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Saturday, February 2, 2008

A Good Bill Passes the Senate.

posted by on February 2 at 7:47 AM

Sen. Brian Weinstein’s (D-41, Mercer Island) homeowner protection bill—a bill that caused quite a fuss last year when the House killed it—passed the Senate again yesterday.

It passed 27-20 largely along partisan lines. Although, it’s worth noting that Republican Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R-5, Issaquah, Snoqualmie, North Bend) —a leader on the GOP side of the aisle, who had an ornery exchange with Sen. Weistein on the floor before the roll call—voted for the bill.

I’m glad the bill passed. I’ve been tracking it since Sen. Weinstein reintroduced it this year, and I hyped it in a column at the beginning of the session flagging bills I wanted the legislature to move on this year.

If the House kills it again this year—there is a House companion bill being sponsored by Rep. Brendan Williams (D-22, Olympia) which hasn’t gone anywhere yet—someone should run it as an initiative.

Yes, it would be better if the Democrats in Olympia actually did their jobs and passed consumer protection legislation themselves without passing the buck to the voters who elected Democrats to get work done in Olympia in the first place. But think of the consequences of running an initiative.

Instead of fighting the bill in the House, the Building Industry Association of Washington—which has a tight grip on House Speaker Rep. Frank Chopp (D-43, Wallingford)—would have to spend millions fighting it in November.

Ha! Just as last year’s insurance-claim ballot measure, R-67, forced the insurance industry to lay out millions in an unsuccessful effort to kill consumer rights—bringing Sen. Weinstein’s bill to the ballot would similarly screw the right wing BIAW, which is already committed to bankrolling Rossi.

RSS icon Comments

1

An iniative would be a diaster. the BIAW would spend millions or misleading TV commercials. There is no well funded interest group to fund truthful commercials to counter theirs.

Although the Insurnace Companies outspent the lawyers 4-1 last year, at least the lawyers spent a few million supporting R 67. That won't happen on a Homebuyer Bill.

Posted by Senator Brian Weinstein | February 2, 2008 5:24 PM

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