tend to think that human trafficking and modern-day slavery happen only in distant third-world countries, not here in America.

But they do, more than any of us can imagine. Consider Susana Blackwell, from the Philippines, who was killed by her husband right outside Seattle's King County courtroom in 1995. And Anastasia King, from the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyztan, who was murdered just north of Seattle in 2000, also by her husband. Both women came to Washington believing they had found happiness.

Human trafficking is happening right here, right now. A recent story comes from a survivor, Yasmin Christopher, born in Bangladesh, who endured childhood hardship and abuse when members of her family were held captive on a remote farm by her father. Read her story in this February 16 Seattle Times report.
 

According to a 2009 United Nations study, it is very difficult to assess the real size of human trafficking because it takes place underground, and is often not even identified. But a conservative estimate puts the number of victims at any one time at 2.5 million. Sexual exploitation is the most commonly identified form of human trafficking (79%), followed by forced labor (18%).
 

Human trafficking is an enormous and widespread problem, but Washington and other states have taken important steps to prevent it. In fact, Washington passed 28 laws from 2002 to 2012 to fight human trafficking, modern-day slavery and sexual exploitation of children, making us the leader among all states in addressing this issue. Some of those laws:

• Prohibited human trafficking
• Created the Washington State Task Force against the trafficking of persons
• Improved services for human trafficking victims
• Prohibited sex tourism
• Created a new crime of the commercial sexual abuse of a minor
• Improved surveillance authority for human trafficking cases
• Expanded definitions to increase convictions
• Are helping provide a safe home for trafficking victims and their families

To learn more about these and the rest of the 28 laws passed in our state so far, please click here.

All those laws took a lot of time, work and collaboration among lawmakers, law enforcement agencies and stakeholders, but they are making a difference. We’re far from done, however, so in this legislative session, Rep. Tina Orwall is working on two new measures to continue helping victims of human trafficking:

• HB 1291 builds on last year’s HB 2692. Under this year’s legislation, fees from impounded vehicles involved in prostitution-related offenses would be directed to local governments to reduce the commercial sale of sex through more enforcement and rehab services for victims.
• HB 1292 would allow victims of trafficking forced into prostitution to clear their records of related convictions. This legislation passed the House today on a  91-1 vote. 

Watch the January 31^st public hearing on these two bills:

Read this story in Spanish.

With 58 programs so far, STEM is proving successful

Did you know Washington ranks fourth in the nation in technology-based corporations, but 46th in participation in science and engineering graduate degree programs?

Rep. Tina Orwall said that this disparity has to be fixed because those large employers need high-skilled workers and, if our state can’t provide them, they are bringing them from out of state. She stressed that these are Washington companies so those good-paying jobs should go to Washington workers.

That's why in 2010 she sponsored, and the Legislature unanimously passed, House Bill 2621 directing OSPI to designate six "lighthouse" schools each year to promote and develop Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, including technical assistance and advice for other elementary, middle and high schools that are creating their own STEM environments.

In the 22 months since the law went into effect, 24,000 students and 800 teachers have participated in 58 STEM programs across Washington.

Rep. Tina Orwall

This week, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction announced the schools that will receive STEM funding in 2013:

• Delta High School (Kennewick)
• Bremerton High School (Bremerton)
• Stevens Elementary School (Aberdeen)
• West Valley Junior High School (West Valley Yakima)
• West Hills STEM Academy (Bremerton)
• WF West High School (Chehalis)
• San Juan School District

Read the OSPI press release here.

Learn more about Washington STEM here.

Read this story in Spanish here.

Opening Day!

Speaker Frank Chopp gives his Opening Day speech

No, we don't mean baseball is back. But your legislature is!

The gavel fell at noon today in the House of Representatives, calling into session the 63rd Washington State Legislature. All 98 members took the oath of office, administered by Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Madsen.

Frank Chopp was re-elected Speaker of the House and delivered his traditional opening day speech. Also re-elected were Speaker Pro-Tem Jim Moeller and Chief Clerk Barbara Baker.  Tina Orwall was elected Deputy Speaker Pro-Tem, as well.

House committees began their schedule of meetings at 1:30, and the agendas were not easy, first-day-of-school stuff: the new Finance Committee receiving an update from the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council and the Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on Governor Gregoire's budget proposal.

*** UPDATE *** Our website is currently down, so the link to the Speaker's opening day speech won't work. We'll update this post when the service provider has our site back online. You can also watch the speech on TVW below.


*** UPDATE 5:54 p.m. *** We're back up. Thanks for your patience.




Read this story in Spanish here.

"We're all in this together...."

The House Democratic Caucus elected the remaining members of their leadership this morning, finalizing a team that represents urban, suburban, and rural Washington. 

"After all," said Speaker Frank Chopp, "we're all in this together.  We want a team that reflects that."

Elected today were:
• Jim Moeller (Vancouver): Speaker pro tem-designate
• Tina Orwall (Des Moines): Deputy Speaker pro tem-designate
• Marcie Maxwell (Renton): Deputy Majority Leader for Education and Opportunity
• Larry Springer (Kirkland): Deputy Majority Leader for Jobs and Economic Development
• Joe Fitzgibbon (Burien): Deputy Majority Whip
• Kris Lytton (Anacortes): Deputy Majority Floor Leader

They join the core group of leaders elected a couple weeks ago.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Suicide prevention training law goes into effect

Starting tomorrow, June 7, Washington will become the first state in the nation to require mental health professionals and other frontline care providers to receive training in suicide assessment, treatment and management.

ESHB 2366, also known as the Matt Adler Suicide Assessment, Treatment and Management Act of 2012, was sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall after hearing Adler’s widow tell the story of her young husband taking his life leaving her and their two small children behind.   

Orwall said that although health professionals are licensed by the state to protect the public, not all clinicians receive suicide prevention training. 

The new law requires mental health professionals, social workers and occupational therapists to receive six hours of training every six years, as part of their continuing education requirement, starting in 2014.  

Read Orwall’s full press release here.

Watch the King 5 story:

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Cracking down on the commercial sex industry

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and dozens of other U.S. mayors have called on the operators of the Backpage.com classified-ad web site to require escorts advertising on the site to prove they are at least 18 by providing a photo ID.

The move is the latest attempt to pressure Backpage.com, a leading sex-services ad site, to rein in underage prostitution – and it follows a Democratic-led, bipartisan initiative in the 2012 legislative session that yielded a crack-down bill signed into law by Gov. Gregoire. That measure, Senate Bill 6251, makes it a crime for a site operator or publisher to produce an advertisement for a commercial sex act that includes a photograph of a minor. As a legal defense, the operator or publisher may present proof it required a government-issued ID showing the advertiser was at least 18.

That bill was one of several passed by the 2012 Legislature that target the commercial sex industry, including House Bill 2692, sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall of Des Moines. To read more about the package, click here.

Got housing issues? Maybe we can help!

The economy is getting better and our unemployment rate is lower than it has been in years, but times are still tough, and one of the hardest hit areas is housing. This session we passed bills that will help the homeless, provide housing assistance, and lend a hand to homeowners in crisis.

We’re supporting proven services that reduce homelessness with HB 2048, which expands highly successful programs that provide services for the homeless. On any given day, 23,000 people are homeless in Washington. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney, will raise $126 million over the next five years for state and local homeless programs via a $10 increase in certain document recording fees.

With the passage of HB 2640, we’re improving the cost-effectiveness of housing assistance. This measure will help Housing Trust Fund dollars go further by emphasizing cost-effectiveness of investments. It requires the Housing Trust Fund to consider both total costs and the cost of housing per unit when reviewing applications for funding.

HB 2614, sponsored by Rep.Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney, is a comprehensive bill aimed at helping homeowners in crisis by providing alternatives, remedies, and assistance. This measure brings clarity to the short-sale process. A short sale is when a lender accepts a discount on a mortgage to avoid foreclosure. But in some cases the homeowner is still on the hook for the outstanding debt.  HB 2614 creates a notice mechanism so that homeowners are informed if the lender/bank will still collect what’s left of the debt after the home is sold, and it reduces the amount of time, from six to three years, that lenders have to pursue homeowners for remaining debts.

To further help struggling homeowners, HB 2614 was amended to include the provisions of two other consumer protection bills that got stuck in the legislative process:

Rep. Tina Orwall’s HB 2421 makes important changes to the Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011 to make the mediation program run more smoothly, and streamline the demands on lenders:

• Meet and confer process can be over the phone.

• More time for scheduling mediations.

• More time (120 days instead of 90) between the notice of sale and the trustee sale.

Sen. Adam Kline’s SB 6515 provides remedies for when a home is lost due to mistakes in the trustee sale. Currently, if you lose your home because of a mistake in the foreclosure process, it is impossible to get it back. These provisions allow for the trustee sale to be void if:

• There was an error in the foreclosure sale process.

• There was an agreement for a loan modification or other agreement to postpone the sale.

• The services accepted funds to satisfy the loan when they had no legal duty to do so.

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

Death and Taxes

As the old quote from Benjamin Franklin goes, there are no certainties in this world except death and taxes. Our stories on dead bills and tax reform generated the most hits on this blog over the last 30 days, followed closely by a lighthearted story about Rep. Tina Orwall breaking the House roll call machine.

As the 2012 regular legislative session comes to an end, House Democrats would like to say a quick “thank you” to our readers. And a very special thank you to those who share our posts and tweets across your social networks. We hope this blog serves a valuable resource for residents across Washington to get real-time information on important issues from their elected representatives.

After the session dust settles, the HDC staff will be working behind the scenes making some tweaks to our blog. We have some ideas in mind, but we’d also like to hear from you. If you have any suggestions or things you’d like to see on our blog, you can tweet your thoughts to us at @WAHouseDems or submit your comments to hdc.media@leg.wa.gov.

Thank you again, and stay tuned to The Advance for the latest on the ongoing budget negotiations and other legislative news.

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

And the Cammy goes to...

While we may not have a huge theater and a red carpet like they do in Hollywood for big screen stars to celebrate their glamorous Academy Award Ceremony, we do have starlets of our own and they get awards, too. 

Last night during the TVW Annual Gala held at the Red Lion Hotel in Olympia, Rep. Tina Orwall won a Cammy for her reaction to a technology malfunction when she was presiding as Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore over the House Floor on February 1, 2012.

Watch the clip right here:

“As if presiding weren’t already a bit nerve-wracking because you’re there with your peers sitting in front of you, visitors up in the galleries and a TV camera watching your every move, when suddenly there are technical difficulties and all you can do is shrug, laugh a little and move on,” said the Des Moines Democrat about the mishap that won her one of this year’s Cammys. “But I am happy to receive this award. It will serve as a reminder that even though we’re facing very tough decisions this session, there was also a little room for comic relief.”

Orwall is no stranger to the rostrum; she did a great job the first time she took the gavel back in April 2009, and was named Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore in January 2011.

 “The annual TVW Gala is an evening where everyone in the legislative community can come together for a night of entertainment, laughter and fun.  The presentation of the Cammy Awards is always a highlight of the event and we congratulate Rep. Tina Orwall as a well-deserved honoree this year,” said Greg Lane, President of TVW.

TVW has been presenting a handful of the coveted Cammy Awards each year since 2003. Cammy Award nominations are selected by the TVW production staff and then voted upon by the guests at the TVW Gala. The Cammys recognize some of the most unusual, humorous or embarrassing moments from committee hearings or floor action covered by Washington state’s public affairs station. 

You can watch all of the February 1 Floor action on TVW by clicking here.

To read this story in Spanish, please click here.

Week 5 House Floor Speech Highlights

It was a historic week in the state House. After a very civil House floor debate earlier this week, Washington is on its way to becoming the seventh state in the nation to legalize equal marriage. The House also passed measures that will improve the lives of foster children, expanded suicide prevention training, and honored the National Guard. Check out these clips from this week's floor debates.


SB 6239 - Marriage Equality
Rep. Jamie Pedersen


Rep. Drew Hansen


Rep. Sam Hunt


HB 2592 - Extending Opportunities for Foster Care Children 
Rep. Reuven Carlyle



HB 2366 - Suicide Prevention Education 
Rep. Tina Orwall



HR 4655 - Honoring the National Guard 
Rep. Larry Seaquist


To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Johns and pimps better beware or pay-up!

Currently a john only pays a $150 fine the first time he gets caught in the act of buying sex.  And a pimp only pays $300 the first time he’s caught selling sex.

Reps. Tina Orwall, a Democrat from Des Moines and Kevin Parker, a Republican from Spokane, decided that’s just not enough, so they put their political differences aside and worked on a couple of bills that increase the fines.

UnderHouse Bill  2692, instead of $150, johns will pay $1,500 for a first offense, $2,500 for a second offense, and $5,000 for a third or subsequent offense. And under House Bill 1983, instead of $300, pimps will pay $3,000 for a first offense, $6,000 for a second offense, and $10,000 for a third or subsequent offense.

The revenue from these fines will be put to good use to educate offenders about the negative costs of prostitution, and on prevention and rehabilitative services to help victims get out of the sex trade industry.

Both bills passed the House unanimously and are on their way to the Senate.

Read the press release here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

2012 STEM schools to receive cash grants

Rep. Tina Orwall

Last April we reported that employers in our state are looking for professionals in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (known as STEM fields), and we cited some of the steps taken in recent years to increase advanced degree production in Washington state.

One of those steps was the Enhanced STEM instruction measure (HB 2621) sponsored by Rep. Tina Orwall, which passed the Legislature unanimously in 2010.

That law required the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to designate a number of schools to serve as “lighthouses” that offer technical assistance and advice to school districts and communities regarding best practices in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics instruction. STEM schools are effective in helping a wide range of students excel in math and sciences in preparation for college, as well as providing them with the skills to compete for high-tech job opportunities. 

An OSPI release earlier this week announced that this year five schools and an entire district will be serving as lighthouse or STEM schools:

• Eastmont Junior High School (Eastmont School District)

• Secondary Academy for Success (Northshore)

• Science and Math Institute (Tacoma)

• Stewart Middle School (Tacoma)

• Toppenish High School (Toppenish)

• Odessa School District

Each of the five schools and one district will receive $20,000 grants to promote and develop STEM education, including technical assistance and advice for other middle schools and high schools that are creating their own STEM environments, in compliance with HB 2621.

Orwall said that she applauds “the great work being done throughout our state to prepare students for careers in STEM fields, which are essential to strengthen our workforce.”

Two schools and one district were awarded Lighthouse grants in 2011; you can read about it here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

Save the date: Orwall - Hasegawa Joint Town Hall this Saturday!

Prepping kids for college and saving money all at the same time

A few weeks ago we reported that our high-school seniors have been doing an outstanding job on their SATs for almost a decade.

Rep. Tina Orwall says that we must be doing something right, and she visited some schools in her district where kids are enrolled in programs that not only get them ready for secondary education, but can also significantly reduce the costs of college.

Watch Rep. Orwall’s “College Bound Options that Help Your Pocketbook” video tour to get the scoop:
To read this blog post in Spanish, please go here.

Orwall foreclosure measure already producing results

The Foreclosure Fairness Program, which is coordinated by the Department of Commerce and was launched on July 22, was created by the Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011 to help struggling homeowners at risk of losing their homes by bringing fairness to the foreclosure process in our state.

In this short video, Rep. Tina Orwall, who sponsored the legislation, talks about the program with representatives from the Department of Commerce and the Housing Finance Commission, as well as the Mayor of Kent, a real estate agent, a housing counselor and a homeowner facing foreclosure.



The new law brings banks and homeowners to the table to explore alternatives to foreclosure. It requires lenders to notify borrowers prior to foreclosure of the availability of foreclosure counseling and the potential for mediation. Foreclosure counseling is helping homeowners understand all of their options and determine the best course of action.

Adding housing counselors and third-party mediation to the foreclosure process levels the playing field between homeowners and mortgage lenders. And having the opportunity to sit down face-to-face with the bank gives struggling homeowners a real chance to work out the best possible outcome for their specific situation.

So far, so good—the Foreclosure Fairness Program by the numbers:

Housing counselors
Currently: 69
Projected: 132

Mediators
In July, the Washington State Department of Commerce trained over 200 mediators, which will ensure approved mediators throughout the state. Two thirds of them are Dispute Resolution Center employees and the rest are attorneys or retired judges.

Mediations requested
As of yesterday, August 22, 2011, Commerce had received 220 referrals to mediation. About 43 percent of these are from King County and 22 percent are from Snohomish County. The first mediations should take place next week (August 29).


For more information please visit the program’s website: www.commerce.wa.gov/foreclosures

To read this blog post in Spanish, please go here.

An anti-foreclosure Friday ahead - deadline for foreclosure loans and launch of mediation program

This Friday, July 22, is an important date for homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure. It is the deadline to qualify for the Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program, which provides bridge loans to help with mortgage payments. But it is also the day the Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011 goes into effect, so as one program ends, another one launches to give struggling homeowners a helping hand.

The Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011, sponsored by state Rep. Tina Orwall this past session, created the Foreclosure Mediation Program to give homeowners facing foreclosure the chance to request a neutral, third-party mediator to come to a resolution with the lender.

The Des Moines Democrat said that she’s heard from homeowners who are basically given the runaround by the banks for years, and that this new program will offer them hope with the help of housing counselors and a mediation session with the lender to reach a solution that both parties can live with.

A community forum on the Foreclosure Fairness Act will be held on Thursday, July 21 for anyone interested in learning more about how the mediation program will work.

Attend the forum:

Foreclosure Fairness Act of 2011 public forum

Thursday, July 21 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Kent Lutheran Church

336 2nd Ave S, Kent, WA 98032

Visit the Foreclosure Mediation program’s website or call the Washington State's foreclosure prevention hotline: 1-877-894-HOME (1-877-894-4663) to find a housing counselor.

Read Rep. Orwall’s press release on the Foreclosure Mediation Program here.

For more information on the bridge loan program, visit the website or call 855-FIND-EHLP.

To read this blog post in Spanish, go here.